What reason would there be for not being able to find a record of an ancestor's death and burial

Question

I've spent a lot of time searching for one without success.

Comments

In what country (and or area) and what time. Germany 16th century or 1990? Catholic or Protestant (important if before 1875 in Germany)?

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If you can provide more details about the person, name, place of birth, approx date of birth, Wiki Tree ID if a profile has been created someone might be able to help.

Though as Steve says there are many reasons for records never to have existed at all, or they have been lost in any number of ways since the record was created.

Answer 1

There can be several reasons:

1. Incomplete Records
2. Record Loss / Destruction (e.g., the 1890 United States Census Fire)
3. Migration (e.g., died in a location different from where they lived, the death might have been recorded in a place you wouldn't expect)
4. Misspellings or Variations in Name
5. Lack of Resources (e.g., inability to maintain proper civil registration)

If you're facing difficulties, expand your search to include broader geographical areas, variant name spellings, and different record types.

Alternatively, provide what information you do know, and maybe someone here can help dig up some information.

Comments

In the U.S. many people died and were buried in small family cemeteries, now lost.  There was no central recording of deaths (or births) in many places until the 20th century.  Records are often misfiled, too,  as names are misspelled, entered in the wrong order, or misinterpreted by filers and transcribers.

Answer 2

Apologies for the lack of info. Death occurred circa 1817 in Lancashire England.  His sons were baptised as Catholic. I recently found a Roman Catholic  baptism for a William Gatty born 1777 in Lincolnshire.

Comments

Who is it you're actually looking for? Have they got a profile?

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I hadn't posted the profile because I didn't think it would help much.

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Others may be able to find something or come up with ideas if they know who it is. It never hurts to get ideas from a different perspective! It's often easier to find something for soemone else's family than your own :)

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Have you checked the spelling Gatley? (You can exclude the William Gattey died  Altrincham 1840.. (indexed as Gattey on Ancestry

He was aged 0

GATLEY  WILLIAM 0 GRO Reference: 1840 S Quarter in ALTRINCHAM UNION Volume 19 Page 2.

William Gatty of Bolton still seems to have been alive in Nov 1817.  Several building lots were advertised to be sold by Auction ' at the house of Mr William Gatty  the Commercial Inn, Bolton' (they weren't his land, this was just the venue for the sale) British Newspaper archive Manchester Tuesday 11 Nov 1817

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Can you give me the link please to  the newspaper that mentions the auction. I have this via Find my past

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I have checked for Gatley. I actually  have at the present time larger autosomal matches for Gatley than for Gatt(e)y