The funeral home that took care of your ancestor’s funeral may have additional information on your ancestor besides what appeared in the obituary and on the tombstone. Why paid the bill, where they lived, biographical details, and more may be in their files.
However funeral home records are private business records and the funeral home is under no obligation to provide you with any information from their files. Because of this it pays to be respectful, polite, and courteous when dealing with the individuals who may still have possession of these records.
6 Responses
This is very true. I have received funeral service records for most of my great grandparents by contacting the funeral homes that did their services. In one case, the record even included a copy of the death certificate. They are always full of useful information.
At the funeral home that took care of my great grandmother I received quite a bit of information. I asked for a good time to visit and told them who I was interested in. They didn’t let me see the record because there was information about others on the page. I was provided with all the information they had, orally and asked if they could help me with anything else.
I don’t know if my experience was typical but I was very pleased with their response to my request.
It is my experience that funeral homes are cooperative and will take their time to provide our ancestor’s file information. One such request solved a 30-year old mystery of why great-grandparents never married…the first wife was still the first wife.
I waited years before writing to one about a great grandmother. I was so surprised as they had her mother’s maiden name listed, and I had searched for it for years. I was so thankful for their records and help.
I wrote a letter recently to a funeral home in North Carolina requesting burial information. I was told they did not give out information by mail because of privacy considerations. I suspect this will be a growing trend.
My local county archives has filmed the records of several of the area funeral homes (up through about 1950, I think) for researchers to use. Very useful information.