Anatomy of a Death Certificate (or ... more confessions of an Intermediate Genealogy Noob)

Ahh, the death certificate.  So much information in such a small amount of space.  Some of it is even reliable!

I'm going to share two examples.  The first might be one of the most accurate death certificates in my possession.  The second is definitely the least accurate.  Still, there is a lot of information in both that can be used.

I encourage you to take a look at Elizabeth Shown Mills' explanation of sources, evidence, and proof here.  (Take a minute to look at all of her QuickLessons while you're there - they are invaluable!)  These death certificates are considered to be original sources with both primary and secondary information.

According to this death certificate, my great grandfather, Thomas Patrick Slowey, died on March 14, 1963 after suffering from a myocardial infarction (heart attack) for 30 minutes.  Fortunately, this certificate is quite detailed as far as time of death and the doctor provided an actual time of death instead of just a date.  Thomas died at 3:50 p.m.

This information is considered reliable, since it was the attending physician who provided it at or near the time of death.  Of course, not ALL the information on this certificate is reliable.  Of course, I can't be certain who provided the personal information about Thomas, but I'm pretty sure that he lived at 812 Douglas Avenue longer than "minutes," as it shows in #1(c).  With the exception of that little morsel, the rest of the information given on the certificate is correct.

Noob alert:  When you are reviewing a death certificate (or any research document), always read and re-read and then read it again.  If you look over on the right hand side - yep, right there under the cause of death - it says that an autopsy was performed.  I've had this death certificate for over a year and I didn't even notice this until a few days ago.  I will try to obtain the autopsy report (if it still exists) to see if it contains any other useful information.

So ultimately, what sort of assertions does this death certificate actually make?
1. Thomas died on March 14, 1963 at 3:50 p.m. 
2. Thomas' cause of death was cardiac standstill due to myocardial infarction lasting 1/2 hour due to coronary atherosclerosis lasting over 2 years.
3. Thomas suffered a myocardial infarction in October 1960.
4. Thomas was born on December 29, 1895 in South Dakota, and he was 67 years old when he died.
5. Thomas died in Yankton, Yankton Co., South Dakota, at Sacred Heart Hospital.
6. Thomas' residence at the time of his death was 812 Douglas Avenue in Yankton.
7. Thomas' occupation was a foreman at the stockyards.
8. Thomas' parents were John Slowey and Theresa Burns.
9. Thomas was married and his wife was Anna Huber Slowey.
10. Thomas was buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery on March 18, 1963 in Yankton, South Dakota.
11. Thomas was never in the military.

You may have heard me cursing talking about this next death certificate.  It is for my great great grandmother, Eliza Bourke Lanctot.

As before, the doctor supplied the information regarding the time of death and cause of death.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of conflicting information on this one.  Her date of birth is given as February 2, 1859.  However, if we subtract her "age" (70 years, 10 months, 20 days) from the date of death (December 22, 1930), her birth date is calculated as February 2, 1860.  Which is correct?  Where did the information come from?

This is where the REAL errors begin.  Her son, Art Lanctot, was the informant.  He must have been very confused and/or grief-stricken (or both) at the time.  He listed Eliza's mother as "Eliza Bourke" and her father as "Zenophile."  That's all well and good except that those are HIS parents, not Eliza's, which does not help me in the least when it comes to finding Eliza's parents.  So pretty much every detail that Art Lanctot provided has an underlying question mark.

However, there are still some assertions made by the document that must be taken into account:

1. Eliza died at 1:00 a.m. on December 22, 1930 in Armour, Douglas, South Dakota from lobar pneumonia with contributing factors of senility and obesity.
2. Eliza was a proprietor of a hotel.
3. Eliza may have been born on February 2, 1859 or 1860 in Michigan.
4. Eliza was a widow at the time of her death.
5. Eliza was buried on December 24, 1930 in Armour, South Dakota.

Now I can take the assertions made by each of these documents and plug them into their related proof arguments.  This is when the information becomes evidence (direct or indirect), and it can be evaluated accordingly in context with other evidence.

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

... In Which I Do the Genealogy Happy-Dance!

I was so busy doing the happy dance, I almost forgot to provide an update on my post (here) about the genea-angels at the Douglas County Historical Society in Armour, South Dakota!

When I sent my letter to the Douglas County Historical Society requesting information on the Armour House hotel, of which my 2nd great grandparents were proprietors, I fully expected the same response I had always gotten, which was "no."

To my surprise, I received a response rather quickly, and it wasn't "no!"  (Okay, I was kind of doing a little happy dance at this point).  The Society did, indeed, have a couple of photos of the interior of the hotel, and it was believed that my 2nd great grandfather was in one of the photos.

To say I was excited might be the understatement of ... well, ever!

I came home from work last Monday and there was a large envelope from the Society in my mailbox.  It was all I could do to walk ALL the way back to the house (about 50 feet) before I opened it! 

The first picture I saw was of the dining room of the hotel:

The next photo was of the lobby:

Now, before I go any further, I would like to point out that this was the photo said to show my 2nd great grandfather.  However, they said it was the gentleman behind the desk in his shirt sleeves.  I think they're wrong.  I believe the gentleman standing between the desk and the stove is Zenophile Lanctot (mainly because the other man is too thin to be him).  Here's his photo - you be the judge (just imagine him with a mustache):

Incidentally, after I scanned it, I enlarged the lobby photo enough to be able to tell that the calendar on the wall behind the desk was showing the month of November and the first day of the month fell on a Sunday.  I consulted my handy-dandy perpetual calendar and discovered that November 1 occurred on a Sunday only in 1908 and 1914.  Zenophile died in 1913, so the photo must have been taken in November 1908.  (Of course, this hinges directly on the hope that my inability to remember to change the calendar on the wall was not an inherited trait).

The final photo is of the kitchen area:

This photo was the one that caused me to do the happy dance ... like, for real.  The woman standing at the stove with her hand on the skillet?  That is, without a doubt, my 2nd great grandmother, Eliza Bourke Lanctot!  No one ever mentioned that she might have been in these photos!  Here she is (and you can see why I'm so sure that's her):

In addition to the three photos, I also received a photograph of the couple's grave marker and a copy of the deed to the two lots upon which the hotel was situated (I'm saving that for a later post).

Now I just have to try to identify all the other people in the photos.  Maybe they are their children and/or siblings!  I can't wait!!

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

J is for ... JEWEL!

Special thanks to Alona at Gould Genealogy for coming up with the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge!

J is for ... JEWEL!


We find jewels in the most unexpected places, especially when we aren't even looking for them.

My 2nd great grandparents, Zenophile and Eliza Lanctot, were proprietors of the first hotel in Armour, South Dakota from around 1900 until about 1913.  It was called Armour House.  When Zenophile died in 1913, Eliza ran the hotel by herself for the next three years, until she sold it.

This couple has always intrigued me, mainly because Zenophile is one of my "gateway" ancestors (immigrated to the U.S.), and because in those days it wasn't very common for a woman to be calling the shots from a business standpoint.

I've known this information for quite a while, but I've never been able to find a photo of Armour House.  Apparently, it's because I was looking in all the wrong places.

Thanks to the suggestion of my geneabuddy Laura, and some brainstorming on my part, I discovered the Douglas County Historical Society in Armour, South Dakota.  I honestly didn't even know there WAS an historical society.  I mean, the town only has a population of about 700 people.

So I wrote a letter to them and dropped it in the mail last Thursday.  This evening, I received an email from the President of the Society, a wonderful woman by the name of Sharon Wiese, letting me know that they have three photos of the interior of the hotel, and that at least one of those photos purports to show my 2nd great grandfather, Zenophile!  They will be happy to send them to me.  (OMGOMGOMG!)

Her husband even went above and beyond, heading over to the cemetery to take a photograph of the couple's grave marker for me!  Hindsight being what it is, I'm pretty sure my reply email sounded like a 14-year-old girl who was just given free tickets to a Justin Bieber concert, but whatever.

Mr. and Mrs. Wiese are JEWELS.  Not only did they respond to my request faster than lightning, they went above and beyond the call of duty, AND they are sending me the photos at no charge.  They simply asked that I make a donation to the society.  Well, of course I will!

I have been truly fortunate to have crossed paths with these two wonderful people.  I am definitely putting the museum (yes, they even have a museum!) on my list of places to visit when I finally make the trip to South Dakota.

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Sunday's Obituary - Joseph Zenophile Lanctot

Obituary.


Again has the heavy hand of death been laid upon our city, and one of our foremost citizens, Joseph Zenophile Lanctot, answered the dread summons, passing to his eternal reward on Monday, July 21, 1913, aged 52 years, 6 months, and 6 days.  The cause of death was heart failure.

Joseph Zenophile Lanctot,
Armour Chronicle, Armour,
South Dakota, 25 July 1913,
p. 2, col. 1

The deceased was a native of Canada, being born at LaPrairie, in the district of Montreal, on January 15, 1861.  He came to the United States in 1877, settling in Mead, Nebraska, where he resided until 1883, when he came to Charles Mix county and filed upon land, moving to Armour in 1901, since which time he conducted the Armour House.


He was united in the bond of wedlock to Miss Eliza Bourke, at Fremont, Nebraska, in 1881.  Eight children were born to this union, five sons and three daughters; three sons and two daughters, together with the bereaved wife and mother, are left to mourn his loss.  The surviving children are: Arthur, Mrs. F. Luchsinger, Louis, Mrs. L. H. Barnes and Elmer, to whom the heartfelt sympathy of our people go forth in their hour of trouble.


The funeral was held Tuesday morning at 10:30 from the Catholic church, of which faith deceased was a member, Rev. Father Keane officiating.  The remains were intered [sic] in Pleasant Ridge cemetery and were followed to their last resting place by a large concourse of friends and neighbors.


-- Card of Thanks --


We wish to thank the friends and neighbors who assisted us during the illness and burial of our beloved husband and father; and for the beautiful floral tributes.


Mrs. Z. Lanctot and Family.

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Sunday's Obituary - Elizabeth Bourke Lanctot

Mrs. Lanctot “Goes Home.”

Armour Lady Passes to the Great Beyond

Armour Herald, Armour, South Dakota,
26 December 1930, p. 4, col. 2

One of Douglas County’s best known pioneer women – Mrs. Eliza Lanctot – passed away on Monday, December 22, 1930, at her home in Armour.  She had suddenly contracted pneumonia and because of her advanced age, was unable to withstand the ravages of the illness.

Mrs. Lanctot was born on February 2, 1861, and died at the age of 69 years, 10 months and 20 days.

Her birthplace was Greenbush, Mich.  Fifty-one years ago she was married to Zenophile Lanctot at Fremond, Neb.  To this union six sons and two daughters were born, of whom two sons and two daughters survive.  The sons are Elmer of Chicago, and Art of Armour, the daughters, Mrs. Josephine Luchsinger of St. Paul and Mrs. Marie Barnes of Armour.

Mr. and Mrs. Lanctot homesteaded in Charles Mix county [sic] in 1883 and came to Armour in 1900.  For the past thirty years Mrs. Lanctot was in the same location, owning and operating the Armour house, still in operation.  Mr. Lanctot died in 1913.

Practically everyone in Douglas county and many in other nearby sections knew Mrs. Lanctot, who was one of the state’s few women to own and manage a hotel by herself.  She was highly esteemed by neighbors and friends and she will be greatly missed in Armour.

Mrs. Lanctot was a fine Christian woman, and always had a good word and pleasant greeting for everyone.  Mrs. Lanctot for many years had been a neighbor of the Herald force and during that time we entertained the highest regard for her sterling qualities.  We but wish we could pay an adequate tribute to her memory.  We are saddened, with many others, in the loss of a genuine friend.

Funeral services were held Wednesday at St. George’s Catholic church, Rev. Father Carey officiating, and burial was made in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery.

Mrs. Luchsinger of St Paul and Elmer Lanctot of Chicago came to Armour for the last rites.




Do we share any ancestors? Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com