Easy Ways To Find An Old Obituary For Free

In the local paper, it is common for close family friends or funeral homes to publish an obituary. This is a formal written announcement of the death. There are many ways to search for or find old obituaries without paying a fee. This includes those from recent deaths as well as those that took place centuries ago. No matter why you are searching, obituaries can be a great way to connect with the past.

Get Started with Your Obituary Search

Gather as much information as you can about the deceased before beginning your search. It will narrow down your search, making it more efficient. You will be able to narrow your search if you have at least two or three of the following information:

Women’s full name includes maiden name
Date and place of birth
Date and place where the deceased died
Employers
Dates of school attendance
The Degrees Received
Families or nearest relatives, including spouses, children, grandparents, parents, siblings, and grandchildren
Where is the cemetery?
Funeral arrangements

Finding Free Obituaries in Print and Online Newspapers

The newspaper is one of the most popular and easiest places to find free obituaries. If you can locate the deceased’s obituary, whether in print or online (or both), this is an excellent place to start.

Find a Free Obituary on Legacy.com

You can search for obituaries from North America, Australia and New Zealand up to the UK and Europe using Legacy.com. Legacy.com offers direct links to hundreds of newspapers in English-speaking countries, as well as the United States if you don’t know the name of a newspaper.

If you want to search for obituaries with Legacy, enter the first and last names of the deceased person in the search box, then choose the country where they died. You can narrow down your search by city, state, and date range. If the person you are looking for doesn’t have an obituary published in one of the newspapers listed, then you may be out of luck.

Quick Tip

Legacy.com allows you to search obituaries by high school, university, city and newspaper.

Newspaper Archive Sites

Newspaper archives are another source, but they may require more specific information.

Chronicling America, a free Library of Congress resource that provides digitized newspapers between 1770 and 1963 can be useful if you are looking for obituaries from an earlier time. You can use their search tip to locate things such as death notices.
Google Newspaper Archives You can find an array of digital newspapers in Google’s Newspaper Archives. Although it has been discontinued, you can still find issues dating back to the 1800s. Searching can be difficult if you don’t have any specific information. You can use these Google News Archive Search Tips to help you.
News archive site trial: While other sites like NewspaperArchive or Newspapers.com offer free trials, they are not completely free.

Find Obituaries at a Public Library

You can also check your local library if you live near the person you’re looking for. Libraries subscribe to regional and local newspapers, and they keep the hard copies of these papers for at least a few weeks.

Check out microfilm. Ask the librarian for help in searching through old issues of newspapers to find a local obituary published many years ago. You can view older issues on microfilm in the library using a microfilm reader. Since the microfilm can’t be taken out of the library, bring paper and a pen to make notes.
You can subscribe to digital newspapers with your library cards: Many libraries have access to older newspapers in digitized form that you can use by using your library card number. The Los Angeles Public Library, for example, has a digital subscription to the Los Angeles Historical Times and access to other digitized papers.
Find out if your local library offers an online obituary database: Other libraries offer digital obituary databases sourced from local newspapers. Richland County Library, in Columbia, SC has a Local History & Obituary Index that you can access free of charge. You can also request a copy of the obituary at a modest fee.

Need to know

Most newspapers publish obituaries online. Some sites will only store obituary information online for six months. This option is only available for recent deaths. Some sites may store records for a longer period, but they may charge a fee or require subscriptions to view older records.

Use genealogy websites to find free obituaries

To find a free obituary, go back to the roots you or your deceased loved one. The genealogy websites can be a good place to find not only obituaries but also other information which could help you track down missing obituaries.

Ancestry.com (Brief Free Trial)

Ancestry.com offers a searchable database with dozens of types of documents ranging from obituaries, census records and ship manifests. Search options include “Birth, Marriage & Death.” Enter as much information as possible about the deceased, such as city or state and their birth year. Currently, the only requirement is that you are accurate within 10 years. The site will then provide a list of possible matches. You can narrow down the results to only show “Births, Marriages & Deaths.”

Ancestry.com offers only a two-week free trial to new members. You can still print out copies of the results you find during your free trial. To get the free trial, you will need to enter your credit card details. Just make sure to cancel it before the trial ends.

MyHeritage free trial

MyHeritage, a genealogy site similar to Ancestry.com offers a trial. You can search for obituaries, as well as burial and cemetery records. Enter as many details as you can to search. You can search by name, birthdate and place, date of death and place, residence and keywords. You can use general terms or exact matches. The BBB has accredited them and they offer a free 14-day trial.

FamilySearch

The FamilySearch site offers a genealogy resource that helps people discover their roots. The site has a free page for locating obituaries, but to use it, you need to sign up or access the website through Google, Apple or Facebook. The site is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints but the information it contains is available to all, regardless of religion, culture or tradition.

The Mormon Church Family History Library

As part of its genealogical efforts, the Mormon Church also includes obituaries. The information is open to the public, and it is the largest genealogical database in the world. Librarians are available to help you find an obituary in person by directing your search to the right resource.

Mennonite Archives

The Mennonite Archives contains obituaries of Mennonite members dating back to 1884. The archive arranges obituaries alphabetically according to last name, maiden name and year of death. It is updated every year.

Find Free Obituaries on Funeral Home Websites

You can also find obituaries and death notices by visiting the websites of funeral homes or aggregate sites which collect information from funeral homes.

Find a specific funeral home website

You can search for local funeral homes by typing “Funeral Homes (City, State)” into Google and browsing their websites to find obituaries. You may find success by searching for funeral homes with a wider base. For example, Service Corporation International, which is behind DignityMemorial.com.

Sites for Funeral Homes or Burial Services

Websites that collect or partner with information are also an option. You can choose from funeral homes all over the country.

Tribute Archive, for example, is a great way to get started. All you need is the first and last names of the deceased when using Tribute Archive. The website can be narrowed down by entering the date, state, location or keyword. If you have little information, this is a great tool.
National Cremation This service helps people plan cremations. They also have an obituary database for North America on their website.

Find Obituaries with Memorial Websites

These websites provide information on a deceased person. These are only available to the extent that the family members who were involved in the funeral planning manually uploaded them.

EverLoved You can search for obituaries on the popular memorial website EverLoved by searching using a city or a name.
Never gone: You can search this site by name or more specifically with dates, location, and funeral homes.

Find Free Obituaries in Your State or Country

If you only know where the deceased lived, that is a good starting point.

The Death Index: Going the Distance

DeathIndexes.com has also dozens of resources state-specific for finding obituaries, death notices or indexes. It can be used to find cemetery records and other information. The options are organized by county. This can be a great resource if the state, county or city where the deceased lived is known.

Canada National Obituary Databases

The United States does not maintain a database of obituaries, but Canada offers a database that is maintained by government officials and updated regularly. Canadian residents may access death notices on the site; Americans can search for death certificates or other information by contacting their local officials.

Search for Obituaries on the Internet

Don’t overlook a simple Internet Search through Google or any other search engine. Typing “(Full Name) obituary”, if you know the person’s full name, into the search engine will often produce some helpful results. A search engine is better than a website because you can see the results of different websites and decide which has what information.

Find Obituaries with These Tips

Sometimes, all the sources you use to search for an obituary can’t find what you are looking for. Try these tips instead of using your favourite search engine. What to look for when searching for a free death notice. The quotation marks are not optional but the parenthesis is!

Search for “[First name Last name] Obituary (City, state or place of death)”
You can search using the family names of deceased people. “[First name Last name of Family member of the Deceased] obituary [City/State]” (you can include the deceased’s full name without quotation marks).
Search for “[Parent first name Parent last name] Obituary (City or State)”
Add their occupation, school, hobbies, and even college to the search query.
Use websites that are contributed by contributors, like Find a Grave and BillionGraves, to narrow your search and add more information, such as the location of the interment and their birth year and death.

Helpful Hack

When you are trying to find what you’re looking for, give search engines a lot of information.

The Past is a Link

Obituaries are used to announce a death and inform friends and family of the memorial service and funeral. Many people like to look for old obituaries to fill in any gaps in their family’s history. It is a great legacy when a member of the family takes the time to find out more about someone who died decades ago. There are many ways to locate an obituary that is relatively inexpensive and easy.