Two notes of caution: 1) The new state database of death certificates certainly is a welcome online addition to genealogy research. HOWEVER, be sure to use the ADVANCED search tool to hunt for licenses by surname by county. The basic search tool often returns no results or only partial results. On one common Nixa surname, the basic tool returned NO entries, which was impossible, even considering the failure of attending physicians/coroners to occasionally file death certificates. When I used the advanced tool, I got 16 entries. This problem occurred repeatedly. 2) I have read and been told that the death certificate of Susan Emily Sink Edwards, the second wife of the Rev. James Wright Edwards, showed that her mother was Lucinda Moffett, even though a Moffett was not among the three wives recorded for her father. But the death certificate, now available online, included the entry "don't know" under the name of her mother. Consequently, my online manuscript of the Edwards family includes that erroneous information. Sorry. It's small wonder that the informant for the death certificate didn't know. Contrary to the rumor that has circulated, the informant was Jeff Daugherty, the son-in-law of Susan's brother Stephen, who had been dead for 30 years, or several years well before the marriage of his daughter and Daugherty. Take care, Randy McConnell

Just throwing this out there as an FYI... http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060410/NE WS04/604100347/0/BREAKING01 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.0/305 - Release Date: 4/8/2006