New California Death Records

   

     Today, I found the death certificate of my second-great-Uncle John White in the recently published database, California, County Birth and Death Records, (1800-1994), online at Family Search.  John, Jack to his friends, was the son of James White and Anna Ryan my second-great grandparents who came to the United States from Ireland.

     The information contained in the certificate is mostly right with a few exceptions.  It has to be remembered that John's widow Margaret Goggins White was providing information she had second hand from John and likely had not thought about in years. She was probably somewhat stressed at the time as well.

     The certificate gives John's birthplace as Palmyra, New York.  Close, but not correct though the birth date is right. When John married Margaret in 1898 the marriage license listed his birthplace as Clifton Springs, New York.  That record is more reliable in this case since I presume John himself gave the information.  I also have a copy of the deed to his father's property in Clifton Springs.

     His mother "Ann" Ryan's birthplace of Tipperary is right, but his father James was not born in Queenstown.  That gave me pause until I thought about it, Queenstown and Queens County, where James was really born, sound very similar.  I know he was from Queens County because I've spent years of my life determining that and also, DNA doesn't lie.  Margaret could easily have been a touch mixed up about her father-in-law's birthplace, it was Queen's something, or the undertaker may have misunderstood what she said.

     I had a little trouble deciphering John's cause of death until I looked at the certificate in reduced size.  Maybe it's just me, but I find that sometimes helps.  It was bronchopneumonia due to malnutrition and dehydration due to senility and advanced generalized arterialsclerosis.  Senility may have been a reference to his physical condition, rather than cognitive decline as it is used today.

     I had hoped to find Margaret's death certificate but it wasn't in the database.  She may have moved to the home of her son Earl whose county of Ventura is not included in the database.  Neither are San Francisco, Imperial or Napa Counties.  Now I'm off to Google Maps to see if I can get a street view of the White's old home at 9020 Phyllis, West Hollywood...