FMP's Irish Death Notices In American Newspapers

Following on from my post about the Findmypast.com (FMP) database, Irish Marriage Notices In American Newspapers (scroll down to read or click here), this post will look at the database Irish Death Notices in American Newspapers. At 35,918, it contains a significantly larger number of records.

According to the FMP website, "each record includes a transcript of a death notice taken from an American newspaper. The amount of information listed can vary, but the Irish death notices usually include the following information about your ancestor: name, death year, place of death, newspaper, cemetery, birth place (emphasis mine), cause of death, death date, parish at death, spouse, parents, other relatives, age, and occupation."[1] The notices come from the following newspapers:

Chicago Citizen (1882-1897)

Chicago Tribune (1847-present)

Illinois State Journal (1848-1947)

New Orleans, Picayune (1837-present)

New York Herald (1835-1924)

The Baltimore Sun (1837-present)

The Brooklyn Eagle (1841-1955)

Phoenix (1859-1861)

Perusing the indexes, it can be seen that two different places often appear in the 'Where - Location' part of the index. Some examples:

Mary Jane Martin died in 1858 and the two places mentioned are Downpatrick (presumably Co. Down) and 9th Avenue & Ave. A (presumably New York City)

Henry Ford died in 1871; Sligo and 9th Avenue & 37th St.

Julia Duffy died in 1870; Dundalk and 99 Vandam St.

Without going through all records in the set, a very rough estimate of the number of death notices that contain an Irish place of birth/origin is somewhere between 30-55%, making it quite a useful database to do research in.

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[1] Findmypast.com. Irish Death Notices in American Newspapers. 2014. http://search.findmypast.com/search-world-Records/irish-death-notices-in-american-newspapers : accessed 27 June 2014