Michael, I respect your civil war knowledge and appreciate the very informative postings that you submit. I wonder, if your ancestor was a civil war vet, if you have thought to check for a death certificate in Schuyler Co.? Many of the vets went to the retirement home in Bath, NY. In answer to your question about a certificate being lacking fo 1905, my confidence of a vital record being avilable starts at about the WW I period. My dad was born at home in 1906 and he never had a birth certificate. We had to go to church confirmation records and census documents to get a social secuirty number for him. The official law started in 1880 but I have found that many people did not comply in the early years. Best regards. Dick Hillenbrand Syracuse, NY ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Burnett <mwburne@worldnet.att.net> To: <GEN-NYS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, August 26, 1999 5:33 AM Subject: Death Certificate from 1900 - 1905 not there > 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 > > > ==== GEN-NYS Mailing List ==== > Have you forgotten how to UNSUBSCRIBE? > Visit the GEN-NYS-L Frequently Asked Questions (And Answers!) web page: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nozell/GEN-NYS-L/FAQ/GEN-NYS-L.html > >