The United States began authorizing in the early part of the 20th century. Deathindexes.com - a directory of online death indexes listed by state and county. Included are death records, death certificates indexes, death notices and registers, obituaries, probate indexes and cemetery and burial records. You can also find information here about searching the Social Security Death Index Online. You can also utilize its digitized copies of death certificates are available for online downloading for five states. These are: Arizona (1878-1956), Kentucky (1911-1953), Missouri (1910-1937 & 1945-1956 with more being added), Utah (1904-1954), and West Virginia (1917-1956). For links to those and links to online death certificate indexes for many other states (and some counties).

Newspaper Obituaries, Death Notices and Burial Permits

Obituaries are vital for family research as they give date and place of death and burial. Obituaries usually provides the following information:

- death or burial notice
- names of surviving and deceased relatives

A good source of finding copies of obituaries for your family research can be found at local public libraries and more recent listings can also be found online. Be adviced that you will not always find these kinds of newspaper listings for everyone who died. For some additional tips on how to make an extensive family research refer to this guide - Obituaries Research Guide

Cemeteries and Burial Indexes

If you don't know where someone is buried, death certificates often list place of burial. Some cemeteries have placed their burial indexes online, while others have been transcribed by volunteers.

Probate Records and Wills

Wills and Probate Records are also vital resources for tracing one's family history. They can provide information about a person's heirs, their family, spouse, children, siblings, relatives and other personal information. Some counties now have recent probate indexes online. The LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City is a treasure box for old probate records and wills. You can also try the death index directory I gave earlier or do a Google search. Microfilms can be ordered and viewed for a fee at local Family History Centers. You might also be able to find probate records in the courthouse where the will was probated or a local or state archive or other repository if the records were moved there.

Social Security Death Index (SSDI)

Deaths reported to the Social Security Administration are listed in this useful index. It's available online at several websites and some of them update it each month. For a list of four online SSDIs (three of them are free to use) - The Social Security Death Index - Online Searching

Author's Bio: 

Stellar Montealegre is the internet sale representative of Family Origin. He can give expert advice, guidelines and personal views on how to properly conduct family research and family tree making. You can find more readings related to family genealogy in his personal blog about family history research and family genealogy.