A death certificate, while it represents a rather sad day in time, can provide you with more information that you can ever grasp on other source documents. I wish that I had the funds to purchase all of the death certificates of my relatives. It's a good thing that I've got a few of these certificates. Now, I have Patrick F. Hickey's.
In my researcher's stance, I must pick apart the death certificate to find clues that support my family tree. My analysis may not be the most interesting post on my blog yet but it is my process and I deem it necessary. I am putting my analysis into bullet points below......
-Patrick F. Hickey.....Yes, the middle initial is indicated as F. which has looked like a T. on other documents. I wonder what his middle name was. That question now begs an answer.
-Patrick's last known usual address was 25 Charles Street, New York, New York. I can confirm that this is in Greenwich Village. My own father walked us past this location in 1990 pointing out where he had lived with his grandparents for first grade. It is interesting to note that Patrick lived in NYC for 60 years of his life. That is not to say that he lived solely at 25 Charles Street, specifically. I know that is not the case. Patrick lived in other locations within Manhattan but mostly in Greenwich Village.
-Patrick is indicated as married at his time of death. Most certainly he was. His wife was Johanna Coughlin Hickey.
-I had an "ah ha" moment about Patrick's date of birth in looking at his death certificate. Up until now, I had found his birth date as November 7th, 1884. With Patrick's thick brogue, I can imagine that that the 22nd may have sounded like the 7th to a transcriber. At any rate, this is good information. I am going with his death certificate date of birth at this point in time.
-Patrick is indicated as being 80 years old and retied from the NYC IRT with a Social Security number of 032-07-9146. He did, in fact, work for the New York City Transit Authority and its name variations.
-Patrick is indicated as being born in Ireland but became a U.S. citizen. He was not in in the U.S. armed forces. I am, however, more certain of the document that I found on Ancestry.com that appears to be Patrick's WWI draft registration card.
-The following information has really been the find of the year for me. Knowing who Patrick's parents were was always a mystery to me. My own father did not know the names of his great grandparents. Patrick's father was William Hickey and his mother was Bridget Minogue.
-The informant of this information at the time of Patrick's death was his wife, Mrs. Johanna Hickey. It is interesting to note here that Patrick and Johanna were known to their grandchildren as Popeye and Mama.
-If I ever get the chance when I'm back in New York, I think it would be interesting to visit Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York where Patrick is buried.
-So Patrick died, or was declared deceased, in New York City, the borough of Manhattan, at St. Vincent's Hospital on October 20, 1965 at 6:30pm. He is indicated as being male with an approximate age of 82 years old. We know from his date of birth, on the same certificate, that he was actually 80 years old. What Patrick died of is a bit of a question. It would appear that New York City simplified things by having the ability to "check a box" if you will. Patrick basically died of natural causes. I guess I'll never really know what health issue he died of.
A death certificate can tell you so much information and also leave you with more questions. At least now I know who Patrick's parents were.
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{Notes, notes, notes.....Generally, I don't update a post later on but keep journalling it in future post. However, I am making an exception here. Patrick died of pneumonia after complications following prostate surgery.} 2/19/2012
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