Funeral home records

What a funeral home file can hold

The Library of Virginia's collection of L. T. Christian Funeral Home records from Richmond, 1912 to 1986, shows how much one firm could gather. Because the funeral director started and filed the death certificate and placed obituaries in the newspapers, the firm collected each person's full name, date and place of birth and death, cause of death, marital status, spouse's name, parents' names and birthplaces, address, occupation, military service, education, religion, burial place, and surviving family members.

That firm filled out a sales agreement for each client holding this information, and each decedent's file also has copies of the obituaries the funeral home paid for, along with correspondence, notes, receipts, and memorabilia. Some files are for World War II soldiers who were brought home after the war and reburied in Richmond cemeteries.

Not every funeral home kept so much, and the form varies. The Pennington Funeral Home collection at Texas State University, for example, has a cemetery ledger from 1888 to 1900, funeral registers from 1902 to the mid-1940s covering deaths in the San Marcos and Hays County area, and a book titled Record and Bill of Items for 1937 to 1944.

Why they are worth the search

The Washington State Library notes that cemetery and funeral home records often contain details that are not in obituaries or death certificates. They may list surviving relatives, which helps trace family lines and find living descendants, and funeral home records can include personal anecdotes, religious affiliation, and details about the person's life and the circumstances of death.

When the funeral record and the death certificate disagree on a birth date or a parent's name, treat each as one informant's account and look for a third record before choosing.

Finding the name of the funeral home

You need the business name before you can look for its records. Two common places to find it are the death certificate and the obituary. The Missouri State Archives notes that its death certificates, which start statewide in 1910, give funeral home and burial information along with birth date, parents, spouse, cause of death, and occupation. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission suggests looking for an obituary in newspapers from the place and time, since it can name the funeral home or cemetery.

If you still do not know the firm, think about which undertakers served the town at the time. The Texas State Library suggests using business and company history research methods to identify the firms that served a community.

Where old records end up

Start with the business itself. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission says it does not keep private funeral home and crematory records, and suggests contacting the funeral home or crematory that handled the burial about what records are available.

Records that have left the business turn up in places such as state libraries, universities, and public libraries. The Library of Virginia holds the L. T. Christian files and built a surname-searchable online database that gives each person's death or disinterment date and the box and folder of the file. Texas State University acquired the Pennington ledgers through a joint effort with the Pennington family; they are open to researchers without restriction, and because the ledgers are fragile, researchers use the digital copies. The Washington State Library's research guide covers cemetery and funeral home records together and lists books and microfilm in the library.

Using published indexes

Libraries and genealogical societies have indexed many funeral home books. The Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana, for example, offers a combined index of Fort Wayne mortuary records drawn from volumes compiled by the Fort Wayne Public Library and others, including Peltier Mortuary records from January 1874 to August 1938 and Klaehn Funeral Home records from 1876 to 1964.

The society presents its index as a research tool and not a substitute for the original records, and warns that errors lurk in it. Use an index to find the entry, then get a copy of the ledger page or file itself and read every column.