This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/zV.2ADI/1649.1.1.1.2.1.2.1 Message Board Post: Dorothy, A death certificate from Alameda County costs $13.00, unless someone on the Alameda list wants to do research for you for free this would be your least expensive option. The California Genealogical Society, located in Oakland, Alameda County, California accpets research requests at $20.00 an hour, and most professional researchers charge more than that. Margaret may have just been visiting in Alameda County when she died. A cousin from No. Michigan died in Berkeley, CA while here on vacation in 1916. I never would have found his death, never would have occurred to look in CA, if my mother hadn't mentioned that she thought she heard stories about his death in her youth... As far as the name Alameda. It is a county in Northern California, and within the county is a city of the same name. The city of Alameda is on an island in SF Bay just west of Oakland. One can drive to it by taking the Posey Tube or driving over one of the small bridges. The California Death Index lists the County of Death, not the city, so she died somewhere within the county. In answer to your other question about other places with the name of Alameda, I will direct you to GNIS at the following web site: http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form If you put in Alameda, in the feature name, California in the state and click send query you will get back a list of things named in Alameda in California - communities, mines, creeks, etc. Also, if you leave feature blank, put California in the state, Alameda in the County, and choose a feature type of hospital, you will see how many hospitals there are in the county. Margaret may or may not have died at one of them. Your only other option would be to write to the libraries in the various towns to see if they have local newspapers for 1991 and will do an obit look up. You might be able to email the library and ask, then send money when it is found. Also, go to the Tiger Map service at: http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapbrowse-tbl click on New Location and put in Alameda County, CA. Then choose Tiger Map for Alameda County, it will bring back a map that will give you a feel for how large the county is..... Good luck, Cat Nielsen