Search for Death Cert

[shanew147]

I am searching for a death cert for my gtgt-grandfather in NSW - possibly Sydney area, but dont have many details on him, so dont think I can use the usual Index or transcription services. Is there any way to search NSW Death records for possible matches using just name, date of birth (or age + date of death), and place of birth ?

My errant gtgt-grandfather Henry Wilson abandoned his wife and children around 1895 near Leeds, Yorkshire and apparently was later traced by the Salvation Army to Sydney - where they lost track of him. Henry's father died when he was young (about 6), and the father's details on Henry's marriage in 1867 (Leeds) are mixed up - so I dont think reliable enough to use for a search.

The only consistent details I think I could depend on for a match would be his Name, his place of birth of Chatteris, Cambridgeshire (England), and his date of birth of 19 Sept 1844. He started off as a bricklayer, later a Master Bricklayer and then builder. Before his disappeared from England he was also involved in owning or running a pub...


thanks,


Shane

[Neil Todd]

Hi Shane, It is early hours of the mornng here at the moment, so my brain isn't functioning at normal speed, slow.

It is going to be difficult without a bit more detail, but presuming you have looked at NSW BDM online, have you used the normal parameters such as his full name and parents names.

There is one death shown with little information except for age IE 65 in 1908 at Parramatta, making his birth circa 1843.

I would be trying with middle initial, doubting that parents names would be shown as if he were here by himself the person supplying the details may only have been the doctor attending and have no background information.

Cheers

Neil

[shanew147]

That's the problem - due to the messed up details on the marriage record (I'm guessing due to his father's death when Henry was about 6), I'm not certain he knew his father's details...  we think his mother remarried but have not been able to confirm that yet.

Henry's parents were John Wilson and Mary Macinnis/Mackness (various spellings) - I did try searching the BMD Index adding both first names - and there is a possible in 1929...
I suppose I might have to try a few transcripts of the close matches..in the hope that someone knew his details to record on his death cert

How did you see age at death ?
The only details I see are registration number (inc. year), name of deceased, father's name, mother's name & district..
I'm using the index at : http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au


Shane

[Pastmagic]

Hi Shane,
I've used that index before, and there is a facility for typing Yrs in the father's name space. This will return all the records where no father's name was available, it seems they enter the age in this col instead, or it becomes visible.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0h6j/

PM

[Neil Todd]

Hi Shane. I don't believe that anyone here would have his details, unlike now when a pasport or other defining information could be found on a person or in their belongings he could have had little to none.

It is beholding on the person (informant) to give what information they know when making the statement, it would seem that someone making a new life never leaves too much of a paper trail. It may have been a Doctor attending or a Police Officer and they would only have what was on the person. Unless he had made close friends and workplace statements and if these managed to make their way to the registrar's would you get all the details.

I just used a wide parameter, His name and a wide search of years. 1895 to 1938 and came up with a 100  Henry Wilson deaths.

Death certs in NSW are quite informative (if the person making the information known) DOES KNOW IT.

Neil

[shanew147]

We have not been able to find a definitive record of him travelling to Australia, so dont know if he travelled alone or not. Any passenger list or newspaper matches I've found so far have details that dont fit - e.g. wrong occupation, or place of birth etc

Probably just clutching at straws looking for a death cert, since nothing else has worked so far..   I'll probably try widening my date range in the newspaper searches for a possible arrival, death or other details in between

What I need is some way to search deaths by place of birth..as well as age

thanks PM I'll have a look at that ...  if father's name wasn't known by the informant then he could be one of those. If so, hopefully there was someone around who knew where he was born to provide details to the registrar.


Shane

[rosball]

You could also use the Ryerson index http://www.ryersonindex.org/ which often gives ages
and then use http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/ to look for the corresponding death notice.
I don't know how complete Ryerson is for the early years and of course he may not have loved ones locally who would have inserted a death notice.  Nor will you probably know if he is the correct one unless they say from Cambridgeshire or similar.
So I guess it is a long shot but maybe worth a try.

regards,
   Ros

[shanew147]

thanks for that... any possible avenue of research is welcome!

I've searched on Trove quite a bit, but having an extra source like that RyersonIndex to cross reference with is worth a try.


Shane

[majm]

From my e reader, so I cannot do live links, please accept my apologies.

Have you contacted the Salvation Army to ask what types of searches they would have done back in earlier times, would they have : put notices in newspapers/ door knocked/checked directories /written letters etc ?

Have you looked at Trove from the point of view of looking for Salvation Army adverts looking for him?

I have NSW offline resources, including some early Electoral Rolls.  Some of these are hardcopy, and some are on CD.  All are pre WWI.  I will not be able to access these for around one week, but after that .... well .... (cannot do smiles from the e reader either)

The NSW BDM index does have flaws ... eg while d.c.s post 1856 are full of detail (depending on the knowledge of the informant as Neil mentioned) they do incorporate burial details, including cemetery, clergy, funeral directors, the INDEXES do not include deaths where no registration was made.  So, it is possible that if a death occurred which resulted in an inquest, that that very process did not automatically result in the registration of the death.  (It was not clear from the admin processes who was expressly responsible for that type of registration ... the coroner/the funeral director/the clergy.  Many/most coroner's inquests re deaths were registered, but not all).   Sadly there are also deaths for persons whose name was not known.

The information on early Electoral Rolls (and current ones too) does not expressly confirm all the members of any one household, so they are not as helpful as say a Census report, but they are very good pointers.  They are by electorate, and then by polling place within that electorate, and then by alpha surname, and from c1902 .... for males and females aged 21 and over.  etc. 


Sorry I cannot immediately help, but if your chap hasn't turned up in a week or so, I will try to help then. 

Cheers, JM  (still mastering the tiny e reader keyboard, but lots less typos than my first efforts from it)