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The CGS Names Index (https://www.californiaancestors.org/look-ups/) includes several databases and today we’ll look at the Early Deaths database. When you search the CGS Names Index, one of the codes will be Early Deaths.
This data base includes some death notices from the San Francisco Call from 1902-1904 which you can have CGS look up for you, and also San Francisco Death Records 1865-1904, a database from FamilySearch that can include a lot of information about your ancestors’ deaths. While FamilySearch has digitized the images, indexing may not be complete, so this may end up being be one of those times for skimming and scrolling. If that isn’t for you, you may ask CGS for help using the Order form on the CGS Names Index page.
To check out the databases on FamilySearch, you can visit the FamilySearch catalog page (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/209456).
You will see that it is a combination of several databases, so you will want to be sure that who you are looking for is going to be represented. From my example above, I’ll use Joseph Mariani, who died in 1871 at the age of 57.
Clicking over to FamilySearch.org, I first log-in. If you don’t have a FamilySearch login, I highly recommend! I never get ANY spam and I get so much value. Once logged in, I’m going to click the magnifying glass next to the first database (and remind myself to go back and hit each database that applies!):
This shows me that I can search this database. I click on the Last Name in the right-side search and type in MARIANI.
This brings up my Joseph Mariani. I can see that he died 30 April 1871 in San Francisco and was born in 1814 in Switzerland. If I click the camera icon, I can get straight to the photo of the record this came from:
If you click the document icon instead of the camera, you can get some of the information typed out, a link to the image, and a citation for the finding (if you use a different citation method, feel free to use that). The image houses more information than what is indexed, so be sure to check out the direct image. In this case, they say that Joseph died of a fall. It was much more than that, but that will be a story for another day.
Hopefully this encourages you to check out the CGS Names Index and try focusing on the Early Deaths to see what you can find! If you get to a database that is not indexed yet, you can use the magnifying glass icon to search all the images manually. I always advise to go get your beverage of choice first! If you wish to have CGS do your looking, you can place an order using the directions on the CGS Names Index page.
Post a comment if you find anything exciting using the Early Deaths code! Happy hunting!
Helpful Links
Events: https://www.californiaancestors.org/events-and-education/
Special Interest Groups: https://www.californiaancestors.org/special-interest-groups-for-members/
Calendar view: https://www.californiaancestors.org/cgs_calendar/