Death Certificates:
We have photocopies of death certificates from 1887 – 1910.
These are in a file cabinet in the basement and must be accessed by a librarian. An index is available on the KS GenWeb website. To request a copy by mail, please use a copy request form.
After July 1911, all death records are held at the state level. To request a copy, go to the Kansas Department of Vital Statistics website. There are rules about who can order death certificates; as of April 2018, you can order your great-grandfather’s certificate, but might not be able to get certificates for some degrees of cousins.
Coroners Records:
There are two types of coroners records: a card index and the full record books.
The card index covers 1870 to 1954. The fine folks at the Sedgwick County Courthouse have created an index, which they have shared with us. We have these on two rolls of microfilm.
The record books have more information on each case, but some books have been lost. We have books 2, 4-8 (1910-1919, 1924-1952) on two rolls of microfilm.
To request copies of any of these records, please use a copy request form.
Probate:
We have the original probate files for Sedgwick County from 1870 to Nov 1917. (These are fragile and may only be pulled by a librarian and used on the main floor under supervision.)
The index is here. To request a copy of a probate file by mail, please use a copy request form.
We also have some probate records on microfilm:
- Will records: 1872-1918
- Probate Journal: 1871 – 1918
- Probate-Real Estate: 1885-1919
Sedgwick County probate records from 1870 to 1917 have been digitized and placed online by FamilySearch.org.
Quiring Monument Purchase Orders
We have purchase orders from Quiring Monument that includes orders for memorial stones from Wichita Monument, Marsh Monument, Quiring Monument, Creekmore & Son, and Bruce Memorials (Klugman). These purchase orders cover the years 1919 through 1944, 1951 through 1973 and 1965 through 1991. They are kept in file cabinets in the library, arranged by year and month.
The index is here. To request a copy of a purchase order file by mail, please use a copy request form.
Funeral Home Records
A current(ish) list of Wichita-area funeral homes may be found here.
A list of some of the older Wichita-area funeral homes, and suggestions for finding their records, may be found here.