How to find burial or cremation details

amylynnellison1

My grandparents are Carroll Immanuel SLIGAR and Wilma Clarice JONES. My grandpa died in Lakeland, Polk, Florida in 2007. I was in Germany at the time. I think he was cremated; but, not sure. My aunt says she does not have any death records for them. My grandma died in Fresno, Fresno, California in 2015. All I have found is a social security death index for my grandpa. Nothing other than a recorded date of death phone notification for my grandma from my aunt. I do know that she was cremated.

Where should I look for burial or cremation records? Thank your for your help.

CDBurk

@amylynnellison1,

It has been my experience that the best way to get death information about our close family members is to work directly with the Health Services in the county and state where a death certificate would have been created. A Google search generates the link to Health Services in Polk County, Florida, but when working with any governmental site there is almost always a charge to get a certified copy, and proof of your eligibility to receive the death certificate is also required. https://polk.floridahealth.gov/certificates/death/index.html

Here at FamilySearch, you are always welcome to go to the Search Historical Records page and search within an existing collection, however, 2007 is pretty contemporary and when I went to Find a Collection to see what years are included for death records from Florida at our site, I found the two following collections which don't include the year 2007.

Perhaps a Google search using: Polk County, Florida-Creamations 2007 might produce other helpful results.

Regarding burials, the best sources for accessing burial records online would be to visit a site such as FindaGrave.com or BillionGraves.com which are both partner sites. You can access records from either site from the Find a Collection page here at FamilySearch, or you can go directly to one of these sites to look for burial locations.

I wish you success and hope you will find the death or burial records for your grandparents as you continue your family history research.

amylynnellison1

Thank you