Killing Them Off

[Lensmeister]

OK well not Murder per se .....

I have LOADS of ancestors that are still alive (according to my research) even aged about 200+ years old .....

So with the death indexes, certs and burials being so sparsely detailed how do you know you have the right one?

In other words how do you "kill off" your ancestors ? ? ? 

[groom]

If a partner appears as a widow/widower in a census, then I look for a death between the two censuses as that helps to narrow it down. Age of the youngest child can also help as well at times. Ages on death registers are useful. Otherwise it is buying a certificate and hoping that the person who registered the death was a relation. 

[clairec666]

Look at this topic I started a couple of years back: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=751199.msg5994592#msg5994592. One addition to it: we now have the GRO death index to help, so we can see ages for deaths pre-1866 and middle names for deaths after 1911.

[coombs]

Look at wills of people with the same name in the same or similar areas (providing they did leave a will). Also any ratebooks, electoral registers may help. If they did seem to vanish, then they may have gone to stay with a married child once widowed, and that may have been quite a way from where they usually lived. I have a direct ancestor who took that to the extreme, his wife died in 1885 in Co Durham and the next year he went to America to join a married daughter out there who emigrated in 1881.

[pharmaT]

I feel your pain.  I have a few ancestors in my husband's tree for whom there are too many options that I cannot narrow down enough to get to the point of having a good chance of ordering the correct certificate.

[Lensmeister]

Thanks All .... Will have a good look all of these tips

[Sloe Gin]

If a partner appears as a widow/widower in a census, then I look for a death between the two censuses as that helps to narrow it down. Age of the youngest child can also help as well at times. Ages on death registers are useful. Otherwise it is buying a certificate and hoping that the person who registered the death was a relation.

Or a close neighbour.
I eventually 'buried' a direct ancestor who only appeared in the 1841 census and then vanished.  Her name was Eleanor but her death was registered as Ellen.  And the informant was the woman who appears next to Eleanor's family in that 1841 census.  That swept away any lingering doubt.

[clairec666]

Two more tips:

Newspaper obituaries. Look out for names you know amongst the mourners.

I first look for a death in the registration district they last lived in. Then I might extend it to the surrounding county. If I still haven't found anything, I'll look at where the person's children are living, because they may have moved to live with them in old age.

[Sloe Gin]

Newspaper obituaries. Look out for names you know amongst the mourners.

These can be particularly useful for tracing married daughters if you hadn't previously known if, when or who they married.