Monday, March 5, 2012

Death Certificate Arrives

A death certificate for Charles Gordon (my great grandfather) arrived today.  Here's a PDF of the document.  This document confirmed several things:  The home address I'd been finding in city directories and other resources, the date of death, and the names of his parents.  The spelling of his mother's name is different from what was in the marriage certificate, unless I'm just reading the handwriting wrong. (How do people read these things?)  The new bits of info relate to the burial including the name of the cemetery, which I didn't have until now.  I'm not sure I can read it though - Washington Cemetery?  Looks like the burial date is Mar 19, 1918.  The undertaker is Abe Friedman(?) and the address is 113 something... 

I found a Washington Jewish Cemetery in Brooklyn - I'm assuming that is the place.  Here's a picture:

Image from Flickr user basheem
I can't find information online about accessing records, but this site gives some information about what you can find if you visit the cemetery:
At the office in Washington Cemetery, there is a set of ledgers that list births in chronological order, giving the decedent's address and the cause of death, the name of the burial society and possibly additional facts. That may provide information now missing from an old, eroded gravestone. 
I'd like to visit the next time I'm in the area! For one thing, I'm wondering if his wife would be buried in the same cemetery.  She re-married twice after his death, and I'm not sure of the spelling of the last name of her last husband. 

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