Statewide Index to Mississippi Death Records (1912 - 1943)

Source Documents

Links to Online Copies of Microfilm Pages
Bennie White wrote the following description of the different formats of microfilm rolls:

Here is a roll by roll breakdown of info contained in the film. There are several different formats.

1912-1924 (three rolls: A-G, H-Q, R-Z)
Surnames are in alphabetical order. Index lists individuals for all years combined (i. e., all SMITHS who died 1912-1924 are listed together)

  1. Name of deceased (last, first)
  2. County where died
  3. Color
  4. Death Certificate Number
  5. Year of death



1925-1927 - each year A-Z (one roll)
1925-1926 - Surnames in alphabetical Soundex Code order
  1. Soundex code (numeric part only)
  2. Name of Deceased (last, first, MI)
  3. Parents Initials (not always filled in)
  4. County where died by code only; county name itself not shown; a listing of county codes can be found HERE
  5. Color by code (according to MS Dept. of Health, 1=white; 2=non-white; 3=Indian)
  6. Death Certificate Number
1927 - Surnames in alphabetical order (no Soundex)
  1. Name of Deceased (last, first, MI)
  2. Parents Initials (not always filled in)
  3. County where died by code only; county name itself not shown; a listing of county codes can be found HERE
  4. Color by code (according to MS Dept. of Health, 1=white; 2=non-white; 3=Indian)
  5. Month of death (numerical 1-12)
  6. Year of death (last two digits)
  7. Death Certificate Number
  8. Sex (column blank on this year's index)
1928-1929 - each year A-Z (one roll)
1928 - Surnames in alphabetical order
  1. Name of deceased (last, first, MI)
  2. Parents Initials (not always filled in)
  3. County where died by code only; county name itself not shown; a listing of county codes can be found HERE
  4. Color by code (according to MS Dept. of Health, 1=white; 2=non-white; 3=Indian)
  5. Month of death (numerical 1-12)
  6. Year of death (last two digits)
  7. Death Certificate Number
  8. Sex (1=male; 2-female)
  9. C. C. (According to MS Dept. of Health, apparently this is indicating marital status (1=married; 2=never married; 3=widowed; 4=divorced). Officials at Dept. of Health were not able to tell me exactly what "C. C." stood for).
1929 - Same as 1928 except "Sex" and "C. C." columns blank
1930-1933 - each year A-Z (one roll)
1930-1931 - Same as 1928, except no "C. C." column
1932-1933 - Surnames in alphabetical Soundex code order
  1. Soundex code (numeric part only)
  2. Last name of deceased
  3. First name of deceased
  4. Middle Initial of deceased
  5. Parents Initials (not always filled in)
  6. County where died by code only; county name itself not shown; a listing of county codes can be found HERE
  7. Color by code (according to MS Dept. of Health, 1=white; 2=non-white; 3=Indian)
  8. Death Certificate Number
  9. Sex (1=male; 2-female)
  10. Marital Status (1=married; 2=never married; 3=widowed; 4=divorced)
  11. Age in years
  12. Age in days (not always filled in)
  13. I was unable to get an exact meaning for the entries in the last two columns, but according to MS Dept. of Health, the codes has to do with cause of death; if anyone knows where these medical codes might be available online, please let me know)
1934-1941 - each year A-Z (one roll)
1934 - same as 1932-1933
1935-1941 - Surnames in alphabetical Soundex code order
  1. Soundex code (numeric part only)
  2. Name of deceased (last, first, MI)
  3. Parents Initials (not always filled in)
  4. County where died by code only; county name itself not shown; a listing of county codes can be found HERE
  5. Color by code (according to MS Dept. of Health, 1=white; 2=non-white; 3=Indian)
  6. Death Certificate Number
1942-1943 - each year A-Z (one roll)
  1. Soundex code (numeric part only)
  2. Name of deceased (last, first, MI)
  3. County where died by code only; county name itself not shown; a listing of county codes can be found HERE
  4. Color by code (according to MS Dept. of Health, 1=white; 2=non-white; 3=Indian)
  5. Month of death (numerical 1-12)
  6. Death Certificate Number


The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) website posted this description of the sources for this project.