In addition to early records of interment (1855-1874) and routine certificates of death (1874 to the present), the District of Columbia maintained a somewhat unique type of death record, called "foreign deaths," as indexed here. Perhaps a misleading title-the records were kept for instances where the remains were handled by a District of Columbia undertaker or the remains were in other ways associated with a District of Columbia burying ground. A "foreign" death record typically shows the name of deceased, age, race, color, place of death, date of interment and undertaker in charge.
Maryland did not keep early public death records. Although Virginia had a lapse in law requiring the keeping of public death records from 1896 to 1912, one will often find here for that period a local death record in the form of a transfer permit, physician's permit, coroner's certificate, or funeral director's and baggage agent's certificate. These types of records frequently give genealogical information. When space permits, the maiden name of married females or the name of the father or others is inserted in parentheses when found among multiple papers in the record.
In the present index, data has been typed from microfilm copies that were provided by the LDS Church, and, when necessary, cross-checked with the original records at the D.C. Archives. The time span indicated in the title indicates when the action was performed, and not necessarily when the person died. In most cases removals from one cemetery to another are for persons long dead, in some cases over 75 years!
Wesley E. Pippenger
2005, 6" x 9", paper, 300 pp.
ISBN: 9780788431869
101-P3186
