Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915

This database contains an index extracted from various Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, death records.

What’s in the Database

While civil registration of births and deaths in Philadelphia began in 1860, the Board of Health began recording deaths and burials the year it was established in 1803. This database is an index extracted from death and burial records created or held by the Board of Health, Department of Public Health, General Hospital, City Hospital, and other entities. Original records include death certificates, cemetery returns, death registers, burial records, hospital death registers, prison death registers, and others.

Details listed in the index will vary depending on form type and how completely the form was filled out, but information may include

• name
• gender
• race/ethnicity
• occupation
• street address
• residence
• birth date
• birthplace
• age at death
• date of death
• place of death
• date of burial
• place of burial
• cemetery
• marital status
• spouse’s name
• father’s name and birthplace
• mother’s name and birthplace
• FHL film number

The FHL film number refers to a microfilm copy of the source held by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.