Washington, Olympia Death Records Index, 1901 - 1912

The Washington, Olympia Death Records Index spans from 1901 up through 1912 and contains 1,147 records that were compiled from the Washington State Digital Archives. To get more information about the Washington, Olympia Death Records Index, visit the Washington State Digital Archives.

Information Available In This Collection

Details typically available in the death records collected in the Washington, Olympia Death Record Index includes the full name of the deceased, along with gender, race, age at death, birth place, death location and date of death. The cause of death is often included, as well as the marital status of the deceased.

Depending on the completeness of the source death record, the full names of the parents of the deceased are included, as well as each parent's birth place. The page number for the source death record is also featured.

About the Washington State Digital Archives

The original death records from the Washington, Olympia Death Records Index were scanned and inputted to an electronic database by the Washington State Digital Archives, and copies may be ordered for these death records. To learn more about requesting copies of death records, contact the Washington State Digital Archives below.

Washington State Digital Archives
960 Washington Street
Cheney, Washington 99004
360-650-3125

The Washington State Digital Archives is a state-of-the-art facility with custom-designed technology that is dedicated to preserving historically significant state and local records and making them easy to access by the public. The Washington State Digital Archives was the first in the nation to undertake such an endeavor. In addition to death records, other vital records are stored here, including birth and marriage certificates, military records, census records, land and property records and even records pertaining to frontier justice.

Death records began to be recorded regularly in 1891, when the state legislature began requiring coroners and physicians to report all deaths they attended. They were required to fill out a death return and file it with the local County Auditor. However, this duty was stripped from the county level in 1907 when the Washington Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics assumed this duty for the entire state.

Many of the death records compiled for Olympia were taken from the death register, which was filled out by hand to include specific information regarding each decedent. The information transferred to the searchable electronic database is reliant on the accuracy of the person filling out the original death register, as well as having to decipher handwriting.

The Washington State Digital Archives offers the capability to download the scanned image of the source document whenever available, and this service is complimentary and can be saved and printed. Hard copies can also be ordered in most cases.