Death certificates can reveal a tremendous amount of information about your ancestors but they need not be the final piece of the jigsaw. If you are lucky then an obituary may appear or you may find a will but even without either of these things, there is a great way to look for further information.
If your ancestor died in hospital then it is worth investigating if there is a record of their hospital stay. Depending on the country in which you live there may be some restrictions on what you can access and how much time must have elapsed before you can access the records however it is always worth checking with the archivists for the latest information as data protection laws are often updated.
So what information can you find? It will vary even within the same hospital - from the briefest of details perhaps regarding your ancestor's admission to hospital to full clinical notes or a post mortem. The great news though is that even with the briefest of details, these can easily reveal some interesting facts and open up a new way to investigate a branch of your tree.
A good example of this was Edinburgh Royal Infirmary who on admission to the hospital, asked patients for their "native place" or in other words, their place of birth. This can be invaluable for those seeking to place their Irish ancestors as it would often name a town or at least a county.
It can often be a surprise to find ancestors admitted to hospital. How did they afford to pay for their care if there was no free health care? However many hospitals were operated by subscriptions and were known as "free" or "voluntary" hospitals. They received donations from rich individuals but also charities, churches and many work places and unions operated schemes where workers paid into a fund so that they could receive treatment if they needed it. The work place contributions were particularly common within industries where there was a certain amount of danger and therefore there was more chance of accidents.
Hospitals were not always in the immediate area in which your ancestors lived so if your relative died in hospital, you may find it is some distance from their home. This is usually because this was a hospital that was free or perhaps, the one to which their workplace or church subscribed.
It is important if you are going to approach a health archivist to be prepared. They will need specific information on your ancestor in most cases. They are not usually able to look for someone without details of when they were in the hospital as the information is not in a nice modern database where they can simply search for someone's name!
Also, think closely about what information you would like to find out. The archivists will answer your questions but they cannot answer questions that you have not asked!
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