Does anyone know where I can get death records with just a last name?

Question

My grandfather was shot in the 70's or 80's and I want to know why, but I only have his last name.

Answer 1

You need more then his last name to be sure you have the right person. Do you know what state he was in. Is there anyone that can give you info. Do you know where he was buried? If you could give us more info we can try to help you a little more

Answer 2

If this took place in the US, I would suggest first searching the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) to find out his date of death.  You can search using only his surname but hopefully you know the state and county where he was living which would narrow it down, especially if its a common name.  Once you find the exact date of death, you may be able to order a copy of his death certificate, usually available in most states for about $10 or $15 from the Bureau of Vital Statistics and Department of Health.  

However a death certificate will give you the cause of death but it won't tell you why it happened, so you can try searching the local newspaper archives once you have the death date to see if there was a story about the murder.

Here are the links to websites that should help you:

SSDI Index (free search)

http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bi...

Information on ordering death certificates by location:

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/r...

List of major US cities newspaper archives websites:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/oltitles.html

There may be fees associated with locating some of this information, but you could edit your question with the information you have and someone may be able to find something for you.  The first time I came on Yahoo!Answers, I was looking for information about a murder that took place in 1950,  and thanks to an experienced researcher "WENDY C", within 5 minutes she sent me an old  newspaper article which told the whole story (after I spent 2 days searching with no results).  

Good luck in your search, I hope you get what your looking for.

Answer 3

You don't say which country where your grandfather lived/was shot, so I can only suggest that you use Ancestry.com.

If you had your parents birth certificates your Grandfathers  full name would be on it/them.

Perhaps you could try the local newspapers of where he lived, perhaps the closest library would have them digitised.

It's quite possible that the shooting was reported in the newspaper.

Freebmd's records have reached the year 1927 (deaths) for a lot of UK Counties, I am a transcriber and am working on 1928 deaths at the moment.

Best of luck in your search.

Answer 4

Go here: http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

It has all the births marraiges and deaths from a certain time. Good luck searching.