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/hFB.2ACE/1749.2 Message Board Post: Death records began recording in 1867. All were in the original ledger books, which, as stated in previous messages, you can get a typed copy of from the county clerk. If you have an LDS Family History Center nearby, they have all been microfilmed and you can rent them much cheaper. Most have date, name, cause, and place. As time went on, they added space for birthplace and parents but it seems to be county-dependent on when this info started being recorded. Certificates are sometimes available from the state after about 1900 but again, some can be in the state office and not the county. I have an 1899 certificate copy for an ancestor that was NOT recorded in Ingham Co but was in the state and the cert is loaded with info. His wife from 1895 was not recorded anywhere! Nothing is guaranteed.