Can't find death record (likely in NYC)

[shellyesq]

I found this on ancestry, but not on familysearch. It should be there though.
Kathleen McGuire
Birth Date    2 May 1874
Claim Date    5 Apr 1954
SSN    065304253
Notes    10 Sep 1976: Name listed as KATHLEEN MCGUIRE

Details, but I don't know what they all mean. It might be that James died in 1954 and now she was filing to collect, based on his income. Then she died in 1976. But I'm guessing.

The 1976 date was the date that the entry was posted on Numident, which isn't related to when she died.  The entry for my father (and I'm 100% sure when he died) shows a date over 7 years after his death.

Based on her Social Security number, Kathleen applied for the number in New York some time between 1953 and 1955.  I agree she might have filed for benefits (and gotten a Social Security number) because her husband died.  If she never worked outside the home or in a job that required a Social Security number, she may not have needed it until then.

There is an entry in the New York State death index for a Kathleen McGuire, age 83, who died 17 Dec. 1957.  https://health.data.ny.gov/Health/Genealogical-Research-Death-Index-Beginning-1957/vafa-pf2s/data  That index covers deaths in New York State outside of NY City, but it doesn't specify in what town/city the person died.  It does give a code for a residence code that shows where the person resided.  For this Kathleen, the residence code was 7093.  You can see the various residence codes here - https://www.health.data.ny.gov/api/assets/991FD0D8-73AF-4573-96F1-437E33D24BCA - and hers applied to various places in Manhattan.  Considering that her daughter lived outside of NY City, that might explain why she died away from where she was living & outside of NY City.

[oldohiohome]

Name    Kathleen McGuire
Gender    Female
Age    83
Birth Date    abt 1874
Residence Place Murray Hill, New York, New York, USA
Death Date    17 Dec 1957
Death Place    New York, USA
Certificate Number    87095

The Murray Hill area is on the East Side, and seems to be bounded on the north by 42nd Street.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Hill,_Manhattan

Definitely close enough to consider. She might have moved a bit south, or "Murray Hill" was the closest designation to 344 E 55th.

[oldohiohome]

her son James was living on E 35th in Murray Hill in 1950
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/GTRP-WL3

[jamesm113]

Murray Hill does line up with the 7093 residence code.  But so does all of Manhattan.

[jamesm113]

Called Calvary again, they were able to find a Kathleen McGuire with that date of death.  and the plot matches her children

Great find!!

[shellyesq]

Glad it worked!

[oldohiohome]

I looked through the images of the indexes, and James is not in the New York State Death Index for 1953 or 1954. He is also not in the New Jersey Index for 1953 or 1954.

NY State is at familyseach
1953: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGR5-ZSM3
1954: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGR4-57XW

I found NJ's index on ancestry, it might be on familysearch. Same for the NYC City index.

He is not in the New York City index for 1953 or 1954.

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I wonder if Calvary would be ok with just knowing the month of death. I'm guessing James died in March 1954. If so Kathleen would be entitled to get his last Social Security check in April. So maybe on April 5 she went into the Social Security office to stop his check and filed for her own benefits at the same time. They don't automatically stop a check, the survivor has to let them know.

Another possibility is to order the death certificate. You'd need to find a child, grandchild, great-grandchild, grandniece or grandnephew to sign it and send it in, from what I can see. $15 unless they have to search more than one year. Full instructions are at:
https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/services/birth-death-records-death.page

It doesn't all fit together. If his death was never registered, is there a death certificate? And if there isn't a death certificate, then how did she stop his check? You need some kind of proof, and probably proof of relationship. Just thinking out loud.

[shellyesq]

I probably wouldn't try to order a death certificate for someone with such a common name if I didn't know when/where the death occurred and there wasn't a likely match on the death index. 

That said, I have a *maybe* for your James.  There is an entry on the NY City death index for a James McGuire who died 13 Jan. 1954 at age 81 in Manhattan.  The index had the age transcribed as 61, but it looks like 81 on the index image to me.  Certificate number is 1009.  There is also a medical examiner's case number of 400.  The age isn't perfect, but it's close enough that I wouldn't rule it out.  Considering that his birthday was reported as Nov. 1871, he would have been 82 in early 1954.

Maybe something can be found to rule this possibility in or out.  There are a bunch of other James McGuire or Maguire who died in NY City in 1950-1954, but the ages are further out from your James than the one above. It generally seems to work with the time frame of when his widow applied for benefits too.

[oldohiohome]

Maybe something can be found to rule this possibility in or out.  There are a bunch of other James McGuire or Maguire who died in NY City in 1950-1954, but the ages are further out from your James than the one above. It generally seems to work with the time frame of when his widow applied for benefits too.

James McGuire or Maguire
in the U.S., Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940
James McGuire or Maguire
Record Type    Military Service
Birth Date    15 Aug 1876
Military Date    31 Jan 1899
Residence Place    New York, New York
Death Date    13 Jan 1954
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61861/records/4343073?tid=&pid=&queryId=77d51ff9-cc2b-4b86-b448-778145536edc&_phsrc=cQQ102&_phstart=successSource

Yet another age for this man. This time he's 77.