*Previous volumes of Black Families of the Ozarks are on the Springfield/Greene County Library District
website.
Thanks to Elaine Graham Estes for furnishing some biographical information.
On the Missouri
Secretary of State's website are currently [2015] death certificates from 1910 to 1964 of people who died in
Missouri. Although there is more information on them than is listed below the following has been given:
Name of deceased | birth/death date | father | mother |
Spouse if known | father's birthplace | mother's birthplace | |
Birthplace of deceased | Place of death of deceased | ||
Informant [sometimes comments] |
The accuracy of the information given by the informant can vary greatly. Often little is known by the
informant other than the deceased person's name and birthplace. Death certificate forms changed over the
years. Early ones have places for the deceased person's parents' birthplaces. Some forms asked for military
service information. Forms had spaces for cemeteries and locations of cemeteries, funeral homes, causes of
death, occupations, dates of immigration and other interesting, but sometimes unimportant, facts.
Handwritten forms were sometimes very difficult to read or illegible. Information in brackets comes from
other sources. Images of original documents can currently be printed off or viewed at no charge. Always
check the original document for confirmation of the information below. On the state website some names have
been misread off of the death certificates. Different types of searches may be helpful if a name cannot be
found in that listing. A suspicious number of birthdays are for July 4th and December 25th; especially
before 1865.
Missouri Death Certificate 1910 - 1964