Re: Wrights in England; Cumberland and Dauphin Counties, Pennsylvania, USA
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In reply to:
Re: Wrights in England; Cumberland and Dauphin Counties, Pennsylvania, USA
Chris Wright 6/05/11
Courthouses generally do not have death certificates unless one is filed with an estate, which is required anymore, but not back then. The Register of Wills in many counties in Pennsylvania did keep a docket of death dates up to I believe in some cases the 1930's but only for those for whom an estate was filed.
The State Library probably has microfilm copies of newspapers of the area, but I seriously doubt they have been indexed in any way. You could try the Dauphin County Historical Society to see if they have an index.
If you know the cemetery they are buried in and the exact date of death is not on the tombstones check with the cemetery office. They should be able to at least give a burial date.
You can ask the PA Dept of Health to do an extended 10 year search, but it will cost you $34 instead of $9 and the results are not as certain as knowing the exact date.
You might be interested in the grassroots effort that hopes to solve the kind of problem you are dealing with by making death certificates in Pennsylvania over 50 years old available online: http://users.rcn.com/timarg/PaHR-Access.htmhttp://users.rcn.com/timarg/PaHR-Access.htm