Funeral cards are an overlooked free genealogical resource. They often contain Birth and Death years and are a substitute for birth and death records (Vital Records). Now they are not a true substitute for vital records but it's a good place to start! To find out what are true Vital Records see Genealogy Without Sources is Mythology
Unfortunately these death records are scattered and there has not been a repository for funeral cards until now. I'm trying to create the best funeral card database on the net. If you have death records such as funeral cards, please give them a home by submitting them to Ancestors At Rest.
Funeral Card for Charles Baumeister, 1860 - 1905 New York
Card states "my Violas father, my Violas father written here on fathers day june 16 1974 in my 75th year" on card remembering Charles Baumeister.
TEXT: Charles Baumeister died april 14 1905 aged 45 years 8 months
a precious one from us has gone a voice we loved is still a place is vacant in our home which never can be filled god in his wisdom has recalled the boon his love had givn and through the body slumbers here the soul is safe in heaven.
See card for Philip Stubenvoll
Brian's Notes: Reading these two cards, I took them to mean that they were written by an unnamed man, born 1899 and writing on the card in 1974, who had married a woman named "Viola". Viola's father was Charles Baumeister (from the card) who died in 1905, age 45.
From Philip Stubenvoll's card I saw that he was Viola's grandfather, and that Viola's mother had married Charles Baumeister. So I went on a hunt for a Baumeister-Stubenvoll marriage sometime around 1880-1890 and found it -- Charles Baumeister married Catherine Stubenvoll on 28 April 1899 in New York. Catherine was the daughter of Philip Stubenvoll and Louisa Kerr. I also found an entry for Charles Baumeister born in New York 1860, the son of Frederick Baumeister and Amelia Spangler
I also found BAUMEISTER CHARLES age 41 in the 1900 census for NEW YORK MANHATTAN BOROUGH. The 1900 census shows children Philip, Louise, Charles and VIOLA born October 1898 (the Viola named on the cards as "my Viola") Here's Catherine as a widow in 1910: BAUMEISTER CATHERINE age 47 NEW YORK 31-PCT 35-AD BRONX . For more details from this census, or others, use
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Genealogy Today Lots of unique one of a kind genealogy databases
Share Your Death Records
If you have a transcription or a photo of death records (cemetery listings, funeral cards, death cards, coffin plates, church records etc) help build this database by submitting your death records ***You must delete the word REMOVE in my email address before sending to me or it won't work. So the real address is ancestorsatrest followed by the @ then the last bit netscape.net Sorry but spammers make this roundabout method of emailing necessary!***
This Death Records Database is an ongoing project and I have many more funeral cards to add so check back often.
Find your ancestors in death records. Search free databases such as coffin plates, death cards, funeral cards, wills, church records, family bibles, cenotaphs and tombstone inscriptions on AncestorsAtRest.com Find links to other great death records like cemeteries, vital stats, and obituaries. Learn where to find death records off the net.
