New challenges for funeral records

At the September meeting of the Wassebec Genealogical Society, Ethan Annis of the Lary Funeral Home spoke about trends regarding funerals. He explained that there is a movement away from the more traditional services that most of us have grown used to. More people are opting for cremations with fewer obituaries or death notices. 

My research revealed that in 2023, cremations were 61.5%, and by 2045 they will be 81.4% of all dispositions. 

For decades, genealogists have relied on obits for clues and details such as birthplaces, parent names, spouses, children and facts about a person’s occupation and residence. Most obits also list the date and place of a funeral and the final resting place. All this information is catnip to genealogists. 

Death notices give a person’s name, age and place of death and often funeral dates. 

Death certificates in Maine are no longer filed in the deceased person’s place of residence, but where they died. 

Without family history pointing the way, genealogists will be lost trying to piece together what happened and where. With cremains, there is no record if they are buried in a family plot or where they were scattered. The disposition of the remains will not be on the death certificate and funeral home records won’t offer clues. If, for example, in the past if someone were a resident of a nursing home in a city, but their home was in a rural town, the official certificate would be found in the rural town. That is no longer the case.

If this trend continues, there will be no funeral cards or book of remembrance, no obits, no death notice and no clue where the cremains are held. Future genealogists will need to dig harder (no pun intended) to figure out where an ancestor is buried, where he or she died, and where to find a copy of the death certificate. While family members may recall what happened, you can almost guarantee that in a few generations from now, no one will remember.

For example, one of my uncles died out of state, was cremated, and by request his ashes were scattered on the home farm. His son and I know it, but who else does?

If the trend continues it will make researching our ancestors more difficult. 

It will be especially tortuous in states that don’t permit access to death certificates. In Maine you can access death certificates if you possess a Maine Researcher card, available from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in Augusta. You must meet certain criteria to receive a card, but it allows researchers to access non-certified vital records. There’s a fee, but one most genealogists will pay for the convenience of finding a record you might not otherwise be able to locate. Often these certificates reveal that a relative died somewhere unexpected or is buried in a cemetery you never knew about.

If these trends continue it will undoubtedly make genealogy more difficult and result in more brick walls as we research.

Columnist Nancy Battick of Dover-Foxcroft has researched genealogy for over 30 years. She is past president of the Maine Genealogical Society, author of several genealogical articles and co-transcribed the Vital Records of Dover-Foxcroft. Nancy holds an MA in History from UM. Reader emails are welcome at nbattick@roadrunner.com.