Thursday, June 7, 2012

Treasure Chest Thursday - Death Certificate for Elijah McKnew (1836-1912)

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to share an artifact or a document image from my collection of ancestral stuff.  

The treasure today is the Death Certificate of Elijah McKnew (1836-1912):





This Death Certificate was obtained from the County of San Francisco.  The San Francisco County registration number (on the image above) is 2086.  The information on the Death Certificate is (handwritten entries in italics):

Place of Death:  City and County of San Francisco 

No. 4131 19th St., 5 Dist.
FULL NAME:  Elijah P. McKnew
Sex:  Male
Color or Race:  White
Single, Married, widowed or divorced:  Married
Date of Death:  April 4, 1912

Date of Birth: March 29, 1836
Age [at death]: 76 years 0 months 6 days
Occupation:  Merchant
General nature of industry:  Retired, 7 Yrs
Birthplace:  Maryland
Name of Father:  McKnew
Birthplace of Father:  United States
Mother's Name:  Unknown
Mother's Birthplace:  Unknown
Length of Residence (Place of Death): 37 years
Length of Residence (California): 61 years
Informant:  Henry L. McKnew, 3718 16th St.
Doctor's Statement:  I attended deceased from Apr 1 1912 to Apr 4 1912 that I last saw him on Apr 3 1912 and that death occurred on the date stated above at 7:30 P.M.
Cause of Death:  Oedema of lungs
Duration: 3 days
Contributory:  Arterio sclerosis & Senility
Duration: [blank]
Signed: A.B. McGill, M.D.
Date: Apr 6 1912
Address:  291 Geary St.
Place of Burial or Removal:  Cypress Lawn Cemty
Date of Burial:  Apr. 7, 1912
Undertaker:  Bunker & Lunt, 2666 Mission St.

There is quite a bit of new information in this Death Certificate, including the cause of death, the length of residence at the address (37 years implies 1875) and length of residence in California (61 years implies 1861).  It is disappoionting that the informant did not know the names of Elijah's parents or their birth places.  I believe that they were Jeremiah and Allethia (Pickrell) McKnew, both born in Maryland.  
 
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Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

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