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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Kiltpin on Wednesday 02 January 19 11:56 GMT (UK)
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Hello All,
I received some really good advice and gentle prodding (and some not so gentle prodding) which put me on the right track to get information about my late father. Thank you all a thousand times for that. The proverbial brick wall became a superhighway of information!
I now have a related query. My parents divorced and my father remarried and in 1968 produced a girl child, Tracy Anne. A few months before her 20th birthday, she died. 5/11/68 to 17/6/88.
I know when she died and where her ashes are interred (Alliston Union Cemetery, Ontario)(see Attachment). I applied to the Registrar General of Ontario for her Medical Statement of Death. After a long and exhaustive search they have reported to me that her death was not registered in the Province of Ontario.
Because her death was not recorded in her home province, I am surmising that the death was unexpected and sudden - is that a fair assumption?
So this is where I could do with a bit of advice. It could have happened anywhere in the world, but where are the most likely places to look. She was living in southern Ontario, so I can't really see her going east or west to Quebec, or Manitoba. But if not those two, is the US likely?
I can start applying to all the other Provinces and all 50 States, but it would be nice weed out the unlikely ones first.
Thanks in advance
Regards
Chas
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New York State and Michigan are closer to much of southern Ontario than Canadian provinces, though don't rule out Quebec. Or popular holiday states like Florida. I don't know if foreigners appear on those US Social Securuty death records
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I don't know if foreigners appear on those US Social Securuty death records
The people on the Social Security death index had a Social Security number and had their deaths reported to Social Security, so a foreign visitor with no other US connections would not be on there.
Most US states do not have such recent death information online, but a few do have indexes online that would cover that time frame (Connecticut, Florida, and California are three that I can think of off-hand). Ancestry and Family Search would be the best places to check the indexes.
Have you contacted the cemetery to see if they have a death certificate or information on file? Did she have an obituary?
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Hi Kiltpin
Since this monument is in Alliston, Simcoe County, Ontario I checked the Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid.
http://ocfa.islandnet.com/homepage.html
This grave is listed and the reference number is SM-T-3620.
You can contact the local branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society which in this case is:
For REFERENCE FIELD numbers beginning with "SM-", write to...
Simcoe County Branch, OGS
P.O. Box 892
Barrie, Ontario, Canada.
L4M 4Y6
Many of the local OGS groups that contributed to this data base made it their business to augment the OCFA list with additional information which they hold in their own records.
Most local libraries have card catalogues with obituary information from the local newspapers. The Simcoe County OGS should be able to assist you in finding a death notice or obituary if one exists that may give you information regarding the death. They will probably require a small fee. Don't forget to quote the reference number when you write.
Good Luck in your quest.
Venelow
Canada
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Hi,
Another option, the New Tecumseth Library, Alliston Branch has the Alliston Herald Newspaper
on microfilm 1881-1994.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01n7q/
Contact/email details
http://discovernewtecumseth.ca/business-profiles/new-tecumseth-public-library-alliston-memorial-branch
As you have her exact death date, it would be a quick look up, and sometimes libraries will do
that for free.
DB
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Do you know for a fact that she was living in Ontario at the time of her passing? Could she have been living away from "home", possibly to attend university or college? Is there a chance that she left Ontario, in search of an employment opportunity? Did she have any other relatives living in either Canada or the United States - could she have been living with them for a short time?
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British Columbia can be ruled out - Tracy Anne isn't registered here. Young people from "Back East" often come west looking for summer employment, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Tracy Anne.
Brian
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Thanks Everybody - some great ideas and hints.
@shellyesq - I am writing to the cemetery, hopefully to find out where the ashes came from. After all it is cheaper and easier to ship ashes than it is to ship a body.
@venelow - thanks for the link and the SM number. I am writing to the OGS, to see if there is any help that they can give.
@dbree - thanks for the link. Our father was quite well known in Alliston at the time, so if there is information they might be able to help.
@Lisa in California - that is the problem - I just don't know. No relatives outside of Canada, but holidays, training, work - could have been anywhere in the world.
@dbrobertson - Thanks for the BC info. It seems that every State and Province has a different standard. Manitoba was "Give us $Cdn 30 and we will tell you anything" and Quebec is "We cannot do anything without your Social Security Number" But I live in the UK and don't have one. "Well you will have to apply for one then." New York State and New York City have two different archives which do not talk to each other.
Thanks again everyone. I will follow up the leads and let you know how I get on.
Regards
Chas
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https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/TheGlobeAndMail/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=189824886
The father's obit
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https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/TheGlobeAndMail/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=189824886 (https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/TheGlobeAndMail/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=189824886)
The father's obit
Thanks, Roderick - I have my father's obituary. My mother, my sister, nor I are mentioned in it.
Regards
Chas
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If you have any family living close to the cemetery, ask them to visit the office (in person, not just a phone call). I have personal experience that visiting the office in person can provide more information than calling them over the phone or contacting them by email. When I contacted a cemetery one of my ancestors is buried by email the only information I got was in their computer system, but when I went in person I was able to view the entry I wanted in their burial book and find out 3 pieces of information I was missing (the day he died, where he died and what country he was born in). Once you have that information, look at newspapers online and try to find her death notice. Just note that not all Canadian newspaper archives are available online.
If you don't have any family members who can visit the office in person, put out a query on this site and see if anyone can do it for you.
I hope this helps.
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If you have any family living close to the cemetery, ask them to visit the office (in person, not just a phone call). I have personal experience that visiting the office in person can provide more information than calling them over the phone or contacting them by email. When I contacted a cemetery one of my ancestors is buried by email the only information I got was in their computer system, but when I went in person I was able to view the entry I wanted in their burial book and find out 3 pieces of information I was missing (the day he died, where he died and what country he was born in). Once you have that information, look at newspapers online and try to find her death notice. Just note that not all Canadian newspaper archives are available online.
If you don't have any family members who can visit the office in person, put out a query on this site and see if anyone can do it for you.
I hope this helps.
Hi Imfamily,
I have no family near, the last, my father died in 2006. I have already written to the cemetery Superintendent and am awaiting a reply as to what information is held there. It was just the ashes that were deposited there as the crematorium is elsewhere. I am hoping that they might know where the ashes came from.
My father's obit is available in a couple of places on the net, but a google search reveals nothing for Tracy. I feel that she died outside of Canada, or that she succumbed to a long term ailment, but her death was not registered in Ontario.
Thanks
Regards
Chas