Wish I had an answer for you. I have the same frustrating dilemma. My cousin died in 1922 at age 11. Cemetery records show the date he died and was buried, specific hospital he died in, cause of death, funeral home, last doctor, casket/vault type. Just about everything except what I want to know (his mother's married name at the time). However, the county where all of this existed insists that they have no death record for him...any spelling variation of first and/or last name on or around his date of death. This county does not permit personal search of their death records. If there's no county record, there's no state record. Like you, I'd have thought a hospital would have filled out paperwork even back in 1922! Good luck, Tony singhals wrote: > Can any of you Americans think of any reason why a 1977 death would not > be recorded where it occurred? > > A personal, on-site, search of the relevant state's death records turned > up absolutely no entry for the surname, let alone the exact name, plus > or minus a month of the known date. > > Mr X gave me his father's birth and death info when Mr. X's grandson was > born back in 1985. The family threw in other details, such as where he > lived, and how-come he died in the same hospital where the baby had been > born. Various official records support this verbal information, > including an SSDI entry for the right name, born the right date, > residing in the right place, last benefit going to the right place, and > the SSN issued in the right place. The state has no record of such a > death. > > I wouldn't have thought a hospital wouldn't have filled out the > paperwork back in 1977, and I wouldn't have thought one state would > permit a body to moved into another state for burial without appropriate > wads of paper. > > Any ideas? Other than to dig deeper into the obits and death notices > for the right week? > > Cheryl