Hi. Would anyone be able to help me find court records (or other source permitted by WS) declaring a MP deceased in absentia? I've done some online searching, including official court sites, and looked through some online indices, but haven't found anything yet.
Help finding death in absentia records for MP
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I have no idea how to do that.
But.... the Mormons (well, as a collective group) could well know how to do it as genealogy and associated records are important to their religious practice.
Most cities have a Family History Center staffed by volunteers who are proficient with a variety of public records searches pursuant to genealogy. Being low tech myself and as the request maybe challenging, I would just stop by in person.
Laughing
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Do you have an LE report or main stream media report of the missing person?
Name, where, and when are pivotal in finding more information.
Records & access will vary from state to state.
Old genealogist here, @Cryptic is spot on regarding Family History Centers btw.
Thank you for your replies.
Thank you. I'm somewhat familiar with the online site. I hadn't thought of the FHCs for this particular information. Seems to make sense.
I think (but I'm not 100% sure) that such newspaper notices would be ok. Would you happen to have tips on searching for these? Usually, if there's a newspaper archive link, in my experience, it's been behind a subscription paywall, so I was hoping to find free court records that are publicly available. It might be useful to have a subscription to all the papers ever, but that hasn't seemed feasible. Searching court records hasn't yielded results yet; it's possible the papers would have something.
Best that I can recall, there's a NAMUS page, which is where I found the info to search with. Someone found a mention of MP in an old paper -- I can't view the link [subscription], image too small / too blurry when zoom. (From what I understand, it was a mention in a short piece referencing several 'old' missing persons cases in the area). I found two obituaries for relatives that mention MP as predeceased. I would think those would be LE & MSM.
I was concerned the obituaries might not be allowed unless substantially proven to be MP & family. There's a genealogy site that mentions MP was declared deceased in absentia -- the site ties in with the obituaries to connect it all to MP (I'm reasonably certain). But I'm not sure the info on the genealogy page is permitted, as it was entered without a 'source' (by a close relative, I believe). So I've been looking for something more definitely WS-approved, to make it all 'official'.
There is a name (maiden & married). Presuming the declaration would be in location of MP's last known residence, there's a location. There is a timeframe (before the relatives' obituaries, after MP's DLC).
Thanks for validating the FHC suggestion. I've been meaning to get to one; things just seemed to come up and sidetrack the plan. I hadn't really thought of it as a resource for this particular kind of information, but it makes sense.
Thank you. I'm somewhat familiar with the online site. I hadn't thought of the FHCs for this particular information. Seems to make sense.
I think (but I'm not 100% sure) that such newspaper notices would be ok. Would you happen to have tips on searching for these? Usually, if there's a newspaper archive link, in my experience, it's been behind a subscription paywall, so I was hoping to find free court records that are publicly available. It might be useful to have a subscription to all the papers ever, but that hasn't seemed feasible. Searching court records hasn't yielded results yet; it's possible the papers would have something.
Best that I can recall, there's a NAMUS page, which is where I found the info to search with. Someone found a mention of MP in an old paper -- I can't view the link [subscription], image too small / too blurry when zoom. (From what I understand, it was a mention in a short piece referencing several 'old' missing persons cases in the area). I found two obituaries for relatives that mention MP as predeceased. I would think those would be LE & MSM.
I was concerned the obituaries might not be allowed unless substantially proven to be MP & family. There's a genealogy site that mentions MP was declared deceased in absentia -- the site ties in with the obituaries to connect it all to MP (I'm reasonably certain). But I'm not sure the info on the genealogy page is permitted, as it was entered without a 'source' (by a close relative, I believe). So I've been looking for something more definitely WS-approved, to make it all 'official'.
There is a name (maiden & married). Presuming the declaration would be in location of MP's last known residence, there's a location. There is a timeframe (before the relatives' obituaries, after MP's DLC).
Thanks for validating the FHC suggestion. I've been meaning to get to one; things just seemed to come up and sidetrack the plan. I hadn't really thought of it as a resource for this particular kind of information, but it makes sense.
HopeRains
My name is Lisa Coburn Kesler.
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I have subscriptions to a couple of newspaper archive platforms. I've seen legal notices where a hearing is being held for a missing person to declare the missing person as deceased. I'm not sure that I have ever seen a legal notice where the missing person was declared as deceased given the hearing results.
Keyword searches would include the person's name (if known). For me sometimes, I'm looking for cases we do not/may not know about and am thus just searching off of "probate" (for probate court) and "missing person", which will sometimes bring up the notices I mentioned or "probate" and "declared deceased", for example. Most of these I have seen have been archived in Georgia papers, although I have seen them in on occasion in other papers. I would think one would need actual results of the hearing to confirm the determination.
If you have a particular name you would like for someone to help search on, you can post it here and I'm sure someone would help you, myself included
Keyword searches would include the person's name (if known). For me sometimes, I'm looking for cases we do not/may not know about and am thus just searching off of "probate" (for probate court) and "missing person", which will sometimes bring up the notices I mentioned or "probate" and "declared deceased", for example. Most of these I have seen have been archived in Georgia papers, although I have seen them in on occasion in other papers. I would think one would need actual results of the hearing to confirm the determination.
If you have a particular name you would like for someone to help search on, you can post it here and I'm sure someone would help you, myself included
Thank you for asking, @Laughing . In a word, no.
I've been told NY papers are not easy to find for free / included with general paper subscriptions.
My own internet search did not yet find any official notice or record. As far as I know right now, no one else has, either -- but I'm just logging in today after a while, so maybe I will find that has changed.
I've been told NY papers are not easy to find for free / included with general paper subscriptions.
My own internet search did not yet find any official notice or record. As far as I know right now, no one else has, either -- but I'm just logging in today after a while, so maybe I will find that has changed.
Laughing
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Are you willing to share the name or the NAMUS link with us?
Have you checked for an existing thread about this missing person?
Keep in mind that newspapers come & go, and town names come & go. The Kansas City Star & the Kansas City Times merged in 1990 or 91.
NYS Historic Newspapers | The New York Public Library
Searchable full-text and page images of over 400 New York-based newspapers, dating from 1795-2014. To browse a current list of publications, click here.
New York Newspapers
Newspapers mention births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, probate court proceedings, and other news items. Some newspapers are indexed.
You will probably need to establish a username & password for these sites, but they are held for the public. If you have trouble searching, call/email & speak with a staffer -- generally amazingly helpful people answer the phone, and these are people who are familiar with the collection and about as curious as we are.
And:
NYGenWeb: Your Gateway to New York Genealogy and History
The NYGenWeb Project is the New York affiliate of the USGenWeb Project, dedicated to providing free genealogical and historical information about New York State online
www.nygenweb.net
Did you find the obituary at a newspaper's website? Does the obituary mention the funeral home? Those records may be on the US GenWeb site, in the county of the internment.
Is the person listed in Find A Grave?
Find a Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records
The World’s largest gravesite collection. Contribute, create and discover gravesites from all over the world. Find a Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records.
www.findagrave.com
Again, you may find funeral home information, dates & middle names, family constellation, etc.
How much can you share? Is there a reason you've withheld the person's name so far?
Let us help in the search!
Are you willing to share the name or the NAMUS link with us?
Have you checked for an existing thread about this missing person?
Keep in mind that newspapers come & go, and town names come & go. The Kansas City Star & the Kansas City Times merged in 1990 or 91.
NYS Historic Newspapers | The New York Public Library
Searchable full-text and page images of over 400 New York-based newspapers, dating from 1795-2014. To browse a current list of publications, click here.www.nypl.org
New York Newspapers
Newspapers mention births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, probate court proceedings, and other news items. Some newspapers are indexed.www.familysearch.org
You will probably need to establish a username & password for these sites, but they are held for the public. If you have trouble searching, call/email & speak with a staffer -- generally amazingly helpful people answer the phone, and these are people who are familiar with the collection and about as curious as we are.
And:
NYGenWeb: Your Gateway to New York Genealogy and History
The NYGenWeb Project is the New York affiliate of the USGenWeb Project, dedicated to providing free genealogical and historical information about New York State onlinewww.nygenweb.net
Did you find the obituary at a newspaper's website? Does the obituary mention the funeral home? Those records may be on the US GenWeb site, in the county of the internment.
Is the person listed in Find A Grave?
Find a Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records
The World’s largest gravesite collection. Contribute, create and discover gravesites from all over the world. Find a Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records.
Again, you may find funeral home information, dates & middle names, family constellation, etc.
How much can you share? Is there a reason you've withheld the person's name so far?
Let us help in the search!
One of the pieces of advice I received was to not mention names until I had better proofs. I think that was in context of staying firmly on the good side of TOS. This has been leading to additional challenge in asking for help.
Strangely, when I tried to share the NAMUS link with someone offering to help, I couldn't find it -- but I'm not sure that that was where I had found the MP's case. Most are encountered there, so I could simply be mistaken that I had found one, based on what has been typical.
I have checked for an existing thread, a few times. There were no results, other than a conversation in an UID's thread where MP was mentioned, as far as I recall.
You bring up very good points about towns and publications changing over time.
Thank you for the links.
I had found my way to an historic paper archive and had not found anything relevant on that site. Apologies, I'm not sure which right now (some circumstances in life had made it very difficult to keep good notes recently).
I appreciate the encouraging words regarding contacting staff.
To my recollection, the obituaries of the family members of the MP were found on a legacy site as well the site of a funeral home. There was no obituary found for MP.
I haven't found MP on Find A Grave. It's my understanding the site is for deceased who have been buried in a known grave (or whose remains are known to have been duly cremated). One or two of the relatives for whom an obituary was found did appear on Find A Grave.
As I mentioned, I was cautioned regarding what information to mention until there are documents or links that support better information. Several people have expressed unwillingness to start or participate in a thread until it is ascertained the person is still missing. The one relevant newspaper article, posted by a WS user, is not very current. The Family Search entry is, to my recollection, significantly more current -- but, considering anyone could join and use any name, and there is no source cited for the information, it would seem this might not be considered enough to post.
Honestly, personally, I probably would've just started the thread for the MP, and presented all this there. It seems a bit too much ado otherwise. IMO.
Thank you.