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There are things that we want to teach our children, and besides teaching them how to be responsible, productive and happy adults, we should be teaching them about their past as well. It is important for us to know where we came from, and even if your children are not interested in this right now, chances they will be when they have children of their own. If you trace your family history and put it all down on paper, you can something to give to future generations, something they can carry on and on through the ages. State records are a great place to start looking for information, and every state, including Alaska, has resources you can use to get the information you need.
You really do need to start from the very beginning when you are tracing your family's history. Begin your family tree with yourself and your immediate family. Include information about your children and your spouse. Then, gather the appropriate information about your parents, then their parents, etc. If you are lucky, you will be able to speak with your grandparents, and maybe even great-grandparents or a grand aunt or uncle who can provide you with information about their parents. Get as much information as you can, such as names, birth dates, death dates and weddings. This information will come in really handy when it comes time to start sifting through documents such as death records.
When you need to find information about family members and ancestors in Alaska, you can get a lot of what you need from death records, as well as other official documents such as birth records, marriage certificates and others. But, in order to get this information, you need to know where to find it. You can go directly to the State of Alaska website, where you will have access to all kinds of records dating back a hundred or more years. These records will provide you with a lot of information that will help with your research, and lead you to other important information about other ancestors.
Not only can you learn a lot about your ancestors when you work on your family tree, you can actually learn a lot about yourself. For instance, many of the stories your grandparents will tell you will be about family members you have never met, but that you have a lot of things in common with. The more you learn, the better understanding you will have of yourself and where you came from. When your work is completed, you will be leaving something special for future generations to remember you and the rest of your ancestors by.
The Alaska Tombstone Transcription Project attempts to preserve history by working with USGenWeb and volunteers across the country. Entries here typically include surname, given name, date of birth, and date of death, depending on the volunteer involved with a given cemetery. Because of the remote location of many cemeteries in the state, some offer little in the way of reliable information. A few are beginning to archive photos of tombstones. To retrieve Alaska burial records, follow the instructions below.
Step 1.
Click here: Alaska Tombstone Transcription Project
Step 2. Select an Alaska county.
Step 3. Select a cemetery, then browse through the available results.
The state of Alaska has two major military cemeteries within its borders, Fort Richardson National in Fort Richardson and Sitka National in Sitka. Obtaining records from these burial places is a straight forward process that can be done through the military, the VA or through the cemetery itself.
The state bureau of vital statistics is in charge of issuing burial transit permits every time someone passes away. Before a funeral can be held, one of these permits must be obtained. A funeral home will often times get these permits every time they take possession of a body. In Alaska, the burial of a person on private property is all but allowed by the state, but you may need to check with local laws and regulations regarding the matter. In general, the state has deferred to local municipalities on this issue.
Unlike most states, Alaska has no funeral board to speak of. Instead, the Dept. of Commerce and Economic Development, Division of Occupational Licensing will give a license to a funeral director to conduct the disposal of a body. This has sometimes lead to less than complete records being kept in one of Alaska's many counties. If you need Alaska cemetery records, you may need to contact the cemetery directly in the county you believe your loved one is located.
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