Obituaries and Where to Find Them

By Sherry Stevens, professional genealogist

Obituaries are a genealogical treat! The trick, of course, is finding them. On this Halloween week, I’ll share with you some tools to unearth these elusive goodies and lay your family secrets to rest.
Who knows what treasures you might find in an obituary? Did your great aunt have a previous husband? Did your grandfather have a child you never knew about? Where were the places they lived, and what were their experiences and hobbies? It could all be in their obituary.

Buyer Beware
The obituary is usually written by a close family member, so the information provided there is generally quite accurate. You will usually find dates, places, and names of next-of-kin, as well as the interests and important experiences of your ancestor. However, be cautious! The author may not have a perfect memory, or may have been emotionally upset while writing, so their “facts” can vary slightly from the truth. Nevertheless, obituaries are still a valuable summary of a person’s life experiences.
Where to Find Obituaries
Obviously, obituaries are printed in newspapers. But there are other locations you may find them as well. The mortuary or funeral home may have kept a copy, a family member may have saved one in a scrapbook or family Bible, or the article may have been included in a compiled family history. Talk to family members, especially those who are aged, to see what they have. Contact the mortuary to see if they still have any records on your ancestor. Hint: The name of the mortuary is often listed on the death certificate.
Searching Newspapers
To find an obituary in a newspaper, you will first need your ancestor’s death date. If you don’t start with the date, you’ll have to read a lot of newspapers!
Next, you need to find out what newspapers were in print at the time and place of your ancestor’s death. A great website to learn this information is Chronicling America, a website of the U.S. Library of Congress. Here you can search by location and date to access the largest available list of newspapers from 1690 to the present. Don’t overlook papers published by special interest groups such as political parties, religious, or ethnic groups, of which your ancestor might have been a member.
After you’ve made a list of which newspapers to check, learn which ones are still available today and who has them. Some historic newspapers are available online, but others are only in print or on microfilm. Try entering the name of the newspaper into the following sites:

1. Chronicling America– Click on the newspaper title, then on “Holdings” at the bottom.
2. Google– Just enter the name of the city and newspaper, and perhaps the year as well.
3. WorldCat– the world library catalog. If you find your newspaper listed here, go your local library to order it through an inter-library loan. Usually they charge a small fee for shipping.
4. American Antiquarian– Specializes in newspapers prior to 1876.
5. Center for Research Libraries– Offers mostly international newspapers. Order them through your local university or college through an inter-library loan.
6. The United States Newspaper Program– Microfilmed newspapers from 1700’s to the present.

There are many fee-based sites as well, which are searchable for free at your local library or FamilySearch center. These include NewspaperArchive.com, World Vital Records, the Godfrey Memorial Library, and the 19th Century British Library Newspapers digital archive. For more information on their holdings, click here.
If you find the repository of your newspaper, but they do not loan copies, you could ask them to recommend a local researcher whom you could hire to examine the newspaper for you on site.
Search the Newspaper
When you obtain the newspaper, whether online or otherwise, keep these tips in mind:

1. Obituaries were usually printed from one to seven days after the death date, so you may need to search several issues of the paper.
2. Historic newspapers typically did not have a section set aside for obituaries, so you will probably need to search every page of the paper.
3. Don’t forget to search the front page if your ancestor was a noted citizen, especially in a small town.
4. Check for other newspaper articles besides the obituary. Sometimes you will find a death notice or a funeral report, which is published after the funeral and lists the details and participants at the funeral.

Now that you’ve learned a few tricks, I hope you find some genealogical treats. Happy hunting!

Sherry Stevens is a professional researcher, writer, lecturer, and the owner of GenPro’s, a genealogical research firm. A descendant of Danish immigrants, she specializes in the records of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, as well as the United States.