Are privacy laws a stumbling block for you in your 21^st and 20^th century research? They often block us, too.

Sometimes our clients know very little about their ancestry. One client’s grandfather died tragically, and the father did not talk to the his son (our client) about that side of the family. Another client found out about a biological grandfather from a birth record when the client’s mother passed away. In a more recent case, our client wanted to study the ancestry of her late husband. The client never knew her husband’s father and had very little contact with her mother-in-law prior to her husband’s death.

In all these cases possible grandparents were found through other records, but documentation was needed to prove the link. Normally death records would be used to this end, but due to privacy laws, many states do not make death records available to the public if the event occurred within the last fifty years or some other time frame similar to that. This is when we seek an obituary instead.

There are many obituaries or death notices available online, but most are only found through subscription websites. It is best to get obituaries through local libraries. The reference personnel will know what newspapers are available for the time period of your search. Sometimes if the town is small, they will give a shpeal about how they are understaffed and it might take them a few days, but they will still do it usually for under $5. Bigger libraries are used to these types of requests and may include in their website instructions for requesting an obituary and the cost for the service. For best results call them anyway and get a contact name. It makes for more effective follow up calls or emails.

If you have a stumbling block in your 20th Century research, please ask us for help – get a free estimate! We know how to solve these stumbling blocks! We work on these every day.