Search Obituaries

                                                                                         

Before the 1900’s, the usual obituary would read…“John Doe dies Dec. 1, 1888.” After modernization of printing technology in the early 1900’s, print media could add pictures and biographies to obituaries. In the late 1990’s, obituaries again changed. With the Internet boom, obituaries were digitized. Now, you can type- “search obituary” into a search engine and find listings separate from newspapers. Some may wonder: “Why would I want to search obituaries?”

Family history searches are becoming a more and more prevalent practice. First of all, personal family history searches are a hobby to many. It is fascinating to find out, not only who your ancestors were; but how they died, when they died, education, employment, religion, etc… All of this can be found when you search obituaries. Secondly, people are searching out obituaries for medical reasons. There is a growing number of diseases, that are genetically related ,or possibly linked to genetics. Searching family trees can assist in the diagnosis process.

Professional genealogists search obituaries as part of their research process. They can use the information to define or trace: migration trends, social conditions, fiscal data, political trends, legal changes, census data, lifespan data, etc…These are just two of the reasons people use obituaries.

There are several resources to search obituaries. Newspaper web sites have archives, that you can search. However, some are limited in dates. Another option is private sites that have indexed obituaries. Usually these sites have obituaries indexed by state or newspaper. Genealogy search engines usually have an obituary database. Historic newspaper web sites will have obituaries.

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