Thanks all for the responses. I'm not looking so much for any medical info, because the basics are in the death cert usually, though as one said it is useful to know what did in your ancestors. But more the circumstances of the death. Does post mortem examination mean autopsy by a coroner? I am guessing it does. There was a brief snippet in the Troy paper in 1879 that read Dr. RH Sabin made a post mortem examination of the body of Mr Robert McALvine (obviously a misspelling, it is the right guy) Saturday afternoon , which showed that the deceased came to his death by... It then also announces the illlness of his wife who died 3 days later leaving my great grandfather and his three siblings orphaned. Great to know about the details of the inquests in Albany County. This one and one other were in Albany Co, and another I am interested in obtaining is in Washington Co. Were the census mortality schedules put together from physician affidavits or from coroner records? Thanks, Michael > Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:19:35 -0400 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [NY-TROY-IRISH-GENSOC] Coroner Inquest > > Michael > Yes, I have seen a coroner inquest, at the Albany County Hall of Records > from 1875. A couple of years ago, I finally discovered the circumstances > of my my GG grandfather who drowned in the Hudson river in June 1875, after > falling from the bridge between Troy and Watervliet (West Troy at the time) > and from the newspaper account of the event, there was a race between two > coroners, one from Green Island and the other from Cohoes, when the body > was recovered. The coroner from Cohoes won. Lucky for me the coroner was > from an Albany county town, and not the other side of the river in > Rensselaer. > I [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message