Death Records of Kings County, New York

The home page of Ancestry advertises one of their latest offerings, vital and voting records of New York City (at least my version does). The voter records are from the 1900s. The vitals start in the late 1700s.

Landing page Ancestry.com
New Release: New York City Vitals and Voter Records

I examined the findings of the vital records in this previous article.

I have a lot of ancestry in New York City; thus, I have a lot of hints for most of my family trees. This link created by Ancestry streamlines the records of these new databases, curtailed just for me.

The result is a list of thousands of hints for births, marriages, deaths, and voting records of people in all of my family trees.

There was a hint for Reverend Dietrich Hermann Wrage (1831-1882). He was a German Evangelical pastor who taught and translated. As such, more was written about him than most other people of this time period. His obituaries provided the place and date of death. He died at the Kings County Insane Asylum in Flatbush (Brooklyn), Kings County, New York on May 2, 1882- one day after his 51st birthday.

Yet I could not find an entry for him in the New York City death indexes.

Obituary of Reverend Herman W Wrage
The Brooklyn Daily Times, New York
Thursday, May 4, 1882

His hint in the newest vital records collection.

Newest hint for Herman D Wrage, died 1882 in Brooklyn.
No certificate number is provided.

The link brings up the ledger book for deaths in Flatbush from 1880 through 1886.

Ledger Book of Deaths, Flatbush, New York 1880-1886
Line 1238: Hermann D Wrage died May 2, 1882 at Kings County Insane Asylum.
Occupation clergyman. Age 51. Married. Born in Germany.

Close up of Hermann's entry

I don't understand why Hermann received a line in this ledger book and not an individual death certificate. The individual certificates started in 1866 (or 1862 in Brooklyn).

Most of the entries are for the Asylum or other institutions.

The beginning of the book starts with entries immediately- no explanation as to how someone ended up in this book as opposed to an individual record of their own.

Margaret B Giddis died December 11, 1880 in Flatbush. No institution was mentioned. Her death was recorded in this ledger book.

Ledger Book of Deaths, Flatbush, New York 1880-1886
Line 10: Margaret B Giddis died December 11, 1880 in Flatbush.
Occupation housekeeping. Age 48 years, 2 months. Married. Born in Ireland.

Close up of Margaret's entry

Margaret's death appears in the Death Index- certificate 10. I typed this information into the online website of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services. 

Entry in index for Margaret B Giddis
Certificate 10

Certificate 10 of 1880 belongs to Hiram Miller (1800-1880). He was buried at Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Number 10 is too low to be at the end of a year.

Death certificate of Hiram Miller
died January 1, 1880 in Brooklyn

Entry in index for Hiram Miller
Certificate 10

Certificate 10 for Margaret Giddis must mean the number of the line in the ledger book- not individual certificate.

So why were some deaths recorded in the book, while others were recorded on an individual record?

New York Ignores Record Requests

The State of New York is years behind in fulfilling orders for genealogical copies of vital records.

Years.

This is a problem because the only way to obtain vital records is from the New York State Department of Health, Office of Vital Records in Albany.

According to their website, the wait is eight months or longer. "Longer" is more correct.

The records are not online. They cannot even be ordered online- you have to submit the fee and a paper form via postal mail, then wait. And wait. And wait. You cannot send someone to Albany and you cannot go yourself.

They are not free. The cost is $22 per record- if you know the year of the event.

CBS News of Albany, New York ran a short video about this issue on December 10, 2024. The current link is here. The site is slow with a lot of ads and pop ups.

Short video clip CBS6 Albany

The reporter interviewed New York State Assemblyman Scott Bendett (R,C-Sand Lake), who said he would look into the issue.

CBS News followed up with another video featuring a response from Health Commissioner Dr James McDonald. Dr McDonald explained that they have staffing issues and are looking at technological solutions. He added that local jurisdictions may have the same information.

In my opinion, if historical and genealogical requests are unimportant to the Department of Health, it is time to turn over custody of the records to the Archives. Even better, scan them and put them online for free, like New York City is doing. New York will have to change some laws and procedural rules, but it is time.

WHAT IS IN THE COLLECTIONS AND HOW TO SEARCH

Recording of births, marriages, and deaths in the modern individual certificate format began around 1881 at the state level. There is a short index of deaths for the year 1880. Compliance was not 100% in the early years.

The cities of Albany and Buffalo have separate record-keeping systems. The City of New York is also separate.

New York State Archives has indexes, but not the actual certificates. (For comparison, the New Jersey Department of Health has a schedule to turn over certificates to the Archives. Do they comply with this schedule? No. But there is access in New Jersey.) The indexes were available for in-person use at the Archives.

New York was so vehemently opposed to genealogical access to records that legal action was needed to make the indexes public. Thank you Reclaim the Records.

The indexes are available for free on Archive.org and New York Family History. Ancestry has its own search feature through a pay wall.

Again- these are the indexes, not the records.

CURRENT LINKS TO FREE INDEXES

Births

Marriages

Deaths

LINKS AT ANCESTRY.COM

These are searchable, but check the actual images for correct spelling, certificate numbers, dates.

If you do not see a particular name, check the images line by line.

New York Birth Index 1881-1942

New York Marriage Index 1881-1967

New York Death Index 1852-1956

New York Death Index 1957-1972

MY EXPERIENCES

Both sides of my family lived in New York in prior generations.

This year, I requested three death certificates for Cummings/Grant branch. The envelopes were mailed to Albany on February 9, 2024. Someone received these requests as evidenced by the checks being cashed on July 30, 2024.

In 2022, almost three years ago, I ordered the death certificate of Edmond Sheehy. The envelope was mailed to Albany on March 1, 2022. The check was cashed April 2, 2022. This record was originally requested in 2015, but the State did not locate the record because the name was misspelled in the index. When the index was published on the internet, I found the correct entry and resubmitted the request.

There are many more birth, marriage, and death certificates that would greatly aid genealogical pursuits. Under the current scheme, the price and process are prohibitive.

As Dr McDonald stated, a duplicate record may have been filed with the local registrar. Their fulfillment time may be shorter than the State. I did this for Edward Sheehy, who died in 1893 in Amenia, Dutchess County. The Town clerk sent me a copy of the obscured ledger book. Missing was the date and the names of his parents. The entire page is necessary for proper evaluation of the record. 

The localities will not provide copies of the certificates.

So no, Dr McDonald, identical information is not available from the local towns. The State will need to release the certificates.

MY OPINION

In light of the release of records by other states, in addition to technological advances beyond microfilm, plus New York's refusal to comply with its own practice of orders for a fee, New York should make its records available for digitization and public access.

New Jersey should also do this.

Deadly Boating Accident 1909

John ODonnell was a paternal uncle of my grandmother. He resided in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey.

From his gravestone, I had his date of death- September 3, 1909. He was nineteen when he died.

John O'Donnell
born July 9, 1890
Died September 3, 1909
Gravestone at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City, New Jersey

I found no death certificate in the New Jersey State Archives and no obituary in newspapers from Jersey City. The Bayonne Times newspaper for this time period was destroyed.

I expanded the search to include newspapers from all over. Newspapers in New York City and even Alabama carried articles about John's death.

John was employed as a deckhand on the tug boat R B Little. He was sleeping after working the night shift when his boat collided with another, bursting steam pipes. John awoke and attempted to escape the room in which he was sleeping. John was crushed and scalded. Accounts differ as to the timing of his death in relation to these traumas. The other man in the room, John Lavin, lived. I have not determined when he died.

Newspaper article from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, describing John's death as instant

Newspaper article from The Sun detailing John's attempt at escape before being scalded to death

Vital records for New York City are online, but not all years are available yet. 1909 is among the ranges of unavailable years for death certificates. Online indexes list a death for John ODonnell for September 3, 1909.

New York City index of deaths
entry for John ODonnell, 1909.
Son of Patrick [ODonnell] and Delia [Joyce].

Death Records in the State of New York

Edmond Sheehy (1825-1893) will remain a tail in my tree for the present time.

Sheehy gravestone in Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Amenia, Dutchess County, New York.
July 22, 2019.
Inscription: Edmond Sheehy 1825-1893
Bridget his wife 1826-1906 [died 1905]
William F their son 1861-1891
Thomas Sheehy grandson 1891-1913

Edmond was my third great grandfather. He was from Limerick in Ireland, where he married Bridget Frawley (1826-1905) and had at least nine children. He joined his children in Amenia, Dutchess County, New York for a few years before dying in 1893. He was buried in Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Amenia.

His death occurred in New York State, which means that seeing his death certificate is filled with blockades. Vital records are maintained by the State Department of Health, which is sluggish in releasing copies at $22 each.

Unlike New Jersey, you cannot visit the New York State Archives and look up and copy records yourself because birth, marriage, and death records are not there. You have to wait for the Department of Health to fulfill your order. The indexes, flawed as they are, were only published on Ancestry a few years ago.

You can read about the impact in an article written by Rick Karlin for Times Union in April as well as a letter to the editor from D Joshua Taylor, president and CEO of The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, where he recommends transferring the records to the State Archives and making them available to researchers.

In 2015, I ordered a copy of Edmond Sheehy's death certificate. Ten weeks later, I received the "Notification of No Record."

Notification of No Record
Edmond Sheehy died 1893 in New York

In 2020, I requested a marriage record from the State of New York for a possible daughter of Edmond Sheehy, Joanna "Anna." This took two years to arrive.

While reviewing the indexes last year on Ancestry, I found an entry for Edward Sheeby, died April 10, 1893 in Amenia. A lowercase h can look like a lower case b. Edmond can look like Edward.

Index of Deaths in New York State. Year 1893.
Highlighted entry for Edward Sheeby, died April 10, 1893 in Amenia.
File number 16315.

On March 1, 2022, I ordered this record for $22. The check cleared one month later. Fourteen months after my request, the record has yet to arrive.

In the meantime, I ordered a copy from the Town of Amenia Town Clerk on February 23, 2023. Today a copy of the entry in the ledger book arrived. The copy looks like an image from microfilm. The surrounding records were redacted, along with the date except for ditto marks and the number "10." The name appears to be "Edward Sheehy, Sr." Age 68. The end of the first image and the beginning of the second image show a blank box for the name of father. Place of death was Smithfield and ditto marks. Cause of death was influenza and typhoid. Place of burial was Amenia.

Register of Deaths in the Town of Amenia, Dutchess County, State of New York.
Deceased- Edward Sheehy, Sr. Age 68.
Name of father blank.

By redacting most of the original page, I cannot ascertain a date. I don't know if the second part of the image is the true continuation of the line for Edward Sheehy. 

The cover letter reads in part, "In your request you site [sic] a state file number. As this may indicate the complete record is filed at the State. If you have not already made that request I would suggest it."

Cover letter included with copy of ledger book

New York was not only home to generations of my ancestors for hundreds of years, but also to millions of people who need access to these records to document their families and the history of this country. New York can do better. In 2022, New York City digitized and published their records for free to the public. (See this link to the Department of Records and Information Services.) New York State can follow. (And New Jersey while we are on the topic.)

Locating the Death Certificate of Jennie Bishop in 1957

My great great grandmother, Minnie Caroline Bishop (1866-1910), had a sister named Jennie Maud Bishop (1878-1957). They were buried in the same plot and share a gravestone at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, Union County, New Jersey. (The cemetery stretches across the Township of Hillside and the City of Elizabeth. This grave lies in Hillside.)

Gravestone at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, New Jersey.
Children of William Reuben Bishop and Susan Jane Marsh.
Transcription:
William F. January 19, 1973 - March 20, 1895.
Mabel E. September 3, 1868 - April 17, 1907.
Minnie E. Wife of Charles E Cook. February 19, 1866 - March 25, 1910.
Jennie Maud. 1878 - 1957.

Evergreen Cemetery's records are available for viewing.

Picture of plot listing at Evergreen Cemetery owned by William R Bishop.
William F Bishop, age 22, buried March 24, 1895.
Mabel E Bishop, age 37, buried April 21, 1907.
Minnie Caroline Cook [nee Bishop], age 44, buried March 28, 1910.
William Bishop, age 72, buried April 29, 1915.
Susan Jane Bishop [nee Marsh], age 83, buried January 21, 1932.
Eugene T Bishop, age 60, buried May 4, 1936.
Miss Jennie M Bishop, age 74, buried July 5, 1957.
Lafon Allen Foster, age 57, buried March 7, 1964.
Bessie Foster [nee Gulick], age 54, buried March 7, 1964.
Bessie Gulick [nee Bishop], age 85, buried June 9, 1972.

When the 1957 death certificates became available at the New Jersey State Archives, I looked for Jennie Maud Bishop's record. She was buried in July 5, 1957. The index for death records has an entry for Jennie J Bishop, died in August of 1957. Close and worth a look. (Note: if you cannot travel to the Archives, you can request a copy from the Department of Health, but the cause of death will be blocked. Although the Archives holds the record, it is not authorize to release it via mail because it is too recent.)

New Jersey index of deaths
Available online at Ancestry.com or NewJerseyDeathIndex.com

Good that I did look at this death certificate. This is not my Jennie. This is the record for Jennie Josephine Bishop, born Tier, wife of John Michael Bishop. She was born in Jersey City in 1884. She died in Long Branch on August 4, 1957 and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington.

Death certificate of Jennie Josephine Bishop.
Born June 15, 1884 in Jersey City.
Died August 4, 1957 in Long Branch, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

I remembered how I recently found a death record in Florida for a great great great grandmother. I checked Florida's death index. A possible match for Jennie appeared.

Online Florida death index at Ancestry.com

The turnaround time for a record request is only a few weeks and the cost is a mere $5. (Go Florida!)

This is the death record for my great great grandaunt, Jennie Bishop. She died on July 2, 1957, age 74, in Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida. She had uterine cancer.

Death certificate of Jennie Maud Bishop.
Born October 25, 1882 in Newark, New Jersey.
Died July 2, 1957 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Although Jennie's death certificate has her date of birth as 1882, this cannot be. Jennie was enumerated in the 1880 census as age 2.

1880 federal census. 29 Cross Street, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Wm R Bishop, age 37; locomotive engineer.
Susan, wife, age 32.
Minnie, daughter, age 14.
Mabel, daughter, age 11.
Emma, daughter, age 9.
Willie, son, age 7.
Eugene, son, age 5.
Jennie, daughter, age 2.
Georgie, daughter, age 8 months.

Jennie's sister, my great great grandmother Minnie, also died of uterine cancer, but at an earlier age. Jennie was the informant on that record.

Death certificate of Minnie Caroline Cook, born Bishop.
Born February 19, 1866 in Newark.
Died March 25, 1910 at 224 North 3rd Street, Newark.

Why did Jennie move to Florida? Was she staying with any family? I have not found a marriage record for her.

Augusta Luther (1892-1956), Her Marriages and Death

Augusta "Gussie" Kittson signed in 1926 to receive her inheritance from her uncle, Herman Lutter (1860-1924).

Release signed by Gussie Kittson in 1926.
Estate of Herman Lutter, died 1924, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

While reviewing these recently acquired documents, I realized that I did not know what had become of Gussie.

Gussie began life with no name. She was born April 29, 1892 in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey to Otto Luther and Martha Klindt.

Birth certificate of baby girl Lutter.
Born April 29, 1892 in Newark, New Jersey.

In 1912, Gussie married James John Kittson. His parents were Robert Kittson and Mary J Payne.

Marriage certificate of James J Kittson and Augusta Luther.
Married February 17, 1912 in Harrison, New Jersey.

They had one child, James Mike Kittson, in 1919. (More on him in a future article.)

Birth certificate of James Mike Kitzens [Kittson].
Born August 11, 1919 in Harrison, New Jersey.

James Senior died in 1934. According to his death certificate, he was cremated at Rosehill Cemetery in Linden, New Jersey. I do not know what became of his ashes.

Death certificate of James J Kittson.
Died November 29, 1934 in Harrison, New Jersey.

In the 1940 census, Gussie was a widow in Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey with her son, James Kittson. I had nothing beyond this on her.

1940 United States Federal Census
Gussie Kittson, head; age 49; widowed; born in New Jersey.
James M Kittson, son; age 20; single; born in New Jersey.
Patrick Kennedy, lodger; age 56; single; born in New Jersey.

While reviewing Lutter and Luther marriages, I found a possible remarriage for Augusta in 1947 to Donald MacDonald. (This index is available at Ancestry.)

Bride Index. State of New Jersey. 1947.
Augusta Luther married Donald MacDonald.

I copied this marriage record at the State Archives in Trenton. Augusta had indeed married again. On January 18, 1947, Augusta Luther married Donald MacDonald in Harrison, Hudson County. He was born August 27, 1877 in Glasgow, Scotland, to Archibald MacDonald and Annie Struthers.

Marriage certificate of Donald MacDonald and Augusta Luther.
Married January 18, 1947 in Harrison, New Jersey.

Still I could not find a date of death for Augusta under the name Lutter, Luther, Kittson, or MacDonald. I found a possible entry in the marriage index again. Anna A Lutther married John J Scanlon in 1952. 1948 is the most recent available year of marriage records at the Archives, so I cannot see this record yet.

Bride Index. New Jersey. 1952.
Anna A Lutther married John J Scanlon.

City Directories for Harrison are online at Ancestry. The wife of John J Scanlon also went by "Augusta."

City Directory. Harrison, New Jersey. 1952.
Scanlon John J (Augusta) h rear 109 S Fourth H

The New Jersey Death Index contained a possible entry for Augusta Lutter: Anna Augusta Scanlon in 1956. This record I could copy at the Archives. This is the correct person. I don't know why she switched to using "Anna" as a first name. She died August 26, 1956 in Harrison. She was buried at Arlington Memorial Park in Kearny, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Death certificate of Anna Augusta Scanlon.
Died August 26, 1956 in Harrison, New Jersey.

How did Augusta's marriage to Donald MacDonald end? The New Jersey Death Index has gaps and restarts in 1949. I searched the certificates at the Archives for 1947 and 1948- no good matches for Donald MacDonald. The 1950 census is appearing in Ancestry's index as I type this. I found Donald and Augusta in Harrison.

1950 United States Federal Census
Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey
Donald McDonald, head; age 72; born in Scotland.
Anna McDonald, wife; age 57; born in New Jersey; works as waitress in cafe.

I returned to the Death Index and looked at 1950, 1951, and 1952. I found a possible match: Donald McDonald, not MacDonald, in 1951. I will view this record during my next trip to the Archives.

New Jersey Death Index, 1951
Donald McDonald died in June 1951.

Next: more information on Augusta's son, James Kittson.

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.