Texas, Deaths, 1890-1977
Index and images of Texas statewide death certificates--including delayed certificates, foreign deaths, and probate obituaries--from the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin. The delayed records are grouped with regular death certificates and, although frequently located in the final few volumes of a given year, can sometimes be found interspersed throughout a volume set.
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Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976
Source: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Texas,_Deaths,_1890-1976_-_FamilySearch_Historical_Records
What Is in This Collection?
This collection includes Texas Death records from 1890 to 1976. Texas has recorded deaths from 1903 to the present, plus about 250 registrations from 1890-1939 and nearly 2,000 delayed registrations of death from 1890s-1990, as reported from obituaries and probate records.
The collection consists of images of Texas statewide death certificates--including delayed certificates, foreign deaths, and probate obituaries--from the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin. The delayed records are grouped with regular death certificates and, although frequently located in the final few volumes of a given year, can sometimes be found interspersed throughout a volume set.
For the years 1903-1909, two small pre-printed “report of death” forms are on one page. From 1911 on, each death was recorded on a one-page pre-printed “standard death certificate” form. The year 1910 has a mixture of reports of death and standard death certificates.
Death Certificates 1903-1909 are arranged by County and Year, then are listed alphabetically by the first letter of the surname only. After the certificates were arranged in this manner, they were numbered in a single sequence running through that arrangement (Certificates 1-61,752 in 141 volumes).
Certificates for 1910 are generally arranged by Surname and then Given Name(s). The certificates were then numbered.
Certificates beginning with 1911 were arranged by year, month, then county. The arrangement below that appears to vary: Bexar county certificates appear to be generally in reverse alphabetical order by surname; some other counties appear to be in proper alphabetical order, while others appear to be in random order.
Beginning with 1911 and continuing at least through 1976, the certificates were bound in volumes by year and numbered with a repeating sequence of numbers for each year. Standard forms for death certificates and report of death were filled out by a county clerk, mortician or medical professional, who talked to the informant. The certificates were filed with county clerks or local registrars, who forwarded the information to the Texas Department of Health, now known as the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.
To Browse This Collection
| You can browse through images in this collection using the waypoints on the Collection Browse Page for Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976. |
What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:
- Name of deceased
- Date and place of death
- Age in years, months and days
- Gender, race and marital status of deceased
- Name of hospital or institution in which died
- Cause of death
- Residence of deceased
- Date and place of birth
- Names of parents, including maiden name of mother
- Birthplace of parents
- Name of informant, usually a relative
- Date and place of burial
- Name of mortuary or undertaker
Collection Content
Coverage Table
For a table with the number of records by county in this collection see Texas Death Coverage Table.
Collection Details
Location of Original Records
Bureau of Vital Statistics. State Registrar Office, Austin
"Texas, Deaths, 1890-1977." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 5 August 2025. Citing Bureau of Vital Statistics. State Registrar Office, Austin.
