This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: jokester74 Surnames: KESTER Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties.randolph/3378.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi Andrea, Thank you very much for your response! I appreciate your question format and you will find my answers following your questions: You wrote: Yes it is possible that they have a record at the Indiana State Health Dept in INDY. Most records are in both places but every once in awhile there is only one copy at the county level or state level. Did you ask the local county office for a copy first and they searched for it? Yes, but the local county office didn't have it. (Ref: Death records in the ISDH Vital Records office begin with 1900. (Daniel died in 1889) Prior to 1900, records of death are filed only with the local health department in the county where the death actually occurred.) You wrote: Or did you contact the museum for a look through the death index? I first visited the Randolph Co Courthouse and found no info on Daniel Kester. Next I visited the local county health office. I then visited the Museum and was rewarded with a copy of Daniel Kester's obituary. But I was disappointed that the obituary contained no family information. The only person mentioned was his widow, who was Daniel's 2nd wife. No mention of his deceased 1st wife, his 4 deceased young children or his son and grandchildren who lived across the border in Washington Twp, Darke Co, OH. You wrote: There could of been a mix up, he could be listed as death in the county book and not the town book. There are books for county deaths and each town had a death book for quite a few years, before they were consolidated into just county deaths. It would be worth another look via the museum's indexes. We now live in FL with no immediate plans to visit in Randolph Co so my reason for checking on the Internet. You wrote: If it's in the indexes then it is in the county office set of books. Mind that during these early years it was law to report a birth or death, but that doesn't mean it happened, most of the time it was up to the family to report, sometimes it was the doctor who reported, he might of just gotten lost in the cracks of the system. Do you have an obit that lists who took care of his arrangements? That could also provide you with her name. His obituary mentions services were held for him at the residence the day following his death and then the following day his body was taken to the Palestine Cem in Palestine, Darke Co, OH to be buried next to his 1st wife. A Darke Co researcher was unable to find an obituary in the local newspapers on microfilm. You wrote: I know that Walker's Funeral Home is very willing to help genealogists out in their records. I don't know what it would of been called during your time of death though, ask the museum for that info as well. I don't know which years he was an undertaker but there was a William Kester who was an undertaker in Palestine, Darke Co. And I don't know how he is related to Daniel Kester but I feel if he was in business when Daniel died he would have been the undertaker. You wrote: The other current funeral home in Winchester is Thayers. www.randolphcountyindianahistoricalsociety.org e-mail address is on every page. Andrea Thank you again for giving me some good ideas where to look fo further study! Jo Kester Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.