American certificates

[devonliz]

Does anyone have experience of ordering a death certificate from the USA? I have found it very frustrating!

I am trying to find the 'cause of death' for a blood relative who emigrated from Yorkshire to USA in 1855 - died in Fort Atkinson, Jefferson County, Wisconsin on 12th Sept 1879 (confirmed by death notice in Sheffield newspaper and noted by Family Search, and from burial record). Her name was Emily Loxley, born 1827.

I have tried several avenues via Google. The Wisconsin Historical Society suggested I go to the Wisconsin Register of Deeds - security firewall will not allow me to get through - I've ended up with something called VitalChek but they cannot help, suggesting I have provided incorrect data! They do list Wisconsin as a state that will supply certificates online.

Grrrr!

[AdrianBruce]

While Wisconsin may well supply certificates online, that's assuming that they exist in the first place.

The basic issue with American certification is that (a) there is no single federal system, only whatever states decided; (b) individual states mandated certificates at different, and frequently late, times; (c) before such a mandate, certificates were patchy and / or very much voluntary.

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Ho ... th_Records says:

Statewide registration of deaths began in 1907. Before 1907, deaths were not recorded by the state; however, some counties recorded deaths. But county registration was voluntary, making death records before 1907 irregular.

So we're already dependent on counties, not Wisconsin itself, and notice that county registration was voluntary. There may very well be nothing more than you have already found - and never was....

Incidentally, it does look from https://digital.newberry.org/ahcb/docum ... ronologies as if Jefferson Co. was fixed some time before your interest, so you are at least spared the issue of changing geography, which is another US bugbear.

[VALLMO9]

Wisconsin's Death Registry: From 1852 to 1897, a physician attendant at a death was required to submit a death certificate to the county register of deeds. In 1897, the requirement to file a certificate was extended to all deaths, whether or not a physician was present. Legislation passed that year made it illegal for a sexton, undertaker, or other person to bury anyone without obtaining a burial permit from the local health officer or clerk. The burial permit was to be issued only if a death certificate had been submitted.
The Register of Deeds recorded the information from the death certificate in two identical volumes. The county retained one volume; [b]the other was forwarded to the Secretary of State before 1908[/b] and to the Bureau of Health Statistics for 1908 and later.

See this link for more info regarding the above: https://www.uwp.edu/learn/library/Archives/vital.cfm

Sounds like the Wisconsin Register of Deeds and/or the University of Wisconsin Parkside (Library Archives) will need to advise on access (if any) to the two volumes mentioned above. Good luck!

[devonliz]

Ah, thank you both for these informative replies.
So, since the death occurred in 1879, I suppose that a physician was not present at the death, so no death cert was needed. On the other hand, the day of death was noted in the findagrave record via FamilySearch, so the cemetery must have recorded that.
I'm rather sad about this, as although I have quite a lot of information about Emily (from census etc), it is reassuring to see an actual certificate.
This has definitely been an insight into US registration rules!