Research Guide: County Coroner’s records

This research guide was was adapted from a tutorial authored by Keri Logan, co-editor of The Forum Insider, the newsletter of the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. The guide first appeared in the February 2022 edition.

This research guide shows you how to find a specific entry in the Record of Coroner’s Investigations, 1894-1923.

For this tutorial, we will look for the record for James Kintrea, who was buried at Columbia Pioneer Cemetery, Portland, Oregon.

Note: Click on any image to enlarge it.

Step 1

Type “County Coroner” (with quotation marks) in the search box (Image 1).

Screenshot of this webpage with the words "County Coroner" (with exclamation) typed in the Search bar. An arrow points to the Search archive button.

Image 1

Step 2

Choose the second option “Record of Coroner’s Investigations, 1894–1923” for the most direct route to the records (Image 2).

Results of search described in step 1. The second result is the Record of Coroner's Investigations, 1894-1923.

Image 2

Step 3

Each page is an individual digital image.

The first 36 images are index pages. All surnames beginning with a certain letter are listed together, but the names are not alphabetized beyond the first letter.

You must search the entire list for your name, but generally, names listed near the top are for earlier death dates. For James Kintrea, use index image 17, which lists surnames beginning with K (Image 3). (See the info box below for a list of index pages and their corresponding letters.)

Screenshot of results from step 2. The link for "Record of Coroner's Investigations, Index, 17" is circled.

Image 3

Step 4

By looking through the index list, you can determine the page number for your person of interest. “Jas. Kintrea” will be on page 62 (Image 4).

Excerpt of page 17 of the Record of Coroner's Investigations. The words "Kintrea, Jas. C. 62" are circled.

Image 4

Step 5

Using the “Search Within” box in the middle of the Archives page, enter “062” to pull up the image for page 062 (Image 5). [Pro Tip: Using zero(s) before numbers that are less than three digits will limit search results.]

Excerpted image of the web page, including metadata, with the text "062" entered in the Search box.

Image 5

Step 6

Once the page has loaded, click the download icon to download the page to your computer.

Excerpt of web page, including metadata, with the download button circled

Image 6

Index Images – Letter Correlations

Coroner’s records index – letter/page correlations

Transcription of Letter Correlations Table

Letter A – Image Number 01
Letter B – Image Numbers 03-04
Letter C – Image Numbers 05-06
Letter D – Image Number 07
Letter E – Image Number 09
Letter F – Image Number 10
Letter G – Image Number 11
Letter H – Image Numbers 12-13
Letter I – Image Number 14
Letter J – Image Number 16
Letter K – Image Number 17
Letter L – Image Number 18
Letter M – Image Numbers 19-20
Letter Mc – Image Number 21
Letter N – Image Number 22
Letter O – Image Number 23
Letter P – Image Number 24
Letter Q – Image Number 25
Letter R – Image Number 26
Letter S – Image Numbers 27-29
Letter T – Image Number 30
Letter U, and Unknown Individuals – Image 31
Letter V – Image Number 32
Letter W – Image Numbers 33-24
Letter Y – Image Number 35
Letter Z – Image Numbers 36

Note: Some pages are blank, and there is no index for “X.”