Citing Original Death Certificate – County/Parish Records Moved

By V P Stroeher on Thu, 12/09/2021 - 18:47

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This may be an interesting citation issue. In a family's private papers is an original death certificate issued in 1964 by the state (La.) but through the parish (Caddo). In the intervening years, those records have been moved to the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge. I have a photocopy, but I have seen the original. My goal with the citation is two-fold: 1. to show my consultation of the original record (and thus lend credibility to any proof argument); and 2. to point a future researcher to the repository where the record can be found (not digitized at Ancestry or FamilySearch. 

According to the archives, the certificate is at "vol. 9 p. 418," but according to FamilySearch, "9" is actually the code for the parish, used by the state. Indeed, the certificate is identified by "State File no. 9 418". 

What is the general consensus on the following:

Louisiana, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, death certificates, state file 9 (Caddo Parish) no. 418 (1964), Pierce, Willie E.; available at "Lousiana Death Records," Louisiana Secretary of State (https://www.sos.la.gov/HistoricalResources/ResearchHistoricalRecords/LocateHistoricalRecords/Pages/LouisianaDeathRecords.aspx : accessed 8 December 2021); Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge.

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Death Certificate for Willie Ennis Pierce (Caddo Parish, Louisiana)

Submitted byEEon Thu, 12/09/2021 - 19:18

V P Stroeher, when we cite a vital record that came to us through family papers, we cite it as a family artifact. (EE 3.25). We do not cite it to the current "department of vital records" for the time and place because the document we have may not carry information identical with the official document that is now on record.

If you wish, you may add a sentence to your citation to say that state-level copies of death certificates for Caddo Parish are now available at XYZ; but it would be wise to add a notation saying you cannot attest that the document on file at the state level is an exact replica of the document you acquired through the family.

Submitted byV P Stroeheron Sat, 12/11/2021 - 14:09
I've reread Chapter 3, with particular attention to 3.25, and so I offer the following revision: Willie Ennis Pierce death certificate, citing date of death as 15 June 1964 and place as Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana; Pierce Family Papers, privately held by [NAME WITHHELD FOR PRIVACY,] [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Carthage, Texas, 30 July 2021. Death certificates issued by Caddo Parish between 1911 and 1970 have been microfilmed and are held at the Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge. See "Louisiana Death Records," Louisiana Secretary of State (https://www.sos.la.gov/HistoricalResources/ResearchHistoricalRecords/LocateHistoricalRecords/Pages/LouisianaDeathRecords.aspx : accessed 8 December 2021).