Any suggestion on how to find a deceased relative?

Question

Any suggestion on how to find a deceased relative?

Answer 1

What do you know about this relative?  age/date of birth/place of birth/religion/employment.  If you know where the person died, you could trying searching for cemetery records or even get a death certificate.  Good luck

Answer 2

If you know the state they lived in, you can submit an application for a death certificate to the Department of Vital Statistics.  Even if you aren't sure of when they died, the Department will do a search over a span of years (costs a little extra).

Answer 3

Shovel?

Seriously check with the LDS church, they do a lot of genealogy.

Answer 4

starting with the basics.. you didn't tell us what country you are looking in.  If it happens to be the US, your first stop might be the social security death index, which covers almost all deaths in the last "about" 50 yrs.  It is free to use at rootsweb.com.  If you fit this time frame.. be warned that there may be a number of persons with the same name as your relative.. so you might have to filter by location or approx. date.  

This will hopefully provide the exact dates and place of birth death. It is not a death certificate. it IS an index.  Next thing is your exact relationship.. this affects if you have legal authority to order the death certificate itself. If it is a parent (and you can show that), you should be able to.  It also depends on when you are talking about, and by each state. MOST states restrict 'recent' certificates, and allow anyone to order them, if considered 'historical'.  If it goes back far enough, they won't be on the index.. and if they died prior to certificates being required.. that won't help either.

You can search for an obit. You should NOT expect one single obit site..narrow down the location, and the name of the likely newspaper. Some are online (and have obits); others will have the papers on microfilm.  Another option is to look up names of the funeral homes in the area.. and contact them.  That is OFTEN in the area where they lived.. not always.

It is all about specifics. You also might try posting the details that you do have right here (even if an estimate).  With details, someone may be able to pin it down for you, in a few minutes.