Mail Bag! Death Certificate for Eliza Eldridge

Louisiana is on the ball! I already received the death certificates I ordered earlier this month.

One of the certificates was for my great-great grandmother, Eliza Eldridge (1851-1937). For family members playing along, she was Floyd's father's mother. For regular We Tree readers, she was also the poor widow in the infamous "killing scrape" in my family tree.

She remarried, so her death certificate is under the name Matte (spelled Matt on the document).

Ms. Matte died in Port Barre, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana on August 12, 1937. The cause was "intestinal obstruction due to gall bladder condition." A contributing factor was "old age."

This certificate says Eliza was born in Milan County, Texas. This is news to me. Two censuses state she was born in Louisiana, but the 1930 census says Texas. Hmm...

The death certificate also says her father was Madison J. Eldridge, bithplace unknown. I have in my records James M. Eldridge. Maybe he was known by Madison? I'll have to explore that further.

Eliza's mother was Elizabeth Perkins. This I knew. However, the record also says that Elizabeth's birthplace was Louisville, Kentucky. News to me. The 1930 census for Eliza says both her parents were born in Kentucky.

The informant for Eliza's death certificate was her daughter Lula (Thibodeaux) McGee. Lula was living in Eunice, Lousiana at the time, so that's a nice tidbit of information for my timeline. This record also provided the undertaker's name and Eliza's burial location.

This is why getting death certificates in the mail is such a kick. My Thibodeaux branch of the tree, which I thought was so firmly entrenched in Louisiana for decades, might actually have a branch in Kentucky. I haven't done any research in Kentucky, but I'm happy to start. This goose chase will be fun.