Pennsylvania Death Indice – Gold Mine

Huber Research

Florence Huber at 16 (1924)

The Huber side of the family is one shrouded in mystery.  Because my wife’s grandmother died when my wife’s mother was only four years old, and there were no siblings, very little was known about her.  I decided to look into her death information. What is her exact date, place, and cause of death?

First, I contacted my mother-in-law.  Did she have any additional information? A response from her indicated that she was sure it was 1934. Probably September. She thought her mother was buried somewhere in Brookline, Pittsburgh, PA. I went to the usual search places, ancestry.com, family search, etc., and wasn’t successful. I then looked at find-a-grave and several other grave sites and came up empty-handed. Archives.Com, which I am not a member of, indicated they had one hit for the right name and place, but they expanded the search period to a ten-year scope. I hate paying for information that only has a chance of being right. If they had left the search parameter to the one year I asked for, I would have gone for it, but I figured when they expanded my range to ten years, it was because they didn’t find anything in my one-year search, so it probably wasn’t the correct record.

Next to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The genealogical request form has many requirements that it wants that I didn’t have, primarily the date of death. I figured I was going to have to request a search.  I have had bad luck with searches in other states, paying for a search that yields nothing. Then I found Act 110 – Public Records (Senate Bill 361).

The Act “provide[s] for public access to certain birth and death certificates after a fixed amount of time has passed. This legislation provides that such documents become public records 105 years after the date of birth or 50 years after the date of death.” Through the act, you can get a non-certified copy for only $3, which is suitable for my purposes, and they have indexes.

I went to the death indexes and pulled up 1934. I was so confused.  The names were all jumbled up, and I couldn’t find anyone with the correct surname or the specific person I was looking for. Several years of indices are listed according to the Russell Soundex indexing method. I read about it and was still confused. Her surname had to be here someplace.  I downloaded the index to my computer (a pdf file) and then ran my OCR software (PDF Pen) against it. It is a big file, which took a while, but I found my person immediately when it was done. The name and place were right; the date was October instead of September, which is understandable.  I’m sure it is the right person.  I downloaded the order form and will send it today.

McAllister

Anna (Hannah) McAllister Darling, circa 1910.

Being an opportunist, I wondered if the Pennsylvania DoH site would help with a couple of other problems I’ve been having.  My wife’s great-grandmother died in 1913.  I looked up her name and quickly found an Anna White, who died in 1913. The date was different, I had 15 July, and the record indicated 11 July. The name wasn’t quite right. Oral history said that Hannah used Annie at that time; however, she used Anna earlier when she was “A. Darling.”  

Next, Annie’s mother, Margaret McAllister – shows up in the 1920 Census but not the 1930 Census. We know she died before my wife’s mother (1934). I then searched the indices for the years 1920 to 1930. Drats!  The 1920-1924 indexes used the Russell Soundex system. I searched and searched and finally found a McAllister. I then realized that the Russell Soundex code used a 242 under the “M” to describe the sound.  I quickly searched the other indices and found one Margaret McAllister, who died in Apollo, PA, in 1926. What would my Margaret be doing there? Apollo is only 32 miles away from Pittsburgh – It didn’t feel right.  I searched and found Margaret McAllister, who died on 27 March 1927 in Pittsburgh. It has to be the right one.

Conclusion

So, I have three death certificates to order and a new site for my favorites. The Pennsylvania Death Indices 1906 to Current minus 50 years (1962) is an excellent resource. Thank you, Act 110.  The Birth Indices only cover 1906 & 1907, but they will definitely help if you need to find someone in that period.

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