This index has over 26,800 deaths, which were reported and published before 1899 throughout the United States, with the majority of them from the Midwest area. The newspaper was begun in 1839 by Rev. Wilhelm Nast in Cincinnati. As his influence spread, he recruited many more ministers to support the German Methodist movement, and the founding of many more local churches in the area, which eventually expanded to include most of the United States and Europe. The death notices contained in this index therefore include people that lived in all parts of the United States in the 19th and early 20th century, and also include approximately 85% of the towns of birth in the death notice. This makes the index of benefit to researchers throughout the United States looking for the place of birth of their German ancestors, as well as researchers in Germany trying to find what happened to relatives that left the area and settled in the United States in the 19th century.