Here are a few tips for learning the names of a person's parents:
- Why?
- Many types of records were created around a person's death
- Death related records usually give birth and marriage information, clues leading to parents
- Later records typically provide more information and clues
- Death certificates ask for names of parents
- Obituaries usually identify the parents
- Why?
- Marriage records often give names of parents
- The records usually exist from the time the county was formed
- Why?
- They may live with or near relatives
- Relatives, such as parents, brothers, sisters, an aunt, or uncle, may live with them
- Censuses 1880 and later tell the state or nation where the father and the mother were born
{{Tip|Use Probate records
- Why?
- Wills and other probate records often give married names of daughters
- Online or published indexes provide every-name searches
- These records were kept from the time a county was formed
- Why?
- Brothers and sisters had the same parents. Their records may have your answer.
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