Still trying to get a death certificate for my grandmother,Helen Ware born in Pe

Question:Her maiden name was Helen Tomco. She was married to willie ware (Bill) lived in Detroit, Mich. Wayne County. She died in Wayne county sometime between 1960-1970. I have tried many times on line and by phone to get a death certificate but you have to have the exact date of death. I can't find anything on Ancestry.com or rootweb. She is not on the SS death index or michigan deaths. I tried all the obvious. the only two places I found her was on the 1930 census and on the 1910 census I found a helen tomiako-maybe she shortened it to Tomco? The 1910 census had the right year, the parents from the right country, she had an older brother named Louis (same name and spelling as my father). I have a ware family tree on ancester if that is any help. I have been trying for two years and not getting anywhere. Would very much appreciate any help.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Her maiden name was Helen Tomco. She was married to willie ware (Bill) lived in Detroit, Mich. Wayne County. She died in Wayne county sometime between 1960-1970. I have tried many times on line and by phone to get a death certificate but you have to have the exact date of death. I can't find anything on Ancestry.com or rootweb. She is not on the SS death index or michigan deaths. I tried all the obvious. the only two places I found her was on the 1930 census and on the 1910 census I found a helen tomiako-maybe she shortened it to Tomco? The 1910 census had the right year, the parents from the right country, she had an older brother named Louis (same name and spelling as my father). I have a ware family tree on ancester if that is any help. I have been trying for two years and not getting anywhere. Would very much appreciate any help.

The State of Michigan will do searches for a fee, which can be quite costly ($26 will search a 3 year period + $12 for each additional year...once found, years that did not need to be searched will be refunded):
http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-13...
and this is the form to mail in:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deatha...

**Edit**
I'm not sure how reliable these sites are, but for $5.95 maybe it's worth a shot?
http://www.intelius.com/deathrecords.php...

Go, call or write to the County Clerk of Wayne County. Ask how to get a copy of the death certificate there. It shouldn't be too difficult. You probably will need the person's name and social security and date of death. It may cost you a few dollars too.

Sorry. I don't know if you have the right soft ware for this but if you do, you can try to search her on www.aiipowmia.com/cia1.html

Go to vital statistics of PA on the web. Look for death certificate on the left/vital statistics.

This date is to far back for them to have it electronically; however, if you call the clerk, number on wbsite, she can help you with an application, also online, to obtain the record. You may need a notary before you send the app in.

good luck!

You can't get death records offline, really--you need to order them directly from the government. You need to call the Wane County records office, of the Michigan archives office.
However, it sounds like the 1910 census you found is right. Census records were often wrong (if you look at the original census--they have a picture of each one on ancestry.com--you'll see how messy the handwriting is, and it was clearly hard to decipher) and/or misspelled...and yes, MANY people changed their last names.

One suggestion...well maybe two or three.

If she died in the City of Detroit, those records aren't kept by Wayne Co. They're kept by the Detroit Health Dept. Their records are also separate from the Michigan Death Index. I'd call their Vital Records unit and ask if they can verify that they hold it. If they do, mystery solved. If they don't...Plan B

The other is that the Archives of Michigan in Lansing holds copies of all records ever recorded in the state. The Iosco and Clinton Co GenWeb pages are full of volunteers willing to do lookups at the State Archives.

There are two I can think of.
One is the Historical society in that state. Another is the Press.
Papers have records of all Obits and funerals and even those that are not registered in the Govt. Agent office. when there was no one there to give them a send off,or was lost and not found the body, papers can find for you what happened. Those things are on chips now instead of old yellow papers or on tapes.
Get the names of the local press of the day and then ask for any info they can find on the family and grandmothers Death and facts of that time. Good Luck. MC.

I found this Louis Tomko on ancestry.com:
1910 United States Federal Census
Name: Louis Tomko
Age in 1910: 6
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1904
Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Relation to Head of House: Son (Listed as Head of Household was Joseph Petra. Same as below??)
Father's Name: Joseph
Father's Birth Place: Austria
Mother's Name: Catharine
Mother's Birth Place: Austria
Home in 1910: Troutville, Clearfield, Pennsylvania
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Gender: Male

Is this the right William Ware??
Social Security Death Index
Name: William Ware
SSN: 420-03-5919
Last Residence: 48217 Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States of America
Born: 8 Mar 1906
Died: Sep 1983
State (Year) SSN issued: Alabama (Before 1951 )

Or there is this one:
Social Security Death Index
Name: Willie Ware
SSN: 408-22-5436
Last Residence: 48201 Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States of America
Born: 17 May 1910
Died: May 1978
State (Year) SSN issued: Tennessee (Before 1951 )

Willie Ware-b. 17 May 1910--d. May 1978-- Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

www.ancestry.com
In the Social Security Death Index, I have seen quite a few Helen Wares (would have used her married name by the time she collected Social Security, so looked up Ware instead of Tomco/Tomko) listed who were born about 1906, and lived in Detroit at the time she died, as well as other states, too. Do you know her middle initial??

www.familysearch.org:
Helen TOMKO
Birth Date: 30 Dec 1906
Death Date: 16 Feb 1998
Social Security Number: 187-03-3981
State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: Pennsylvania

Death Residence Localities
ZIP Code: 18702
Localities: Hanover Township, Luzerne, Pennsylvania
Korn Krest, Luzerne, Pennsylvania
Laflin, Luzerne, Pennsylvania
Plains Township, Luzerne, Pennsylvania
Wilkes Barre, Luzerne, Pennsylvania
Wilkes Barre Township, Luzerne, Pennsylvania

(Notice it shows she died in Pennsylvania, however, and the death date is wrong.)