Despite several false starts, hubbo and I finally made it to Houston to my brother’s where the rest of the clan had gathered for Thanksgiving. We didn’t get there until about 4:00 Thanksgiving Day, but it was worth that long awful drive to Houston. Both of my brothers and all of our descendants, plus a few friends were gathered. I had to go, even if it was only for a few hours. Here we are:
Last week at work I was looking through one of the cases for a family who had been denied membership on the Cherokee rolls about 1896. The file was a large one–about 62 pages–all sorts of affidavits and appeals. The family and their attorney were pleading their case, claiming descendency from a Cherokee woman back in North Carolina.
One affidavit was from a man who had known the Cherokee woman’s brother. When the brother was dying, he was evidently in a store, laying on a counter. A bystander asked why someone didn’t take the man to a bed so he could be more comfortable.
“That counter’s a good enough place for an old indian to die” was the reply.
This was offered as proof that the family was indeed Indian. in a legal document. under oath.
So today I wrote out a big check to the Texas Vital Statistics Department of State Health Services and ordered 4 death certificates. My dad had 7 siblings–4 of them have died within the last 14 years. I have death certificates for their parents but I’d never gotten around to ordering them for my aunt and uncles. Since I wrote earlier this week about collecting health data from your family, I thought I’d better follow my own advice.
It’s easy to not take the time and trouble (and cashola) to collect documentation of events that happen within my own lifetime. Acquiring vital records has gotten a bit more difficult in this day of identity theft and terrorism threats. But I’ve been thinking more and more about getting these certificates so that I have a record of the official causes of death–and this was emphasized when I tried to fill out the family health form. I know my dad’s oldest brother had some sort of blood disorder, and supposedly it wasn’t leukemia. What was it? He had no children and his wife/my aunt is gone now too, so ordering the death certificate is the way to go–not to mention following good genealogical procedures–acquiring the actual death certificate to accompany the funeral folder and obituary and personal memory I have of Uncle “Scoops.”
The form was available at the website and could be filled in on my computer and then printed. Since these deaths were not 25 years old, I had to order them by mail rather than online, accompanied with a photocopy of a photo id. Thank god for good technology–I could go back and forth between my family database for birth and death dates and places, and I could scan in my drivers’ license along with printing out the forms and envelope and I am good to go.
I’d sort of forgotten the fun of the anticipation of receiving documents like this through the mail–I’ve gotten some strange looks from the non-genealogy folks when I was celebrating receiving a death certificate through the mail. 
I just hope the 4-6 week waiting period is the usual exaggeration.
I’m not sure that anyone really reads this blog, but if you’re out there, let me encourage you to use the opportunities that may come to you during the holidays to learn more about your family’s health history. About Genealogy has a good story, with a link to a free piece of software to help you at http://genealogy.about.com/od/health_history/a/medical.htm.
You doctor will be thrilled to have this info and it may even improve your quality (and quantity) of life. There are good tips on what to look for as well as what to do if most of your family is deceased or you don’t have access to the information.
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