An old obituary can prove to be extremely helpful if you want to recall some person, conduct genealogical research, or gather information for a memorial. A person might have passed away just recently or several years back, but there are always good ways to Find an Obituary. In most cases, an old obituary is not available on the Internet, but if you know where and how to look, it will help you out tremendously.

Why Would You Want To Find An Old Obituary?

An obituary is not only an announcement about someone's death; it provides much information about the person's life, including full name, date of birth and place, date of death, relations, career, accomplishments, and funeral/ memorials.

Old obituaries are often located while searching for genealogical facts, family records, estate facts, historical facts, or even for a personal memorial. An obituary could be the tool for finding information about relatives and keeping their memories alive through generations. 

Begin with the Basic Facts

Collect all possible information about the person before making your search. Just a small detail can greatly limit your results.

Try to find out:

• Full name of the individual

• Date or year of death

• City, county, or state where he/she resided

• Earlier residences

• Spouse or relative’s name

• Name of newspaper where the obituary may have appeared

• Name of funeral home or cemetery

• Age of the individual when he died

If the individual had a common name, adding the name with place or year of death makes the search process much easier.

Search Old Newspapers' Databases Online

The majority of newspapers store their archives digitally, which makes it possible to search for Death Notices by name and date.

It is only necessary to input various combinations of the data, for instance, the name of the person who has passed away and the city and state in which he or she lived, along with the year of his or her death.

Sometimes the archives of the old newspapers are available for purchase or for paid subscription. Sometimes libraries and historical societies have access to the database of old newspapers which cannot be accessed anywhere else.

Check Funeral Home Records

The other great place to look for old obituaries is a Funeral Home. The key here is to figure out what funeral home performed the arrangement of the funeral service of the deceased individual. Generally, the funeral homes maintain an archive of their past obituaries.

If you fail to find the obituary on the Internet, you may approach the concerned funeral home and request assistance. It is always better to have some more information while researching cremation or a memorial service.

Search Public Library and Genealogy Resources

Local public libraries may be a great place to find historical obituaries. Newspaper archives, microfilm collections, historical databases, or local genealogy materials can be kept in the Library.

Online genealogy services can be helpful as well in locating documents concerning the individual’s death. Depending on the amount of information available, one might discover historical documents such as cemetery records, death certificates, genealogical trees, newspaper articles, or any other type of document.

It should be mentioned that when conducting genealogy research, one might face the situation when the information is not true. In case there is such a possibility, the information should be verified in a number of sources.

Contact the Newspaper Directly

If you know what newspaper published an obituary but the obituary in question is not available online, you can try contacting the newspaper's research department. The newspaper could be too outdated for digitization.

It would be wise to add the name of the deceased person, his/her date of death, and place of death.

Check Cemetery and Historical Society Records

In addition, one should consider checking out other historical records since many historical societies possess many newspapers, documents, photographs, etc., which can be found nowhere online.

One can also get additional information about the individual from the cemetery records, which will contain the full name of the deceased, date of birth, date of death, relations, and even the burial location. This information could be useful in cases when many people share the same name.

What if You Cannot Find an Obituary?

Sometimes, one might experience a situation where not all obituaries are available online. Moreover, it could be possible that the traditional obituary simply does not exist or is too outdated to digitize.

If you do not manage to find the name of the person in the newspaper, then you can enlarge the scope of searching for the name of the person by using other newspapers, other cities, libraries, mortuaries, cemeteries, and genealogical websites. There is another way to search – to look for death notices.

These notices usually include just brief information, but it may be enough to find other documents.

Preserve the Obituary for Your Family!

When you discover the obituary from years ago, you should write down where you got it and when it was published. You can save not only the digital version of the newspaper, but also the document itself and the clipping from the newspaper that contained the obituary.

Your obituary is the only source of information about your relative, and you have to save the obituary for the future and pass it on to your relatives.

Remembering a Loved One

It might be difficult for you to find an old obituary, but the information provided there will definitely give you some interesting facts about your relative and his legacy.

No matter whether you want to study your family history or simply revive the memories, there are many sources where you can find the obituary – from newspapers to genealogical services, libraries, funeral homes, and historical institutions.

At Simple Cremation USA, we understand that remembering someone is always an emotional process, and the cremation process can serve as a memory preservation of the deceased. Notes on their family history, photographing and obtaining obituaries could be of assistance in remembering their dearly departed ones. Contact us Today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ques1. Can I find a newspaper obituary from 20 or 30 years ago?

Ans: Yes. Obituaries can be found at newspapers' archives, libraries, genealogical websites, funeral homes, and other organizations.

Ques2. What information is needed to conduct the search?

Ans: At least a full name and a year of death should be known. Other information like the person's place of residence, age, name of the newspaper, and relatives' names will facilitate the search process.

Ques3. Can I find all old obituaries in the Internet?

Ans: No. Only some of them might have been published in printed newspapers without being posted online.

Ques4. Can a funeral home provide an old obituary?

Ans: Yes, maybe. However, one has to know at least which funeral home was organizing the funeral.