How to Locate an Obituary
An obituary is a brief notice in a newspaper announcing a person's death, according to the Internet Public Library. Obituaries can include date of birth, family information of the deceased, and a brief narrative of his life story. Obituaries play an important role in genealogical research, because of the brief life narratives that they provide. Locating an obituary is a standard part of genealogical research and depends heavily on newspaper and archival research.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Search newspapers. Most newspapers--no matter how small or large--host websites that feature electronic versions of the print newspaper; these sites have searchable obituary sections to find obituaries from previous editions of the paper. Some newspapers have digitized their archives, or created online tools that allow you to search their archives for an obituary. If you cannot print a copy of an obituary from the online version of the newspaper, print copies of archived articles are usually available for a small fee--you can purchase copies of archived articles online from the newspaper's site.
-
2
Search national databases for obituaries. The advent of the Internet has made genealogical searches and the process of finding obituaries much easier, thanks to national databases that specialize in obituaries. Websites such as legacy.com, Public Records, or the Obituary Links Page comb through state and local death notices, newspaper obituaries and other public records to create searchable tools to find obituaries. Sites allow you to hone your search by state, city or county, and they often allow you to search by multiple variables, including name, date range and Social Security Number.
-
-
3
Search your state health department's vital statistics office. All state health departments feature an office that records births and deaths within the state; in many cases, obituaries are part of the death notice information in state files. In other cases, the vital statistics office can at least provide you with a definite date of death that you can use in your research for an obituary.
-
4
Visit your local library. Experts at the Internet Public Library point out that not all newspapers have paid to digitize archived copies of their obituaries--in these cases, you will need to visit your local library and enlist the help of a reference librarian. Most libraries subscribe to a service called News Bank that features old newspapers on filmstrips or microfiche. Your local librarian can help you navigate the archives; for these kinds of searches, you will need an approximate idea of when the person died and when the obituary might have appeared, as well as the name of the newspaper the obituary appeared in.
-
1
