Dear Cousins,

On behalf of a friend, Rose Raymen is looking for a death certificate for somebody
who died in Queens, one of the boroughs of New York City. She said that the New
York City Archives were unable to locate her death certificate.

I answer - a death certificate >from 1972 isn't old enough to be at New York City's
Municipal Archives - death certificates >from 1949 and afterward are at the N.Y.C.
Department of Health. However, about two months ago, the Department of Health
required that the New York Public Library, which had publicly available indices
for deaths and births including the year that Rose needs, remove their books and
microfilms >from the shelves over privacy concerns, so there's no way to easily get
the death certificate number or make sure there were no spelling mistakes in
recording the name. The only way to get the record is >from the Department of
Health. It can be done on line at
http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/services/death-certificates.page, but they have a
number of restrictions. Follow the instructions carefully - a granddaughter should
be able to get the certificate.

Ira Leviton
New York, N.Y.