Pennsylvania Death Certificates

Do you remember when I told you about the death certificate index on the Pennsylvania State Archives website?  You could search by name BUT - you had to have the year of death.  When you found the one that you wanted, you would get a date of death and a certificate number.  With this info, you could send in a form, with the certificate number AND three dollars for each certificate.  It would then take 8 to 10 weeks to get the certificate.

Well, there's a new database in town, and it's on ancestry.com.  It's Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906 to 1944.  The best part is that this is not an index, it's images.  This is the mother lode for my Bradys and Bradleys in Schuylkill County and Scranton, PA.

So look what I found:

Yup, my great grandfather's brother John.  He lived to be 84 and outlived his wife Anna.  But the really interesting part is the date and place of birth: 5 Jul 1854.  That is one of the few death certificates that has an exact date of birth -  but again- that's not the interesting part to me.  Most interesting is the place of birth: Little Falls, NY.  Never saw that coming, I never heard of it and had no idea that the family had ever lived there.  So my next move was to check out Little Falls, NY on google.  It is located in Herkimer County about four hours from the Canadian border.

Next move is to call the Little Falls, NY Historical Society.  I learned a few things from them.  First, is that the Erie Canal is there.  It was opened in 1825, but it was enlarged between 1934 and 1862.  When I asked the woman at the historical society what my great great grandfather Thomas would have done for a living back then, she said that he may have worked on the enlargement of the canal - pretty cool.  Then I asked if the folks in that area of New York would have migrated from Ireland through New York or would they have come down from Canada?  She said that during that time, Canada was part of Great Britain, as was Ireland, so there may not have been any citizenship issues.  So it may have been easier for them to go to Canada first, then south into New York state.  She said the "Shanty Irish" seem to have come by that route.

So she is going to check for any records that they may have there, and get back to me in a couple of weeks.  There is a nominal fee, but it's cheaper than driving to Little Falls to do it myself.

The last thing about John J Brady is that he is also buried at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton.  I have to call them too.

Next find was John's wife, Anna Butler:

This death certificate is where I learned her maiden name, she was the daughter of John Butler and Margaret Hobart, both born in Ireland.  This says that Anna was born in 1863 (but I don't know how accurate that is).  She died on 4 July 1932 (the day before her husband's birthday), from cancer of the gall bladder.  She is also buried in Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton, PA.

Well, I think that is enough for now, but don't worry, this database of death certificates has given me a big supply of blog fodder.  Including facts that confirm previous research for me, and new theories about other relatives.  Theories that may never be confirmed, but the research is the most fun part of this hobby.