Author Topic: Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?  (Read 7588 times)

Offline MoranD

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Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?
« on: Tuesday 24 September 13 19:56 BST (UK) »
Headstone of James Moran in Ballygunner says that he "died 14th September 1864, aged 80 years".
James lived in Waterford City.
Unfortunately I cannot locate a death certificate for James.
The nearest that I found was a death cert for James Moran, Waterford, age 86. This turned out to be a farmer from Mooncoin - not the James which I was looking for, all of whose children were baptised in Waterford City, and who only lived to 80'yrs.
I'd really appreciate any ideas as to why the death cert does not appear to be listed ?

Offline conahy calling

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Re: Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 24 September 13 21:28 BST (UK) »
1864 was start of civil registration, but still some bdm events were not reported.  Some guess that 10 - 15% esp in the first few years after it became compulsory.  Another possibility is that it has been mistranscribed.  Have you tried alternative spellings? M has even been mistaken for H

Offline weste

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Re: Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 24 September 13 21:50 BST (UK) »
Have you considered he may not have died in the area where he was buried.

Offline aghadowey

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Re: Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 24 September 13 22:24 BST (UK) »
Is there any indication when the headstone might have been erected (order of death on the stone, etc.)? It not that uncommon to find date of death on headstone is inaccurate (the longer after a death the details are inscribed the more likely for details to be wrong).
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!


Offline MoranD

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Re: Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday 25 September 13 08:36 BST (UK) »
Good point Aghadowney. There's no clear indication when the headstone was erected unfortunately. He is the first person listed on the headstone though which means that it may have been erected soon after his death.

Offline GrahamSimons

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Re: Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday 25 September 13 08:51 BST (UK) »
One more thing that may confuse the issue: sometimes the names on the headstone include people buried elsewhere. This is often implied or stated clearly, but sometimes isn't.
Simons Barrett Jaffray Waugh Langdale Heugh Meade Garnsey Evans Vazie Mountcure Glascodine Parish Peard Smart Dobbie Sinclair....
in Stirlingshire, Roxburghshire; Bucks; Devon; Somerset; Northumberland; Carmarthenshire; Glamorgan

Offline MoranD

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Re: Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?
« Reply #6 on: Wednesday 25 September 13 21:25 BST (UK) »
Thanks guys some great ideas there.

Conahy: you could well be right about the death not having been recorded or possibly mis-transcribed. Hadn't thought to check other spellings like Horan for example. Will do.

Weste: You're right, he may not have died where buried. I tried ordering a cert for a guy of the same name, year of death and age at death, but in Dingle instead... No joy there. I may try a couple more..

GrahamSimons: A twist that I hadn't thought of! But could be the case. Inscription didn't specify that he was buried there, just said "in memory of ....". I'll keep an open mind on finding another grave, although I wouldn't expect it to have a headstone given that this headstone exists... Not sure..

Does anyone know how complete the burial register is for St Otterans graveyard is?
Which of the Waterford CoCo library branches has it?

Offline vasaborg

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Re: Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 26 September 13 12:55 BST (UK) »
None of the Waterford County libraries has that register, you will have to contact Waterford City Council to search it, it starts as far as I know in 1848.

Online heywood

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Re: Death 1864, but death certificate not found - any ideas?
« Reply #8 on: Thursday 26 September 13 14:08 BST (UK) »
Hello,

Sorry- you already had looked at the obvious one!
Heywood
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