How to find a deceased person?

Question

My mother was adopted by her stepfather. All she knows about her bio. father is that his name was James Palmer and that he died in a car crash(supposedly) two months beofre she was born. She was born 9/4/1950. How do I go about findind this man, I need to know for medical reasons. My grandmother is recently deceased so I can't ask her.

Answer 1

Has your mom tried to get a copy of her adoption papers?

Her fathers info has to be listed somewhere in the original petition for adoption.

Answer 2

Assuming he died in Illinois, check the Soc Sec Death Index.  Then if he's on the list, take that info to the court house in the town that appears on the index.  Also, check this site:

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/depart...

Answer 3

do a search on the social security dead index.http://www.deathindexes.com

once you find him on the index u can get a copy of his death cert. which might list the hospital he was in when he past. This is a long shot. but good luck. asking for all of this info u need to prove u are his grand daughter which u can't. Then u are hoping to find health records on someone who past over 50 yrs ago. It might be easier to take whatever med tests u need to insure your health.

Answer 4

I searched the Database of Illinois Death Certificates, 1916–1950 but didn't find a 1950 death for James Palmer .  These records are not completely updated so you could keep trying as it could show up in the next few months.  

You may want to locate James and your grandmother's marriage certificate to find additional information such as his date/place of birth, parent's names, his full name (it is possible the James was his middle name).  Considering the death may have occured somewhere else besides Illinois and not every American had a SSN in 1950 so the Social Security Death Index has very few deaths for that year, any additional information would be very helpful.

These are the only records that I would consider a being the closest match (which isn't very close), but you can check the records yourself at the links below.

Illinois Statewide Death Index

PALMER,        CLYDE  

Male White

Death Date 1950-04-05

Age 49

Cook Co., IL

Certificate # 6024607  

Social Security Death Index

JAMES PALMER  19 Feb 1892 - Jun 1950

SSN 552-38-9960 California

California Death Records

PALMER  JAMES  S

Birth date: 02/19/1892

Mother's maiden name:  ANTHONY  

Father's last name:  PALMER  M  

Place born: CALIFORNIA  

Death Place:  YOLO, CA

Death date/Age:    06/26/1950    58 yrs

Database of Illinois Death Certificates, 1916–1950

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/depart...

SSDI

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