At no other time in our ancestors' lives is the potential for record generation as high as at the time of death. This makes our ancestors' death events extremely significant in the family history research processes. Indeed, while we are certainly saddened when we lose someone close to us, we should be quite genealogically satisfied when we uncover a death date and location of an ancestor.
There are several reasons why the death event is important in an ancestor's life and they all have to do with the creation of records. In the following paragraphs, we will explore the documents created at the time of death and shortly thereafter-documents which evidence how the person's body is handled, as well as the manner in which the person's personal items and real estate are disposed. We will also consider where these records are housed and how one might develop research strategies for locating them...