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A guide from the desk

How do I read a Michigan death certificate?

A death certificate is two records in one. The doctor wrote down the death, at the time. Someone else, the informant, answered questions about a whole life, on the hardest day. Tap any numbered box to see who filled it in, and how far to trust it.

Every box, in order

1. 1Place of death
2. 2Registered no.
3. 3Full name
4. 4Sex · race · marital status
5. 5Date of birth
6. 6Age: years, months, days
7. 7Occupation
8. 8Birthplace
9. 9Father’s name and birthplace
10. 10Mother’s maiden name and birthplace
11. 11Informant
12. 12Date of death
13. 13Cause of death
14. 14Physician’s signature
15. 15Burial: place and date
16. 16Undertaker · filed date

The rule of thumb

The top half (boxes 3 to 10) is memory: what the informant believed about a life. The bottom half (boxes 12 to 16) is the event: written by people who were there that week. When either half disagrees with another record, trust the bottom half first, and weigh the top half by who the informant was.

Remember: the dead person was never the informant. Everything in the top half is someone else’s memory, given on the hardest day, so find the informant’s name on the certificate and ask how well they knew the life they were describing.

Michigan’s certificates from 1897 to 1952 are free to view at the Archives of Michigan. Elsewhere, try FamilySearch or your state archives.

Try it on the practice caseHunter’s worksheet (PDF)