Can anyone from Detroit Michigan help me please.

[eilidh]

Hello,

I am at my wits end trying to establish where I can purchase my grt-grt- grandfather George Donaldson's death certificate.  Thanks to the help of many rootschatters I have been able to confirm the following.

i.   George Donaldson born Edinburgh Scotland 1849
ii.   Died October 3, 1933 of Asthma in Wayne County.
iii.  Buried October 6, 1933 at Acacia Park Cemetery, Beverly Hills, Oakland County, Michigan.

I have contacted the following Government departments by fax & email, however none have responded to my query. Living in Australia, it is impossible for me to ring (with time differences). 
 
i.    Oakland County,  where he was buried
 
ii    Wayne County - where he lived, however their website states Deaths taking place within the City Limits of Detroit are recorded by City of Detroit Health Department.
 
iii    City of Detroit Health Department. state The Health Departments Vital Records Division is responsible for managing birth and death records of individuals that were born or died in the City of Detroit ONLY.  Unfortunately I cannot find George on 1930 census so cannot establish he last place of residence. On 1920 census he was living with his children in Wayne County, Detroit, Michigan.
 
I am totally confused, and would reallly appreciate any help on this one as I have no idea where to go next regarding the purchase of his death certificate. 

Many thanks
Helen 

[aghadowey]

If you have a contact address for the cemetery maybe they could tell you how to get a death certificate.
Sounds very easy if you look at this site & you can order online, don't have to be next of kin, etc.:
www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-4645_4702---,00.html

[shellyesq]

Another idea, if you haven't tried this direction, is to find an obituary for him.  They will often say where the person died and/or where they lived.  You could try e-mailing the public library in the town where he last lived or see if there's someone on raogk.com who could do a look-up for you. 

[eilidh]

Hi shellyesq and aghadowey,

If only the cemetery would help me.  Several faxes, & emails brought absolutely no response even though I was able to provide them with the locality of gravesite and the exact burial dates of his daughter and son-in-law who he was interred with.  A very kind RC lady from New York actually rang the cemetery and they gave her his death date and burial information.

As I said previously the problem is that I do not know where he was residing at the time of his death, Wayne County(and if living in Detroit City or not)  or Oakland County.

Many thanks for all your suggestions.

Helen

[aghadowey]

Obviously my idea about help from the cemetery is out then but what about the link I gave you- all looks fairly straight forward to order a death ertificate although I didn't read the small print.

[eilidh]

Hi Aghadowey,

Yes on first appearance the link does look straightforward. however when I tried it in the past, it does state that;

"  The Health Departments Vital Records Division is responsible for managing birth and death records of individuals that were born or died in the City of Detroit ONLY "

Hence my dilemma I don't know where George died.

I think I will just have to chalk this one up to the "too hard bin"

Thanks for your input

bye Helen 

[aghadowey]

Helen- don't give up yet. The site I posted has a link to order a death certificate from the office in Lansing, Mich and it looks as though it covers the whole state not just Detroit.

[shellyesq]

There's a person on www.raogk.com in Oakland Co., Michigan who does look-ups for obituaries as well as death look-ups for that county.  I would try that route before giving up.  I've had some great help from people on that site, many of whom do look-ups for free.

[eilidh]

Hi shellyesq and aghadowey ,

Thanks for your suggestions which I will followup.

Hopefully, fingers crossed, I will be successful.

bye for now Helen