Our Case Studies demonstrate how the Information Sources have been used to discover information about individuals and families. There are usually two or three different Information Sources used in each case study. In many cases the information discovered using one Information Source leads to another Information Source for additional information.
Here is the current list of our Case Studies shown in order of the Information Sources used in each Case Study. Just click any blue box to read the Case Study listed in the box.
California Death Index - Holbrook
DC (Washington) Marriages - Hart
England Census - Walton
Family Trees - Bolton - Browne - Gill - Reddington - Salinger - Smith
GenWeb Project - Byrne - Soucie
Google - Anderson
Historical Newspapers - Gilbert - Hart - Salinger - Soucie - Joyce
Online Newspapers - Kowalski
RootsWeb Mailing List - Anderson
Search All Records - Bolton
Search Engines - Smith - Walton
Social Security Death Index - Gill - Reddington - Soucie
Surname Forums - Hart - Kowalski
The Political Graveyard - Browne
US Draft Registration Catds - Kowalski
US Federal Census - Bolton - Browne - Byrne - Gilbert - Holbrook - Kishbaugh - Reddington - Salinger - Walton
To facilitate the ordering of copies of death certificates many states provide a free online index of death dates. So a person can search the state's records to find the death date of an ancestor before ordering a copy of his or her death certificate.
Users of these indexes are not required to buy a copy of a death certificate. So you can use a state index to try and find an ancestor's death date - then with the death date you can try to find an obituary in a local newspaper or use the death date in some other way.