GENEALOGICAL VALUE
of MINING ACCIDENT
REPORTS
1. They place a particular individual in a specific location for any given year.
2. They may provide personal and family information including age or approximate date of birth, ethnicity and/or place of birth, occupation, names of other family members and their locations, date and cause of death, circumstances and extent of injuries, and other miscellaneous information.
3. Frequently several generations of men from one family or collateral families worked in the same mine.
4. They may give birth and/or death information at a time when vital record information was not generally recorded in the territory, state, or county; or in the early years of recording, was incomplete. Death information may lead the researcher to a newspaper article, obituary or probate record.
5. For immigrants, the location of a specific year and place and citizenship may lead the researcher to additional documentation in that county or surrounding counties, specifically naturalization records.
6. For all individuals, the location of a specific year and place may lead the researcher to additional documentation in that county or surrounding counties, such as deed, probate, marriage, civil or criminal records, cemetery, church, county histories and other miscellaneous records.
7. By knowing the mine worked, information about the mine operation in general can be obtained from the annual reports. These reports may not only contain names and details for fatal and nonfatal accidents, but also cover strikes, location of the mines, pictures, production and operation details for specific mines.
Annual reports of the Inspector of mines may be a treasure trove. The depth of the information depends on the year when the accident occurred and the state/province reporting requirements. There can be obstacles to finding this information; many mines existed in remote areas without real “towns” and trying to relate these mining camps to current maps can be difficult.
1. They place a particular individual in a specific location for any given year.
2. They may provide personal and family information including age or approximate date of birth, ethnicity and/or place of birth, occupation, names of other family members and their locations, date and cause of death, circumstances and extent of injuries, and other miscellaneous information.
3. Frequently several generations of men from one family or collateral families worked in the same mine.
4. They may give birth and/or death information at a time when vital record information was not generally recorded in the territory, state, or county; or in the early years of recording, was incomplete. Death information may lead the researcher to a newspaper article, obituary or probate record.
5. For immigrants, the location of a specific year and place and citizenship may lead the researcher to additional documentation in that county or surrounding counties, specifically naturalization records.
6. For all individuals, the location of a specific year and place may lead the researcher to additional documentation in that county or surrounding counties, such as deed, probate, marriage, civil or criminal records, cemetery, church, county histories and other miscellaneous records.
7. By knowing the mine worked, information about the mine operation in general can be obtained from the annual reports. These reports may not only contain names and details for fatal and nonfatal accidents, but also cover strikes, location of the mines, pictures, production and operation details for specific mines.
Annual reports of the Inspector of mines may be a treasure trove. The depth of the information depends on the year when the accident occurred and the state/province reporting requirements. There can be obstacles to finding this information; many mines existed in remote areas without real “towns” and trying to relate these mining camps to current maps can be difficult.