Obituaries and Death Notices

An obituary record is printed in the newspaper as an announcement regarding someone’s life and death. Such a record typically includes details about the person’s life, the important aspects of their history, the surviving relatives, as well as the date of birth, and cause and date of death.

During the latter part of the nineteenth century, obituaries became much more stylized and began to include poems, songs, dedications and biographies. Beginning in the early twentieth century, due to technological sophistication, photographs became a customary accompaniment to the obituary record in a printed newspaper. Now, in the twenty-first century, newspapers are digitized, and you can gain access to obituaries via the Internet.

Obituaries and the Genealogist

For genealogists, obituaries are a rich resource to help uncover information about relatives. Because of the important details included in obituary records, genealogists can discover sometimes formerly unknown facts about the predecessors, such as how they looked, their talents, who they were married to, where they grew up, and how they will be remembered.

In many cases, individuals of renowned fame have written their own obituaries prior to their death to capture the essence of who they were. These types of obituaries are marked by their literary style and their precise examination of the life that has passed. Very often, doctors were encouraged to do this, as well as literary personalities and artists.

Online Obituary Resources

Now, you can find obituary records online at several websites. One is Obituaries.com. On this site, you can search U.S. obituaries by newspaper. All you do is type in the name of the deceased person and run your search. Another website that helps you find obituaries is Research Guides.net. On this site, you can search through their cemeteries and obituaries engine and find information about your ancestors. Often you can find not only the obituary, but also the location of the cemetery where your relative is buried.

Obituaries and Unlocked Mysteries

Obituary records can unlock hidden mysteries about your relatives from ages gone by. The further back you go, the more intriguing the mysteries can be. Sometimes, in looking at obituary notices from earlier times, you see hints of what the culture was like then and what social structures underpinned the lives of your relatives. The style in which the obituary was written can be an indication of the time period. If it is written in a romantic or stylized way, it is a mark of the era in which it was written. If it was written in a concise and uncharacteristic manner, then this too sheds light about the time period and perhaps the social condition in which your relative lived.

Using obituary records in your research can be a fascinating and rewarding aspect of your genealogical journey.