If it had not been for a person doing a thesis and collecting records from funeral homes in one particular Michigan county, I would not have been able to verify that one set of grandparents were buried in a particular cemetery with a date of death. Family lore said they were, but there were no headstones, and no death records. I was fortunate to find the manuscript in a local library. Serendipity. I suppose it would depend on the policies of the funeral homes and local governments if such information would be available. My feeling is that if the local newspaper has published an obituary, such knowledge is already in public domain. If the death occured more than 75 years ago, why not make it available. Penny Brown, in Florida