Revisiting Pennsylvania Death Certificates

Although most of my Pennsylvania connections had long ended by 1906, I've been eager to check out the death certificates recently uploaded by Ancestry.  The one certificate I did order from the Dept. of Health a few years ago was of horrible quality.  I was expecting more of the same, but lo and behold:


The above is the same certificate I had previously ordered, though this time I can actually read it!
(The certificate has several errors: Joseph wasn't born in Niles, Trumbull, Ohio but Lawrence Co., Pennsylvania.  His mother's name was Elizabeth Clemen(t)s and the Margaret Murray listed was actually Joseph's late wife.  Joseph had lived in Ohio most of his life but died in Sharon while visiting his daughter.)

My skepticism has been banished!  If you also ordered through the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health and were disappointed, give Ancestry's new collection a try - you might be pleasantly surprised.

Note: I have no affiliation whatsoever with Ancestry.com or any other persons, websites or companies under the Ancestry.com umbrella.

Comments

  1. I was surprised also by the difference in quality. On my gg grandfather's death certificate hard copy, his mother's name was so faint it was bareky detectable, but on the ancestry.com copy it was completely clear. The problem stemmed from the Dept of Health making a copy of a microfilm copy. Interestingly, it had his mother's name wrong also. As I was writing this comment, I figured out why the name was wrong. It was his foster mother's name. (His mother died at his birth)

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