Missouri Death Certificates

It seems the Secretary of State out in Show-Me Land had enough time on his or her hands to digitize a bunch of the old death certificates on file in his or her office.

That's good news to genealogists, no?!

The records span from 1910 to 1957, and are searchable at the following link:

http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/

I have already found some folks from my own family tree:

* Mary Fletcher "Fet" Cocke (1829-1913) of Keytesville, elder sister of my ancestor Martha Virginia Brown (#33).

* William McKinzy Cocke (1826-1917) of Keytesville, Fet's husband and also a distant cousin.

* Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hanenkamp Delafield (1849-1932) of St. Louis, a distant cousin.

* Wallace Delafield (1840-1915) of St. Louis, Lizzie's husband.

* Lewis D. Dozier (1846-1914) of St. Louis, a distant cousin by marriage.

* Sallie Lewis Johnson (1860-1926) of St. Louis, a distant cousin.

* Warren Johnson (1861-1936) of Webster Groves, Sallie's husband.

* Andrew J. Knapp (1851-1921) of St. Louis, husband of Julia below.

* Julia Lewis Knapp (1855-1918) of St. Louis, a distant cousin.

* Lewis Knapp (1877-1947) of St. Louis, Julia's son.

* John D. Perry Lewis (1873-1939) of St. Louis, a distant cousin.

* Sallie Lewis (1870-1938) of St. Louis, John's wife.

* Turner Talton Lewis (1857-1932) of St. Louis, a distant cousin.

* Kate Virginia Manning (? - 1917) of Kansas City, sister of my namesake William Swinney Morgan (#16).

* Williem E. Manning (1858-1939) of Kansas City, Kate's husband.

* William E. Royster, Sr., (1863-1936) of Kansas City, a distant cousin by marriage.

* William E. Royster, Jr. (1913-1913) of Independence, who died of bronchitis when only 2 weeks of age.

* Margaret Morris Scarritt (1853-1933) of Kansas City, a distant cousin.

* Stuart G. Stickney (1877-1932) of St. Louis, a distant cousin by marriage (a marriage, by the way, which ended in divorce according to the death certificate!)

Mary Elizabeth Blakesley (#35), funeral home record

The Central Florida Memory project is a wonderful source of genealogical information for those with roots in or around Orlando.

The project is a partnership to preserve local historical resources that was formed in 2002, and now consists of the following partner organizations:

* The University of Central Florida Library.
* The Orange County Regional History Center.
* The Orange County Library System.
* The Museum of Seminole County.
* Rollins College's Olin Library.

Among the old records preserved at this site are those compiled by the Carey Hand Funeral Home, a treasure trove for the local family historian.

For instance, I found this image of the arrangements made for my ancestor Mary Elizabeth Blakesley (#35) back in 1925.

She was the wife (and distant cousin) of my Civil War ancestor Edson McClure Blakesley (#34), and the mother of Lola Blakesley Morgan (#17) in whose plot she was buried at Greenwood Cemetery.

The most amazing part of this discovery for me was Mary Elizabeth's funeral and burial only cost the family $205.00!

Some new peregrination starting points from this find:
* 201 North Magnolia Avenue is given as the Blakesley home address. Where is this? What is on this site today?
* The officiating minister was Dean Adcock. Who was he?
* The family had use of an automobile described as a "grey Winton." Did I read that correctly? What kind of car was that?