Massachusetts Death index on line

[traveler]

In Eastman's blog this morning he provdes the information that the Mass Archives has the death index for Massachusetts 1840 - 1910 on line for free. The URL is http://www.sec.state.ma.us/vitalrecordssearch/VitalRecordsSearch.aspx
He did say that the button requesting death records must be checked for the search to work.

[corky3]

 I must be doing something wrong because I put in 3 people who I know died between 1900 and 1910 and I continue to get no results. And that is with the death button dotted unless there is another death button that I am not seeing.

[traveler]

If you give me their details I will check using the NEHGS database. Sometimes things are missed in the transcription. I saw only one button labled "death" on the first page.

[corky3]

Try  Jenny (Fitzpatrick) Hoy  August, 1885 d. 1909 Worcester
      Mary (Falvey) Doyle b. 1850 d. June 29, 1901

       Elmira (Emily) (Kane) Beaulac b. September, 1845
       Francis Xavier Beaulac b. October, 1944

       These last two disappear from the Worcester directories before 1905-these are parents of Francis X. Bolack Jr.

       If you can find anything concerning their death dates  I would be grateful.

[traveler]

Try  Jenny (Fitzpatrick) Hoy  August, 1885 d. 1909 Worcester
      Mary (Falvey) Doyle b. 1850 d. June 29, 1901

       Elmira (Emily) (Kane) Beaulac b. September, 1845
       Francis Xavier Beaulac b. October, 1944

       These last two disappear from the Worcester directories before 1905-these are parents of Francis X. Bolack Jr.

       If you can find anything concerning their death dates  I would be grateful.

Jennie Fitzpatrick Hoy is listed  1909, Vol 105 page 178
Mary Falvey Doyle is not listed
Francis Xavier Beaulac is not listed
Elmira Kane Beaulac is listed and has the image of her death certificate online.
Elmire(sic) Kane Beaulac, 1907, Vol 107 , page103  Date of death Jan 8, 1907
living at 27 Lodi St, age 60 years, 7 months, 23 days, died of pneumonia
She was born in Canada
Father was Charles Kane, born in Canada
Mother was Marquerette Carpentier, born in Canada
Informant was her husband, Xavier Beaulac
The undertaker was Alfred Roy and Sons

[corky3]

Well I thank you very much for that.

   Just to overextend my welcome-did the entry happen to say what Jenny Fitzpatrick Hoy died of. She died young and I am just personally curious.

[traveler]

Well I thank you very much for that.

   Just to overextend my welcome-did the entry happen to say what Jenny Fitzpatrick Hoy died of. She died young and I am just personally curious.

That entry was just the index. You can write to the Massachusetts State Archives with her name, volume and page numbers and for a fee get her information.

[corky3]

 Thank you. For a fee of 3 dollars I guess that is reasonable.

 By the way you said that Elmire Beaulac's death certificate was on line? Can you tell me where?

[traveler]

Thank you. For a fee of 3 dollars I guess that is reasonable.

 By the way you said that Elmire Beaulac's death certificate was on line? Can you tell me where?

The New England Historic Genealogical Society website, NewEnglandAncestors.org, has the index and some images of Mass Vital records 1840-1910 on line, but it is a membership benifit.

[corky3]

  Thank you for all your information.

  Membership to that particular organization is a bit on the pricey side for me right now. I have looked into in it the past.

[worcmik]

Hi,
I just visited the website and I suspect that it is not complete. Not one person whose name alphabetically falls between Bond and Sargent died in the town of Leicester in the years 1852 and 1853, or the database is incomplete. I have added it to my favorites, as it should prove helpful none the less.     Hope you are all well, just 6 months to St. Patrick's Day, J

[corky3]

 Well sometimes you get lucky. I went over to the NEHGS site and took a survey and got rewarded with a free membership till the 27th so I managed to get Emily Bolack's death certificate on line.

   I did find a number of other things-the Hoys marriage entry but most of my inquiries came up nil or not available on line.
 
   I am also in the middle of some pretty heavy research in RI and Connecticut so it is certainly an interesting site to poke around in.

[worcmik]

         Well, I have played around with the Mass.Vitials; death index  online. It is a useful tool, with some limitations. I used some creative searches and found  a few likely Tatnuck death records, but the index reminds me that the state  vitials were created from returns from the towns, and the towns were not good at collecting vitial data from Catholics. Of course I am refering to the pre 1850 records: I don't know when they got better at it. In the case of deaths; sextons provided the town clerks with  death info. Sextons are charged with care of the church's buriall grounds, it  seems there was no system in place to insure that Catholics whio died in a surrounding town, but were buried in Worc., were recorded in the town vitials. They sometimes made it into Worcester's vitials but many were not recorded in any town's death records and therefor not in the state's vitials either.
      If one were only to use the pre-1850 Vitial Records of all the Worcester County towns to determine  the distribution of pre-famine Irish here, than they would conclude that there  were a few in Worcester  but not many beyond. The towns recorded very few Births, Deaths or Marriages of Catholics before 1844. Changes to the State  record keeping laws in 1844 helped but did not end this under-recording. The fact is they were pretty far-flung.
John