Death Dates

Stated dates of death appear in a variety of formats. The following guide explains the most commonly used of these.

Format Example Explanation
DD MMM YYYY 12 Jan 1900 Specific Date, usually from a death register record. See Deaths Derived from Burial Records for important additional information.
before DD MMM YYYY before 12 Jan 1900 Before a Specific Date. This is mostly found where a later record, perhaps a census or marriage record, or the death record of a spouse, indicates that the person predeceased the date of that record but the date of that person's death has not been found
 before YYYY before 1840 A death record has not been found but some other piece of information shows the person was not alive by a particular year. An example might be the remarriage of a spouse where the specific date of that remarriage is not known
 after YYYY  after 1840 Rarely used the 'before' form being preferred, but if used then clearly is based on the last recorded event in the person's life
 after MMM YYYY after Jun 1840 Similar to the previous but more precisely timed
 after DD MMM YYYY after 01 June 1840 Similar to the previous but even more precisely timed
 circa YYYY circa 1825 Rarely used but when it appears it indicates no record of death has been found but an 'educated' guess at the year has been made
In all cases where a death date is missing or incomplete, check the Research Status option near the bottom of the person's record on the site. If this shows "Incomplete" then a more precise date may be provided in future updates to the site.

 

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