In a message dated 6/15/2010 5:13:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, drybones@netreach.net writes: Did Philadelphia keep death records that far back? You may have to find the name of the church he was buried from or a death notice or the name of the cemetery. I thought death records date from sometime in the 1880's. Elizabeth C Philadelphia death records, at the city archives, begin at 1860 through 1903 however there are cemetery returns from 1803. City Hall has wills from 1682.