Name (first, last or mother’s maiden):
To search for a death certificate by name, you can use the optional menus to the left of the name boxes to refine your search. Clicking on the down arrow produces the following list of options:

Provides a list of names, but it requires exact spelling
Example: looking for “Pederson,” enter only “Pederson”

Provides a list of names containing a sequence of letters entered, does not require exact spelling
Example: looking for “Pederson,” enter “derso”

Provides a list of names starting with the letters entered, does not require exact spelling
Example: looking for “Pederson,” enter “Ped”

Provides a list of names ending in the letters entered, does not require exact spelling
Example: looking for “Pederson,” enter “erson”

Soundex:
The Soundex boxes allow the researcher to search last names that may have a variety of spellings. For best results, the entire last name should be entered, but exact spelling is not required. If you wish to perform your own soundex conversions, try our Soundex tool. For more information about Soundex and Extended Soundex, see Soundex FAQ.

Year of Death (or range):
If the exact year of death is known, select that year from the drop-down menu in the “From Year” box. If the exact year of birth is unknown, a range of years may be searched by selecting a beginning year in the “From Year” box and an ending year in the “To Year” box. The default setting searches all years.

County of Birth:
If the exact county of birth is known, select that county by clicking on it. If the exact county is not known, multiple counties may be selected by holding down the “control” key while clicking on the desired counties. The default setting searches all counties.

Results:
The results box permits the researcher to arrange how the results are displayed. By default, the index arranges the results alphabetically by last name. However, the results box can also be set to arrange the information by first name, date of birth or county of birth. When either the “year of birth” or the “county of birth” option is selected, the results are first ordered by that selected option, then by last name, and finally by first name.

Certificate ID:
Searching by Certificate ID requires an exact match and is mainly for researchers who have written down certificate IDs for the purpose of quickly locating them again in the index at a future date.

Search Suggestions:
1. Try alternate spellings. Historically, names may have been spelled differently. Or, this name may have simply been transcribed or entered incorrectly into the index. Be sure to make full use of options such as [Contains...], [Starts With...], [Ends With...], or Soundex.

2. Adjust the date or range of dates. Broaden the date range of your search to include more years or search across all years.

3. Try another county(s). This index references the county of birth, which may be different than county of residence at the time of birth. Try selecting another county, or multiple counties, which can be done by holding down the “control” key while clicking on the desired counties.

4. Are you sure that the date of death falls within 1904-2001?

5. Leave mother's maiden name blank. Certificates often omitted this information or only contained the first name. For more information see mother’s maiden name FAQ.

Ordering Non-certified Certificate Copies:
To select a certificate, perform your search on the home page and click on the "Add To Order" button to the left of each desired listing. To get an idea of what a death certificate looks like, you may view examples of death certificates.

The cost of each non-certified birth certificate is $9.00. Once you have selected and are viewing the list of certificates that you intend to order, you may click the “checkout” button at the bottom right of the page and follow the ordering instructions. The Online store will securely process your transaction.

Other copy options may be found on the FAQ page.