Today, we” look at resources available for Coroner’s Records, which might be related to yesterday’s topic of criminal records. However, often, Coroner’s Records have no connection whatsoever to crime.
Coroners complete autopsies on deceased persons whenever the cause of death is uncertain or totally unknown. Coroners often clarify if cause of death was natural, by accident, by suicide or at the hands of others.
As with criminal records, coroners’ reports may be housed in several locations and, depending on the time period, may or may not still exist. However, they are often filed at the county level or in the state archives. Be sure to also search for “medical examiner” in a keyword search.
If you are a subscriber of Legacy Family Tree Webinars, there is a 2017 webinar by Lisa Alzo titled Cause of Death: Using Coroner’s Records for Genealogy.
Here are some suggestions for locating coroner reports:
- Kenneth Mark’s The Ancestor Hunt has the best collection of links to coroners’ records that I’ve found. This is where I’d begin my search.
- Cyndi’s List
3. Ancestry – Search the keyword “coroner” and about 15 results, both national and international will appear.
3. USGenWeb must be searched first by state and then by county, but there are some helpful links there.
4. FamilySearch Wiki– A “coroner’s records” search brings up many results, but all are at the local level. An easier search path would be to look at the county level to learn what collections are found under Death Records.
This list is short because most coroner’s inquests files have not been digitized and placed online. However, these suggestions, particularly Kenneth Mark’s links, should get your research started.