What to enter in location for death?

StevenPreston4

I see this many times that an elderly person lived all there lives at home in one location. They then get sick and are transported to another location or hospital where they die. They have never resided in the hospital location be it another Town, City, County, or even another State.

I do not like using the hospital location as the death site as it distorts the history of where they resided at the end of their lives.

Thoughts?

Alan E. Brown

I agree that the death place should be the accurate place where the person actually died. But you can also create a residence event for the place the person was living at time of death.

Gordon Collett

One of the great things about Family Tree is the space it offers and the flexibility it provides to allow us to be clear and accurate when life is just messy. For the situation you describe, I personally would make use of the Reason Statement:

Gail Swihart Watson

The death location is a fact that should not be tampered with. My father died in Hawaii while on vacation. He never lived there and was probably not there for even 10 days his entire life. Yet that is the place he died and Hawaii is the state that issued his death certificate. Hawaii is the correct location of death.

I could say the same about birth, by the way. Just because you were born somewhere doesn't mean you have ties to that place, for the exact same reason. I was born while my dad was a student in a state we have no family ties to. After he graduated, we left and I have only been back to that state one time in my entire life. I feel nothing towards it.