Death Records for St. Louis
Introduction to St. Louis Death Records
Death Certificates
The State of Missouri officially required the recording of Death Certificates in 1910. Copies of death certificates are available digitally beginning in 1910 until 50 years before the current year. Years are added to the database as the records become public.
Registers of Deaths
Prior to 1910, civil registration was not required and was carried out on a county or municipal basis. St. Louis City and County both had death registries but neither is a complete document.
Burial Certificates
St. Louis City maintained a registry of Burial Certificates. Most of the names recorded are also found on the City Death Register. For blurred or difficult to read names, researchers can consult the Burial Certificate Registry for confirmation.
Alternative Sources
Church Burials are a common source for identifying a date of death. If an individual was a member of a church which recorded rites (Examples: Catholic, Lutheran, UCC) there is likely a recording of the Burial Rite. Many of these records for St. Louis are Available online through FamilySearch or in microform at History & Genealogy at St. Louis County Library. Consult our guide to St. Louis Congregations.
Obituaries are a great place to look for a date of death. St. Louis had many newspapers that recorded obituaries. Prior to 1910, researchers should start with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat (Found on Newspapers.com). After 1910, start with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ( Found on Proquest: Historical St. Louis Post Dispatch). For Germans prior to 1910, also consult obituary indexes for the Westliche Post and Anziger De Westens, two German Language Newspapers which commonly published obituaries.
United States Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933 were issued for Union Veterans (or their Widows / Beneficiaries) beginning in 1907. Pension Payment Cards document the date of death of a soldier or beneficiary. Pension Payment Cards can be found digitized on FamilySearch.
In Missouri, death certificates began being recorded statewide in 1910 and are closed for 50 years before they are transferred to the Missouri State Archives. They provide valuable information for family historians and researchers including date of birth; names of parents and spouse; cause of death; occupation; and funeral home and burial information.
The Missouri State Archives is the repository for and maintains digital access for Death Certificates outside of the 50 year privacy law. The Missouri Death Certificates Database is updated year.
Under Missouri Sunshine Law, the state is required to provide access to it's death index. This Missouri Death Index currently covers 1968-2015 and soon will include 2016-2019.
Long and Short Form Death Records falling within the 50-year privacy window can be obtained from the state. Visit the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to Order a copy of a Vital Record.
The Missouri State Archives maintains a Pre-1910 Birth and Death database. Missouri did not begin issuing Birth and Death Certificates until 1910 - so any records of Birth or Death were kept by the local county.
The Death Record Search can be found in the lower Right-hand corner of the search screen.
As Civil Registration was not require prior to 1910, some individuals may not be found in the Pre-1910 Death Registers.
St. Louis City maintained a Register of Deaths from February 1850 until January 1909
Ancestry.com has a transcription from Feb 1850 - 1902 in the collection: St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., Death Records, 1850-1902
The St. Louis Genealogical Society produced a CD of transcriptions of this register: "Deaths Recorded in the City of St. Louis, 1850–1908" which is accessible on public access computers in the History & Genealogy Department.
The original register has been digitized and is available from Familysearch in the Collection: Register of deaths, 1850-1909
The original registers are very difficult to decipher. We recommend researchers consult the St. Louis Genealogical Society Index or Ancestry before accessing the original register.
Following the 1876 City / County Split, St. Louis County maintained a Register of Deaths from 8 Nov 1883-11 Apr 1910.
The film St. Louis County, County Clerk, Vital Records, Register of Deaths: 8 Nov 1883-11 Apr 1910, STLV-3 has not been digitized. It is available in Microform from History & Genealogy.
Guide to Researching St. Louis City Burial Certificates, January 1882-October 1908
The St. Louis City [Mo.] Burial Certificates microfilm set at the History and Genealogy Department is comprised of 121 rolls dating from January 1882 to October 1908. Although most of the information on the Burial Certificate form is the same as that on the Death Register (see number 2 below), it is useful to double check difficult handwriting, fading, or poor microfilming in the Death Register.
The Burial Certificates were filmed by the Missouri State Archives and include only burials in the City of St. Louis. However, it is important to note that in some cases, the decedent died somewhere other than the City of St. Louis and was brought to St. Louis City for burial, thus requiring a St. Louis Burial Certificate. When a death occurred outside the City of St. Louis, look for documents filmed with the certificate that possibly provide information about the place, date, and cause of death.
Index of Natural Deaths in St. Louis County Coroner's Records
Download a compiled index of Natural Deaths from St. Louis County Coroner's Records for the years 1953-1962. Indexes for other years (1940-1952 & 1962-1990 can be located within the microfilm set using the guide above.
Some coroner's records do not have complete information, and these indexes have been augmented with information taken from Missouri death certificates database located at the Missouri State Archives. Information taken from death records is marked in brackets. Also, due to human error, there are often discrepancies between the information on the coroner's report and the information on the death certificate, such as name spellings, ages, and in a few instances, dates of death.
The Missouri State Archives has created the Missouri Coroner’s Inquest Database which is an abstract of records that have been indexed and are available for online research. The Coroner's Inquest Database contains records from various counties, including the City of St. Louis, and the St. Louis Medical Examiner. The original records were microfilmed by the Missouri State Archives and a copy of these films for St. Louis City is available in the History & Genealogy Department. There are two St. Louis City record sets:
- St. Louis City Office of the Coroner - Inquests - 1845-1900
- St. Louis Medical Examiner - Inquests - 1889-1899
In Missouri, death certificates that are more than fifty years old are considered open to the public. Missouri does publish those newly-opened records on a regular basis, and they have even set up a transcription project that has created an index for the information in the files. But Missouri currently does not have a basic genealogical index available to the public for deaths that occurred in the state after 1968. Reclaim the Records has obtained and made available the Death Index of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).