Steve’s Genealogy Blog

Obituaries can be a major source of information for Family History research.

While death notices may simply state the name of the deceased and the date of death, many obituaries include much, much more. Obituaries may include the name of the deceased, the date of death, the place of death, the location of services, the place of burial, and the names of surviving relatives. Some even include the names of the parents, the place of birth, the age at time of death, the cause of death, the names of predeceased relatives, the names of organizations and churches to which the deceased belonged, the names of schools attended, employment history, the deceased’s hobbies, and information about the deceased’s military service.

Unfortunately, the newspapers where relevant obituaries can be found are not always readily available.

Fortunately, online newspapers have made searching for recent obituaries much easier, and many online newspapers offer free access to the most recent obituaries in their files. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, for example, offers free online access to obituaries for 30 days. Obituaries older than that can be accessed for $1.95 each. Simply searching the archives is free and, in the case of the Telegram & Gazette, other articles such as news articles, wedding announcements, real estate transfers, school honor rolls, and letters to the editor will also be searched. Researchers only need to pay to see the full text of the selected articles.

But, I’ve found, the price of $1.95 per article can add up, especially if one purchases articles and obituaries that appear to be relevant, but aren’t.

Luckily, there’s ProQuest. Many public libraries provide online access from your own home to the ProQuest databases. For me, I just have to browse to the San Francisco Public Library website and log onto the ProQuest database using my San Francisco Public Library card number. A search using the terms “Danko” and “Worcester” brought up 22 hits, including 10 obituaries of my relatives and 3 other articles mentioning my relatives. Moreover, I was able to read the full text for free.

The ProQuest databases available through the San Francisco Public Library include hundreds of newspapers from across the country and around the world. The dates covered in the databases vary from newspaper to newspaper. Some go back only a few years, but others cover decades. The New York Times historical database is comprehensive and covers all issues of that newspaper from 1851 to 2004 (more recent dates are included in the non-historical database with the other newspapers).

Even if a researcher doesn’t live near a library with a subscription to ProQuest, all is not lost. Any California resident may obtain a San Francisco Public Library card for free, but applicants must apply in person at any San Francisco Public Library location. Similar arrangements may be available with other libraries and in other states.

ProQuest doesn’t include everything, however.

A large number of small town newspapers are available through SmallTownPapers where researchers can read the current edition of many small town newspapers for free. Archives of these newspapers can be searched through World Vital Records and Footnote.com (both subscription websites).

NewspaperARCHIVE (a subscription website) boasts 74.6 Million Pages for 709 Cities, 239 Years, and 2,717 Titles of historical newspapers. WorldVitalRecords has acquired this collection and is gradually making the content available on their own website.

GenealogyBank (a subscription website) claims that over 26+ million obituaries in their American Obituaries Collection (1977 to present) including over 1,000 U.S. newspapers “make this the most complete collection from the 20th and 21st centuries”. The GenealogyBank Historical Newspapers Collection (1690-1977) “includes 106+ million articles, obituaries, marriage notices, birth announcements and other items published in more than 500,000 issues of over 2,300 historical U.S. newspapers”.

ObitsArchive (a subscription website) claims to be “the largest and most comprehensive collection of newspaper obituaries and death notices in the United States”. Researchers can purchase articles individually for $2.95 or they can subscribe for a recurring monthly charge.

Ancestry.com (a subscription site) includes their Obituary Collection with over 9 million obituaries from hundreds of newspapers obtained from online sources. Most of the obituaries are from the last few years. Ancestry.com also includes a Historical Newspaper Collection and a new Historical Newspapers, Birth, Marriage, & Death Announcements Collection, 1850-2003.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of online sources for obituaries and newspaper articles. Consider it a springboard from which your search for obituaries can be launched.

Update 31 Jan 2008:
Randy Seaver and Drew Smith recently wrote on similar topics. Randy wrote Finding Newspaper Web Sites and Drew wrote Home-grown obituaries and online newspaper databases.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

My last day in Salt Lake City was a bit less frantic than Friday and Saturday were. I slept in late this morning and spent some time reading the Sunday newspaper (the print edition) while having breakfast at the Marriott City Center.

My favorite places to stay in Salt Lake City are the Hilton Salt Lake City Center, the Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown, and the Salt Lake City Marriott City Center. I usually stay at whichever is the cheapest and I can usually stay for $100 a night or less.

For this trip, I stayed at the Salt Lake City Marriott City Center because I wanted to visit the Salt Lake City Main Public Library today. The Marriott City Center is only a couple of blocks from the library, an easy walk.

I have to admit that I don’t know all the resources available at the Salt Lake City Main Library. The only thing I’ve ever done there is to research records in the Salt Lake City newspapers. One great thing about researching newspaper records on microfilm at the Salt Lake City Main Public Library is that paper copies from microfilm are free! Another bonus is that the other patrons researching newspapers on microfilm are generally a friendly and talkative bunch, so the time spent there is enjoyable.

On this trip I was able to print out copies of about 30 newspaper records, most of which were obituaries. Along with all the records I found at the Family History Library, it’ll take a while for me to digest all this new information.

Now, I’m back in San Francisco, a bit bushed and ready to call it a night. Not to repeat myself, but I had a very productive weekend!

Barbara Poole sent me a link to an article discussing recent changes at Ancestry.com (a division of MyFamily.com).  I notice that online dating comes up a lot in recent articles about Ancestry.com, but that’s not surprising since Tim Sullivan, the (relatively) new chief executive at MyFamily.com is a refugee from the online dating industry.

“Ancestry.com is accustomed to competing with public institutions that give away genealogy information for which it charges. EllisIsland.org gives away data about immigrant ship manifests to help raise awareness about Ellis Island, while FamilySearch.org, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, gives away census data at least partly to help its members who would like to baptize ancestors into the church.

Mr. Sullivan of Ancestry.com said the company would offer DNA searching in the near future, and would compete with the Sorenson database as it does with the other free sites — by surrounding its own version of the service with a broader range of features.” …read more

Source:  Tedeschi, Bob. 2006. Genealogy for the Living, the Dead, the Far Away. The New York Times October 9, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/09/technology/09ecom.html (accessed October 9, 2006).

Many genealogists have noticed the recent changes at Ancestry.com.  Is this a clue as to a possible reason why?

“Sullivan, former CEO of online dating service Match.com, joined Ancestry.com eight months ago and says his first order of business is to improve user experience in order to attract more subscribers. “I was attracted to the services provided by MyFamily.com. The family history research market is significantly larger than that of online dating, and Ancestry.com addresses a universal interest. Since this market hasn’t been fully tapped, there’s significant opportunity to grow markets here and overseas.” ” [read more]

I already had plans on what to write today, but I saw this article and quickly changed my plans.

“The chances of living to the ripe old age of 100 — and beyond — nearly double for a child born to a woman before her 25th birthday, Drs. Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova reported. The father’s age is less important to longevity, according to their research.” [read more]

I guess that leaves me out!

I’m taking a National Institute for Genealogical Studies class that ends tomorrow, and so I’m spending most of my time today finishing up on the last few assignments.  Here are a few recent news articles of some genealogical interest.  As some people have already noticed, I was briefly mentioned in the Wall Street Journal Article!

Jessica E. Vascellaro, “New Ways to Dig for Your Roots Online”, The Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2006, page D1

“While family-history aficionados have for years been able to hunt down batches of records (often with the help of subscription-only services available through libraries and schools), new services put such sources right at consumers’ fingertips and in one place. FamilySearch.org, a free site, says its recent efforts to digitize billions of reels of microfilm will allow consumers to access sources from their desk. Previously, the site could often only tell users how to find the relevant microfilm.”  [Read more]

Craig Wilson, “Death is the Story of Their Lives”, USA Today, June 22, 2006, page 1

“There are obit websites (obitpage.com), obit clubs (Friends of Obits in Atlanta), obit blogs (obituaryforum.blogspot.com), even obit-writing classes, so you can write your own before you go. If that’s not enough, a new magazine, appropriately titled Obit (obitmag.org), is expected to launch in January, and Marilyn Johnson’s The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries received rave reviews this spring. Part memoir, part history, part how-to, the book has been described as everything from charming to lively.”  [Read more]

Benjamin Pimentel, “Finding family. Online census data is genealogy treasure trove”, San Francisco Chronicle, June 22, 2006, page C1

“The thrill of being able to go online, and finding information in five minutes — you can see what an incredible difference it makes,” said Lou Szucs, Ancestry.com’s chief genealogist. “There is something very magical when you find your family in the census. You want more and more. It’s very addictive.” [Read more]

Jim Herron Zamora, “ALAMEDA. DNA workshop upends notion of race for many. Students learn true genetic heritage and debunk family tales”, San Francisco Chronicle, June 11, 2006, page B1

“My father always made a big deal out of saying my grandmother was 100 percent Fox Indian,” said Davis, who tested as 96 percent European, 3 percent African and 1 percent Native American. “Well, it turns out that isn’t true. Not at all.” [Read more]