FYI - In terms of NJ vital records, there is the "short form" and the "long form". The short form is usually used for official purposes, like proof of identity at the DMV. The long form is more useful for the purpose of family record-keeping and genealogy. When writing to Trenton, you should always ask for the "long form". Beverly G. Kirby-McDonough ----- Original Message ----- From: "CJ Lisa" <cjlisa@worldnet.att.net> To: <njhudson@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2008 5:17 PM Subject: Re: [NJHUDSON] NJ Death Certificates > This is interesting........... and here are my experiences and insight. > > My mother died in 1999 and the funeral director got the death certificate > for me in as many copies as I would need for transfering financial > documents > and accounts. About 3 years ago, I needed an additional copy (which the > funeral director also acquired from the town of her death, but this copy > eliminated most of the information that was on the first doc. and was more > like an official birth or death cert. I don't know why that is. With > regard to an official marriage cert that I got direct from the town (maybe > 10 years ago) they had the original books and a lot more information was > on > the books then what they print out for you -- I'm assuming that this is > the > case with all official documents. As far as the marriage information > that > I acquired which was on the books: town/country of emigration, parents > names and official who performed the wedding. Although I have to admit > that the information was not perfect -- spelling, etc. -- but I guess > with > language barriers it was difficult to understand and done phonetically > just > like a lot of the ship's records. > I've also gone to the cemeteries and they sometimes have the cause of > death. > Claire >