Index to Tennessee State Death Certificates
1914 - 1916
Tennessee
State Library and Archives
When using this index, please keep the following in mind:
- Check for alternate spellings of the surname. Handwriting is not
always legible and could be misread. Spelling variations are common.
A surname such as Hale might be spelled Hale, Hayle or
Hail; a surname such as Dickson might be spelled Dickson,
Dixon, or Dixson.
- Check for alternate spellings of the first name. The name William
A. Smith may be listed as Smith, William or Smith,
Will or Smith, Wm. or Smith, Bill
or Smith, W. or Smith, W.A. The
first name may have an abbreviation that is not in current usage, such as Jas.
for the name James.
- Some records did not include the given name of the deceased. These
records are listed at the beginning of each surname, such as Williams,
(blank) or King, (unknown) .
- Many death records for young children did not list a first name for the
child. These listings appear in the index as Smith, Infant of
or Jones, Infant of John. There are also listings
for older children, such as White, Son of John or Case,
Child of Henry.
- Death certificates for some married women are listed under the name of the
husband, such as Adams, James (Mrs) .
- Titles relating to occupation will be listed after the first name of the
individual: Johnson, Martin (Rev.) or Hibbert,
John (Dr.) or Blake, Charles (Maj.).
- If the individual died out of state, there will not be a death certificate
issued in Tennessee, even if the body was returned here for burial.
- Death certificates during this time period were filled out by funeral
directors. If the deceased was buried in a family cemetery and no
funeral home was involved, there will not be a death certificate on file in
Tennessee.
- There are some death records for individuals who could not be identified
("unknown white male, in late 40s"). These are not included
in this index.
PLEASE NOTE: The death index is made up of large files.
Slower modems many take 45 - 60 seconds for the page to load completely.
Copies of Death Certificates found in this
index may be obtained from the Hamilton
County Genealogical Society or the Tennessee State Library and Archives.