December 16, 2005

North Dakota Vital Records

The North Dakota Division of Vital Statistics has now placed its public death index online.

The searchable database includes all recorded death certificates for the state from 1881 up to about 2004. The search terms can include Last Name (required), First Name, Date of Death (required, a range of up to 10 years may be entered) and county of death. The results may be ordered by: Name, Birth Date, Date of Death or County.

Since North Dakota has a small population, it is generally best to not add the county to the search terms. Many small communities did not (and do not now) have medical facilities, so the county of death may be 100 miles or more from the county of residence. Also, since the population is so low, it is often best to search an entire decade with last name only. Using my family name, Engel (not rare, but not too common), the results for some 10 year periods only resulted in 1 or 2 matches.

The results list:

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