Consular Records
Did
your ancestor travel overseas for work, missionary work, U.S. government work?
Was a child of an American citizen born overseas? This occurred frequently with
customary long overseas visits. The Department of State records, various
records of death notices of US citizens abroad should be scoured for your
elusive ancestor. Don’t dismiss these
records as only for those who were naturalized USA citizens and returned to their
native land to visit family. Vacationers fell sick, were victims of violence,
automobile accidents, or were imprisoned, etc. These records also included deaths
that occurred in Canada and the Americas.
What to Expect
In
addition to providing genealogical data of family members and kinship, often a
passport number is provided. In the case of Spyrus Kansas, Greek born, but
naturalized citizen of the USA, the names and addresses of his wife and
siblings are provided, along with his passport number and his burial (and
re-interment) information with the cause of death. It even gives information on the family home
being attacked by guerilla forces while in Greece.
Married in
Europe
Women
were often naturalized by marriage; and travelled on a joint passport. See
Passports Applications for Genealogy. In doing so, American citizens (by marriage) like that of Germaine Jackson’s
death states she was a [USA] native by marriage, but born in Paris. The good news for the researcher is that for
clarification, her marriage date, and address of her French family and origin
are provided.
Death at Sea
It’s
no surprise that many died at sea. There are 333 records of Titanic casualties;
limited to the bodies found. Obviously sea voyage continued to the destination,
and the deaths were reported to the Dept. of State, upon arrival as was William
Morris’s death. Morris of New York was traveling
to Brussels in 1903.
Foreign Death
Certificates
Often
research leads us to locating a foreign death certificate. Know that foreign
death certificates are most often written in the foreign language where the
death occurred. For forensic genealogical searches of heir, estates, and dual
citizenships, these foreign death certificates are a place to begin your search,
but are usually not accepted for USA insurance or estates and may be denied for
Dual Citizenship records. (This is only applicable for foreign consulates that still
require ancestor death certificates.)
Foreign Service
Post Records
If
your ancestor served the USA on an assigned foreign diplomatic or other
government post, records can be located in Record Group (RG) 84: Foreign
Service Post Records of the US Department of State. Textural records of the death (plus births and
marriages) from 1788-1962 of US citizens may be found in the Records of
Diplomatic Posts (RG 84.2) and Records of Consular Posts, RG84.3.
Locating the
Records
Although
ancestry.com has digitized the Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad,
1835 -1974, researchers must know that the original National Archive death
records are archived in four reference collections:
- Record of Death Notices of United States Citizens Abroad, 1835 – 1855
- Death Notices of United States Citizens Abroad, 1857 – 1922
- Death Reports in the State Department Central Decimal File, 1910-1963
- Reports of the Deaths of American Citizens, 1963-1974
For More
Information
Kathleen
Brandt
a3Genealogy.com
a3genealogy.blogspot.com
(Original posted 16 Feb 2013)
(Original posted 16 Feb 2013)