Regarding Louisiana death certificates of deceased Union Parish residents: Before concluding that a certain certificate doesn't exist for a person based upon a lookup by the staff at the archives, I suggest that you either search for it in person or else send them a variety of spelling variations for which to check. My cousin Robbie Landry and I recently went to the archives and I spent quite a bit of time searching for many certificates. Unexpectedly, I found several that I concluded long ago did not exist, based upon negative responses from the archives' staff. Here are a few of the strange circumstances I found during this trip... each item represents at least one death certificate that I found in person, whereas the archives staff had previously responded by mail that no such certificate existed: ### Minor variations in spelling made a difference in the staff's responses, such as "Goynes" for "Goyne", "Aulds" for "Auld", "Boatwright" for "Boatright", "Hamm" for "Ham", etc. ### Certificates were sometimes filed under the married name of a woman rather than her given name. For example, the certificate for Sarah Elizabeth Nolan, wife of Samuel Rate Nolan, was filed under "Mrs. S. M. Nolan". ### I found one occasion in which I had requested a certificate for "Lavincy Jane Auld" by mail, and the archvies claimed one didn't exist. However, I found it filed under "Mrs. L. J. Auld". Moreover, I found the certificate for Louisa Jane Honeycutt under the name 'Mrs. J. L. Honeycutt' (initials reversed). ### I found certificates frequently filed under nicknames rather than the full given name, such as 'Betsy' or 'Lizzie' rather than 'Elizabeth', 'Sally' for 'Sarah', 'Janie' rather than 'Jane', etc. In several instances, I didn't know the person was known by this particular nickname (even though they are common ones). ### I found the certificate for "Margaret Rebecca Boatright" filed under the name 'Margret Rebecca Boatwright'. ### Two of the most surprising were these... in 1991 I requested by mail the certificate for: Samantha E. Scarborough Ham and George Alexander Albritton The archives responded that no certificates existed. I found certificate for both of them filed under the names: "Asamantha E. Ham." "G. Alex Albritton" I'm certainly not blaming the staff at the archives in any way - they can only check for what we put on the request forms. I think the moral is to be sure and include on the mail request forms all possible ways in which the name of the deceased could be listed. However, I'm not sure I would have ever expected 'Asamantha' as a possible variation of "Samantha". Tim Hudson -----Original Message----- From: Julia T. Healey To: LAUNION-L@rootsweb.com Sent: 7/14/03 12:31 AM Subject: [LAUNION] Re: obit We had the same problem with my great-grandfather, John J. Futrell, who died of cancer in 1933. My father wrote to the state archives and inquired about parish records and was repeatedly told that there was no death certificate. He finally asked an older relative who was a teenager at the time, and he told the following story. John J. Futrell had some type of cancer and had spent several months in a hospital in Shreveport. When the doctors there decided that nothing more could be done, he was sent to one of his daughters' home near Downsville where he died a short time later. Since this was during the Depression and money was scarce, no doctor was called to verify the death and he was buried out of the home, meaning no funeral home was involved. It sounds terrible, but I guess they did what they had to. There's also no record of a death certificate for his wife, Mathilda Sanford Futrell, who had died in 1932 so I assume that she also died at home. This is possibly why you can't find a death certificate for your relative. Looking in the newspaper is a good idea. I wonder if the local library will do a search for a fee. If so, I would be interested. Does anyone know if that service is available? Julia Healey ==== LAUNION Mailing List ==== Visit the Union Parish Archives at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/la/union.htm ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237