Person appears to have NEVER DIED

[willperone]

An ancestor in my tree I have been looking for seems to just not be listed in the death records anywhere. Is this normal? I thought the towns were required to write all this stuff down. Her name was Rosa Giordano and I know she was born around the early 1800's and I know she died after 1868 because she is mentioned as still being alive in her son's marriage record. I looked through all the death record indexes through 1910 though with no trace of her and she was not likely to have left the town of Castelmezzano. Maybe she lived past 1910 but she would have been near 100 years old when she died then. Any ideas?

- Will

[johnnyonthespot]

Sometimes a name is not written into the indexes at all or is mis-transcribed (first name from one record, surname from another, for example). If you think about how the indexes were manually created at the end of the year, it is surprising that there are not more errors than there are.

Your only choice is to go back to the beginning and visually scan every single record.

[johnnyonthespot]

You might also look through the indexes for a missing number. Start with record number 1 and look through the index to find 2, 3, 4, and so on. When you get to a missing number, you may have found your ancestor.

[willperone]

Well I do know the death records were missing indexes and records from 1896 and 1904, maybe she died in one of those years.

[johnnyonthespot]

I actually found an ancestor's birth record using the method in my previous message; her name and associated record number simply did not make it into the index.

I knew from other records that she should have been born within a particular two year window but could not find her in the indexes no matter how many times I looked. That's when I got the idea of looking for missing record numbers in the index.

[willperone]

Yea if I can find a record which actually lists her age in it that would be incredibly helpful but none of the records I've found of her show an age yet so I'm left to make guesses about it. This whole part of my family just has really spotty documentation in the records... one person was an orphan, many people are rarely mentioned in any records, etc; the other part is beautifully documented. I'm not sure why they are so poorly documented when they lived in the same area as the really well documented family.

[aliza24]

Did you find her husband's death record? If she's on that it might help you to narrow the years down.

[willperone]

No I haven't found her husband's (Francesco Cafarella) death record. I think he died before 1869 (I had the microfilms from 1869 - 1910 and looked through them and he wasn't in any index there). Maybe they were both abducted by aliens LOL

[JohnArmellino]

I know she died after 1868 because she is mentioned as still being alive in her son's marriage record. I looked through all the death record indexes through 1910 though with no trace of her and she was not likely to have left the town of Castelmezzano.

I would also check the death records prior to 1868. Occasionally an error is made with respect to the status (living or deceased) of an individual named in a record. Also check the diversi records, if available. Records for citizens who die away from the comune are often recorded here under Atti di Morte Fuori.

[Italysearcher]

Then again it is always possible she was set on by thieves while out in the woods and her body was never found. OR, she died in another town and no one knew who she was. OR she was always known by another surname or sopranome and the death registered under that name because no one remembered her real surname. OR she ran away with her lover and was never heard from again. OR she got on a ship for America to join her son.

[johnnyonthespot]

Then again it is always possible she was set on by thieves while out in the woods and her body was never found. OR, she died in another town and no one knew who she was. OR she was always known by another surname or sopranome and the death registered under that name because no one remembered her real surname. OR she ran away with her lover and was never heard from again. OR she got on a ship for America to join her son.

I think the "abducted by aliens" idea is somewhat more romantic though, wouldn't you agree?

Another possibility would be an extremely rare case of spontaneous humna combustion ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneou ... combustion ).

My sincerest apologies to anyone who finds this offensive.

[Essgee]

While you state she didn't move to another town, it is possible she visited another town and died there. Did any of her children leave the town? Did a daughter marry a man from another place? This could account for the lack of records as the record is kept in the town where the event occurred.

Look at the individual years of those that are missing indexes. That is a good place to start.

Good Luck.

[aliza24]

What town was this in? And have you checked out the history of the town? If there was an event--like disease or natural disaster--that caused mass death, it's possible that they weren't all reported.

And does the town have processetti/allegati? You might find her death on those records (with a younger sibling or descendant.)

Just brainstorming here...I don't what you've already done or not done.

Aliza

[Italysearcher]

Aliza is right many victims of earthquakes were never found or reported missing or dead officially.

[willperone]

The town is Castelmezzano. I read through the 2 years with missing indexes (1896 and 1904) and she wasn't in there. Her children stayed in Castelmezzano as farmers so I don't think she went anywhere (though one of her grandchildren went to the USA in the early 1900s). She is listed as being alive in her son's 1868 marriage record but her husband died before 1866 (I don't have his death record). I know her son was born in 1843 so she must have been born 20-30 years before that (1813-1823) so she couldn't have realistically lived past the year 1910. Ancestry.com has the death records up till 1938 and I looked through all of them and she is nowhere to be found!