State of Minnesota, Division of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death no. 9827 - George Cooper, Otter Tail County, village of New York, filed 16 December 1913 (DGS 4225975 image 1240 of 2330).

What this document records

Record

One Minnesota certificate of death, printed form, completed in manuscript.

Fields as written: certificate number

9827

Fields as written: place of death county

Otta[il] - i.e. Otter Tail; the word is struck by a large X mark across the block

Fields as written: place of death village

New York

Fields as written: full name

George Cooper

Fields as written: sex

Male

Fields as written: color or race

White

Fields as written: marital

Married

Fields as written: date of birth

[month illegible] 10[?] 183[?]

Fields as written: age

83 yrs 11 mos 3 ds

Fields as written: occupation trade

Farmer

Fields as written: occupation general

carpenter

Fields as written: birthplace

Warren Co N Jersey

Fields as written: name of father

Joseph Cooper

Fields as written: birthplace of father

don't know

Fields as written: maiden name of mother

Elsie Stackhous[e]

Fields as written: birthplace of mother

don't know

Fields as written: informant

Mrs. Geo. Cooper

Fields as written: informant address

N.Y. Mills Minn.

Fields as written: date of death

Dec 13, 1913

Fields as written: cause of death

Mitral Insufficiency

Fields as written: physician

W. A. M[ulley?] M.D.

Fields as written: filed

Dec 16, 1913

Fields as written: registrar

Chas. A. Natal[e?]

Fields as written: place of burial

G[r]eenwood Cemetery

Fields as written: undertaker

none

Reading notes: it is the second certificate naming joseph cooper and elsie stackhaus

This is what the trip went for. Item 10 reads "Joseph Cooper" and item 12 "Elsie Stackhous[e]", read at 5x. George Monroe Cooper's mother: p.2055 had been graded PROBABLE; after [F.139] (Calvin's certificate) this is the SECOND certificate to name the same couple as parents of one of the six children, and the only one for George. The upgrade belongs in George Monroe Cooper, not here. Both parents' birthplaces are given as "don't know", which is itself worth noting: the informant was his widow, and she could name his parents but not where they came from.

Reading notes: the date of death is 13 december and that does not end the conflict

Item 16 reads "Dec" / "13" / "1913", the day a clear 1 followed by 3 at 5x. George Monroe Cooper had recorded the conflict as unresolved and said "the certificate image would settle it". It does not settle it; it REFRAMES it. The conflict was index-against-sources; it is now CERTIFICATE against OBITUARY AND HEADSTONE. His death notice [J.391] says "died at his home Friday evening, Dec. 12" and [G.153] gives 12 Dec - and 12 Dec 1913 WAS a Friday, which is the detail that keeps the notice credible. A death late on a Friday evening, certified by a physician whose own block says he last saw the man alive on Dec 13, is one ordinary way both can be written down honestly. THAT IS AN EXPLANATION OFFERED, NOT A FINDING - the catalog records both dates and prefers neither here.

Reading notes: the birth date field does not resolve and the age disagrees with the catalog

Item 6 is the weakest field on the sheet. The month glyph is close to the one used for "Dec" elsewhere in the same hand but is not confidently read; the day reads 10[?]; the year is overwritten and reads 183[?]. It is recorded with brackets rather than guessed. Item 7, by contrast, is clean: 83 yrs 11 mos 3 ds. Subtracted from a death of 13 Dec 1913 that gives a birth of 10 JANUARY 1830 - which fits a day of 10 and a year of 1830, and would make the month JANUARY, not December. George Monroe Cooper holds 9 FEB 1830. The certificate's age therefore disagrees with the catalog by about a month. ARITHMETIC ON A RECORDED AGE IS NOT A BIRTH RECORD, and nothing here is asserted against George Monroe Cooper's date; the discrepancy is flagged there as a conflict.

Reading notes: the certificate number is degraded

The number at the top right reads 9827, but only the "27" is cleanly formed at 6x; the first two digits are faint and would not be legible on their own. It is accepted because it matches the number the FamilySearch index carries for this record ([F.317]), not because the frame proves it.

What this document does not say

No parents' birthplaces, no street address for the place of death, no length of residence filled in, no cemetery location beyond the name, and nothing of his siblings or children. The widow is named only as "Mrs. Geo. Cooper".