My ggg Grandfather, Joel DAVIS died in Horseheads, Chemung Co. NY between 1900 and 1905, I know this because he was listed in the 1900 federal census at age 85 and in the 1905 NYS census he is not in the household and his surviving wife, Matilda POWELL DAVIS wife was head. There is no information in the vital records death certificate index at Albany for his death, at least not that I could find, and I looked for every year surrounding the period of his death and there were no Joel DAVIS' which would have been him. I know that some of the index fishe are missing for some surnames for certain years, but I don't believe that this was a problem in my case. I am writing to the vital records office in Elmira in the hope that they may have a death certificate for my Joel DAVIS that was not indexed. My questionis, has anyone else has this happen? I know that initial compliance with the death certificate law was quite spotty from, say 1880 - 1885, or so, but compliance with the death certificate requirement should have been near 100% by 1900 and that is why I am perplexed at why there seems to be no death dertificate for my ggg Grandfather. Any help/info/suggestions would be appreciated. Mike Burnett mwburne@aol.com Cave Creek, AZ