This is the third in a three-part series about records created at the time of a person’s burial. In part one I talked about cemetery records. Part two discussed clues found in cemeteries themselves and on headstones. Today I will explore funeral home records and the valuable information that can be discovered on these records. I’ll also give tips for finding funeral home records.
When someone passes away, the funeral home helps the family with the arrangements for the funeral and burial or cremation of the body. Information is collected by the funeral home, much of which is genealogically significant. Funeral homes have been in operation since the late 1800’s. The earliest funeral homes are likely to be found in larger cities. Funeral home records might provide the following information:
- Full Name
- Age
- Date of birth
- Date of death
- Place of death
- Date of burial
- Place of burial
- Cause of death
- Former address and occupation of the deceased.
- Names of family members, especially wife and children.
- Notes regarding the funeral service, including the name of the pastor that officiated.
- A list of newspapers in which the obituary was placed.
- If the body was shipped from another city, there may be a copy of the transportation of corpse form that accompanied the remains.
How to Find Funeral Home Records
The first step in finding funeral home records is to identify which funeral home was used. Check the following places to discover this information:
- Family records
- Death certificates
- Cemetery office records
- Obituaries
Once you have identified the name of the funeral home, a Google search by name, city, and state will provide contact information if the funeral home is still operating. If it is not still in operation, the Google search may generate a link to a transcription of the cemetery’s records. The following directories might also be useful:
- American Blue Book of Funeral Directors, National Funeral Directors Association
- Yellow Book of Funeral Directors, National Directory of Morticians
- Funeral Home Resource Website
Funeral home records are being digitized by Ancestry and published in their collection U.S., Cemetery and Funeral Home Collection, 1847-Current. The collection currently contains millions of records from hundreds of funeral homes across the country and is being updated regularly.
Have you ever looked for funeral home records for your ancestors? I would love to hear what you have found in the comments below.
Sources:
“United States Funeral Home Records,” FamilySearch Research Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Funeral_Home_Records : accessed 25 March 2021).
Johni Cerny, “Cemetery Records,” RootsWeb (https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Cemetery_Records : accessed 19 Mrch 2021; original article appears in “Vital Records,” The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy.
