My third great grandfather is Patrick Parker, who is buried in Saint Mary's church cemetery near Ackley. His headstone gives his date of death as 28 Apr 1874.
I am looking for suggestions on where to find other documentation of his date of death (not ultimately derived from cemetery listings) as I've come up empty so far.
I've looked for news in the Ackley Independent on microfilm. The Franklin Recorder microfilm was missing 1874 when I got it. The Parkersburg Eclipse appears appears to have a gap on microfilm for 1874. Reviewed the Iowa Historical Society microfilm for Hardin and Franklin Counties for probate or other records. Checked the microfilm from the Family History Library for both Franklin and Hardin counties, which appears to be the same as what the Iowa Historical Society has.
There are a few indexes that have entries for his death, but they all appear to be based on his grave stone, such as Find A Grave indexes. Those such as Iowa, Select Deaths and Burials, 1850-1990 on Ancestry or Iowa, County Death Records on Familysearch don't have anything. Official death registrations didn't begin until 1880.
I've written the Ackley Heritage Center and Saint Mary's Church. The Heritage Center only had a listing based on the grave stones, and the church has ignored multiple letters.
So I'm hoping someone who is familiar with Hardin or Franklin counties can point to another source of records that covers deaths in 1874.