Be Sure to Visit my new 1900 Galveston Storm Website at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootseb.com/~barnette 

(Note: This Column Actually Ran June 17, 2000)

TEXAS DEATH INDEXES ON INTERNET

 Last week Texas birth records and online indexes were discussed in this column. This week that line of thought continues with a discussion of death records and online indexes.

 The State of Texas mandated the registering of deaths on a statewide basis beginning in 1903. In some counties compliance with the law was not very good until the late 1920's.

 Theoretically, one should be able to obtain a death record both, in the county where the death occurred or from the State Vital Records Office in Austin. According to law, a copy of the death record was to be recorded in the county where the death occurred and a copy was to have been sent to the State Bureau of Vital Records in Austin. If no death record was filed, there may be no death record.

 About 1989 the Texas legislature passed a privacy law closing public access to death records for 25 years. The law, however, did not address indexes to death. Last year a new law was passed allowing public access to the indexes as long as no identifying information was present in the record. Identifying information might be construed as information that would identify the birth parents of an adoptee in a sealed adoption case or a controversial cause of death, such as HIV.

 There are two types of indexes to deaths, Summary and General. Summary indexes are the ones usually available for public viewing. As a rule, it has enough information to identify a deceased, but, does not identify the parents or cause of death. General indexes, on the other hand, usually contain the identifying information, such as, the names of parents. Normally, this index is used by county and state officials in their everyday duties.

 Recently the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics placed indexes to deaths on their website on the Internet at http://www.tdh.state.tx.us/bvs/registra/INDEX.H TM . The indexes are not designed to be easily searched. The researcher has to download a whole year to locate one death. If the year of death is unknown a search of several years has to be conducted. The online database is not user-friendly and appears to facilitate the sale of microfiche and CD-ROMs by the State.

 20th Century Texas researchers can now rejoice. Volunteers at Rootsweb have come to the rescue. These volunteers have taken the State's database and placed a search engine on it. The ease of completing a search is quick, easy and very rewarding. One may search only a surname, only a given name or only a date or county. The results are displayed in nanoseconds.

 Death records for the years 1903 through 1963 are not in the State online database. They are, however, on microfiche and CD-ROM which is available for sale from the State Vital Records office in Austin. There is a set of the same microfiche at Clayton Genealogical Library in Houston and at other genealogical libraries.

 Death records for 1963 through 1998 are from the Summary Index and may be searched online on Rootsweb at http://userdb.rootsweb.com/tx/death/search.cgi. The database has 3,963,456 records including 163,544 surnames. One may search for exact, soundex or metaphone spellings of given or surnames. A search will yield results for the following data categories: first, last or middle name or initial, date or county of death, sex and marital status.

 Death certificates are available from the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Texas Department of Health, 1100 West 49th Street, Austin, TX 78756-3195. The search fee and a certified copy of a death certificate is $9. Additional copies are $3 each when purchased at the same time.

 Online searchable databases for Texas marriages and divorces are also on Rootsweb. They will be discussed in continuing columns.

GENEALOGY CLASSES

 Mic Barnette will present a beginning genealogy class, Roots of Genealogy: How To Research Your Family Tree at Leisure Learning's 2990 Richmond Avenue campus on Tuesday June 20 from 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. The class will cover a brief history of genealogical research and the fundamentals of how and where to begin research. The following week the class will meet at Clayton Library for an evening tour and hands-on census research.

 To find out more about the course and to enroll, contact Leisure Learning at 713-529-4414.

 On Wednesday June 21 Houston Community College's 1681 Cartwright campus will host Mic Barnette for a class on Surfing The Internet- For Genealogy. The class consists of a live tour of some of the best genealogical websites on the Internet. The class will be held from 1 P.M. to 4 P.M. For more information and to enroll contact HCC at 281-835-5539.

 Leisure Learning's campus at 2990 Richmond Avenue will be the place to find out how to trace immigrant ancestors. Mic Barnette will present Immigration, Passenger and Naturalization Records for Historians and Genealogists.

 Covering time frames from Colonial America to the present, the class will study the types and locations of records that may contain information concerning the arrival of one's ancestor coming to America. Class will held on Wednesday June 21 from 7 P.M. to 9 P.M. For more information and to register, contact  Leisure Learning at 713-529-4414.