Locating the Death of Anna Hyser (1860-1934)

Anna Belle Hyser (1860-1934) was one of my great, great, great grandmothers. She was widowed three times. I descend from her first marriage to William Henry Cumming (1856-1882).

Anna was from Catskill in Greene County, New York. By 1885, she had relocated to Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey. She shares a headstone with her parents, Louman Hyser (1826-1895) and Catherine Eckler (1835-1889), and her siblings in the Catskill Village Cemetery. The year of death is on her headstone, but I could not find the exact date and location of her death.

Picture by Jody Lutter
November 21, 2010

This month, with the receipt of a death certificate from the State of Florida, I finally have Anna's exact date and location of passing.

Death certificate
Anna Brower (born Hyser)
February 12, 1934

Anna died February 12, 1934 in Orlando, Orange County, Florida at 440 West Minister [Westminster?] Avenue. Her address was in Greenwich, Connecticut. Informant was Mrs Edna Bullock of the same address. I don't know who this person is. Why was Anna at this place? Was she visiting friends?

The last record I could find for Anna was the 1920 census. She was living in Orangetown, Rockland County, New York with her daughter, Beulah Miller (1890-1940), and Beulah's husband, Raymond Sprague (1887-1983), and their children.

In the 1930 census, Beulah and Raymond Sprague were living in Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Anna was not listed with them. My grandmother had told me that Anna married four times. It was possible that Anna had remarried, then died using her husband's surname, making her very difficult to find. I had to look at marriages and deaths in New York State, New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The indexes for all of these locations have been enhanced and expanded over the years, yet I could not find Anna.

The Connecticut death index can be accessed for free through the State Library's website. These are deaths for the years 1897-2001.

There is no good match for Anna, died 1934, in the index of deaths in Connecticut.

Anna's daughter, Beulah (for whom my grandmother was named), died in Florida in 1940 while returning home from a vacation trip. I found this information in a newspaper from Kentucky. This is why you need to search states unrelated to the geographic area in which your people of interest resided. Beulah's death was probably reported far away because of her husband's business with the New York Stock Exchange. "Beulah" was not named directly in the article.

The family was not living in Florida, so I had not thought to check there for Anna. When I checked the Florida death index, I found an entry for Anna Brower, died 1934 in Orange County.

Florida Death Index at FamilySearch.org

The Florida death index is free at FamilySearch. The index is also at Ancestry behind a paywall. The difference at Ancestry is that you can view the actual index and see a certificate number. In the transcribed indexed, Anna's certificate number was missing.

Florida Death Index at Ancestry.com

Based on the index alone, I could not ascertain if this is my Anna or not. I needed the actual record of death. Applications for copies of vital records are on the website of the Florida State Department of Health. (This is the current website as of this writing.) The cost was five dollars and the wait time was two weeks. The cause of death was not blocked and I did not have to send any proof of identity. (Compare this to the hurdles in New York and New Jersey.)

Although the information on the death certificate was scarce, this was my Anna.

---If anyone researches on location in Florida, could you let us know if you can walk into a repository and look through records yourself? Thank you.---

I also requested the death certificate for Anna's daughter, Beulah.

Beulah died April 11, 1940 in Sanford, Seminole County, Florida from head and chest wounds due to a car accident. The newspaper article stated that she died instantly; however, the death certificate states that she died at the Fernald-Laughton Hospital 25 minutes later. She was removed to Greenwich, Connecticut- her residence. No cemetery was named.

Had I relied on the 1940 census for Beulah's date of death, I would have been misguided. Although the information was supposed to reflect who was alive on April 1, 1940, Raymond was listed as a widow.

Since the couple was driving home after returning from the Virgin Islands, I checked ship records. Beulah and Raymond were on a ship sailing from Ponce, Puerto Rico to Tampa, Florida from March 30 through April 2, 1940. The enumeration date on the census is blank, but must have been after Beulah died on April 11th.

Isn't that eerie? She died soon after this record was made.

Beulah's widower, Raymond Sprague, remarried to Janet Griffith (1904-1982). I do not know where Beulah or Raymond are buried. If anyone knows, please send word.