Research Guides: Genealogy: Records & Resources: Obituaries (2024)

A guide to useful records and various resources available at the BPL and beyond.

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Obituary Research

Obituaries and death notices are a common quest in genealogy research. It is easiest to find obituaries when you know the date and place of death. The majority of the library's newspaper collection is on microfilm, which is searched manually and is not keyword searchable.

Some things to keep in mind:

This guide will use the term "obituary" to mean all notices placed in a newspaper after a death. You might want to note that there is a difference between obituaries and death notices. Obituaries are usually written by newspaper staff and tend to be longer. Death notices are classifieds that are placed in the newspaper, usually by a family member, and tend to be shorter. This distinction matters most when searching indexes or databases, when death notices are sometimes not included.
The information in obituaries varies over time. Older obituaries (early 1900s and before), usually do not include as much information as current ones. One reason is because older obituaries served a specific purpose - to be a notification of a death and the funeral service. More recent obituaries are intended as both a notification and an homage to the deceased.
It is common to have to look in several titles when searching for obituaries. Unless you know the exact newspaper title it was published in, there can be different options. A city or town might have had more than one newspaper at the time, or an obituary could be published in a neighboring city or town.
You can sometimes find other articles reported in a newspaper about a death, such as an accident or homicide.

Search Steps

These are some steps you can follow while researching at the Boston Public Library. You can find detailed information on thesesteps below.

Steps 1 and 2: Locating a Death Date and Location

General Info
Other States
Massachusetts

To find a death date and location, you will usually want to look for a death record. Death certificates are what you're probably most familiar with, and they're a type of "vital record," which are government records related to vital events (such as birth, marriage, and death). For this research, keep in mind that a "death record" is not necessarily a death certificate.This term can mean a variety ofrecords, such as death certificates, obituary indexes, and church records.Where to find a death record varies based on where and when the person died. Some records have been digitized and are available online. For items that are not online, you will have to contact thegovernment agency that holds them.

The reason you want a death date is to guide you to possible resources that could have an obituary. Ideally, you want a specific death date, but the more you can narrow your search the easier your research will be.

You also need a death location to know where to look for obituaries. Ideally, you want a specific city or town, but knowing the state can help you find a death record. Most obituaries are located in newspapers around the place of death; however, there are cases where a person is from a different area, and the family places an obituary in the hometown.

In the United States, individual states have their own procedures for handling vital records. The state someone died in decides what dates ofvital records were kept, which collections are online, and where they are physically housed.Keep in mind that a "death record" is not necessarily a death certificate. This term can mean a variety ofrecords, such as death certificates, obituary indexes, and church records.

Steps:

Find out what state the person died in.
Search online: Alot of people like to begin this research using online resources. Research what collections are available for that dateand placeonline.
Hard copy records: If what you need isn't online, find out where hard copy vital records for the date would be held.

Step 1: Find out what state the person died in
Believe it or not, there's no federal program that tracks all deaths in the United States. Federal departments that track deaths only track certain people, such as military personnel or claims for Social Security. States have their own processes for how they have kept vital records, which varies greatly among states.

If you have no idea where someone died, there are some strategies to finding a death location. You can search in a database that contains a lot of differentrecords, such as Ancestry Library Edition. You can search in federal collections, such as the Social Security Death Index. You can also use other resources to approximate a location, such as the census or city directories.

Some helpful online resources are:

Ancestry Library Edition: A searchable database you have to use at the Boston Public Library. This database has an extensive collection of vital records.
FamilySearch: A free genealogy website with a variety of genealogy records. You have to create an account to see many collections.
FamilySearch wikis:These guides contain a wealth of information, and there are many on vital records research.
Graves:Find A GraveandLegacyare websites with information about graves, which will usually list a death date or partial death date.
Social Security Death Index: onHeritageQuest(log in with your library card number and PIN) andon FamilySearch. This collection is also in Ancestry Library Edition. This collection contains millions of records from 1935 to 2014, although most of the records are after 1962. Individuals in this collection had social security numbers, and their deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration.
Vital Records: This page on the National Archives website has a list of federal resources for vital records. This page can give you an idea of some collections to research.

Step 2: Search online
Once you know what state someone died in, you can see what records are available online. One place to start is the FamilySearch wiki on How to Find United States Death Records. These pages will tell you where and when records were held for eachspecific state.

Another way to look for online records is to do a good old Google search. If you search for the state and the keywords you're looking for, you can usually find online collections and guides. For example, you could search for "Rhode Island death records" or "Rhode Island vital records." You could find collections on websites like FamilySearch or Ancestry.com (you can then use Ancestry Library Edition at the library), and you could also find the vital records office for that state.

Step 3: Hard copy records
If you cannot find a death record online, you can try to locate a hard copy. This will meancontacting the archives or government department that holds the record and usually includes a fee. If you have no idea where to look, a good place to start is the city or town clerk local to the record you want. You can usually find the contact information for them on Google by searching for the town and city clerk, such as "Boston city clerk." It will be a government website.

Resources to help locate hard copy records:
How to Find United States Death Records: On thiswiki from FamilySearch, select the state you want and then you can see what records are available. They will usually link to government departments.
Where to Write for Vital Records: This website from the CDC has instructions on how to order vital records for every state, as well as for U.S. territories.

In Massachusetts, death records date back to the1600s, and these were done by cities and towns. Death records were not kept on the state level until 1841. Keep in mind that a "death record" is not necessarily a death certificate. This term can mean a variety ofrecords, such as death certificates, obituary indexes, and church records.

Important years for Massachusetts death records:
~1630- The earliestrecords kept in Massachusetts. These were kept by individual cities and towns.
1841 - Massachusetts began keeping vital records on the state level. Up until this year, they will only be kept on the local level.
1935 - The Social Security Death Index is a federal database that begins in 1935.The majority of records available are from 1962 on.

Free online resources for death records:

Note that a number of these links are through FamilySearch, which is a free genealogy website. You do have to create a free account to see many of their materials.
An overview of MA death records:FamilySearch wiki:Massachusetts Vital Records
Find A Grave and Legacy are websites with information about graves, which will usually list a death date or partial death date.
Collections by year:
- Pre-1850: "Tan books"are published books of vital records that were kept in Massachusetts towns. To use this digitized collection, you first click the town and then you'll find a list of digitized versions.
- 1795 to 1910:Massachusetts Deaths and Burials, 1795-1910 on FamilySearch
- 1841 to 1910:Vital Records (1841 - 1910) at the Mass. State Archives
- 1841 to 1915:Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915 on FamilySearch
- 1841 to 1920:Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920 on FamilySearch
- 1841 to 1971:Massachusetts indexes to births and marriages (1841-1920), deaths (1841-1971) on FamilySearch. This collection is not keyword searchable; you have to browse the images by clicking the camera icon beside each entry.
- 1935 to 2014: Social Security Death Index on HeritageQuest (log in with your library card number and PIN).
- 1962 to 2014:Social Security Death Index on FamilySearch
There are also two library databases with vital records that you have to use at the Boston Public Library:
- Ancestry Library Edition can be used at any Boston Public Library location.
- American Ancestors must be used at Central.
1956 to present in Boston: Boston also has a database with deaths from 1956 to present that can be foundhere. The people listed here died in Boston or listed Boston as their home. It includes the person's name, date of death, and date of birth. This website is used to order death certificates, but you can see this information without adding it to your cart.

Hard copy death records:
If you cannot find a death record online, you can try to locate a hard copy version. This will meancontacting the archives or government department that holds the record and usually includes a fee.

First, it is useful to go over how death certificates are kept in Massachusetts. Some Massachusetts city/ town clerks have kept death records since the 1600s. Since 1841,there has been a statewide system to save vital records. The clerk transfers acopy or the original (depending on the year) to the state, and the clerk maintainstheir own records locally. Of these state-held records, more recent vital records are kept at the Registry of Vital Records, and the Massachusetts State Archives holds older records. See the exact dates below. This means that a city/town clerk should, in theory, have all the death records for that municipality. The state will have smaller collections, and these collections areespecially useful because you do not need to know the exact city of a death to request records.

Here is an overview of where you can find death records in Massachusetts, based on the year of the death:
1600s to 1840: City/town clerks, which you can find using this directory
1841 to 1925: Massachusetts State Archive and city/town clerks
1926 to present: Registry of Vital Records and city/town clerks

Step 3: Online Resources

At the Boston Public Library
Outside the Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library has a variety of online resources you can use for obituary research. Online resources are valuablebecause they are keyword searchable. This means you can type in search terms, such as names, without searching the newspapers manually. You might also want to take a look at theonline resourcespage of our newspaper research guide. Keep in mind that while we have these databases, the majority of our newspaper collection is on microfilm.

Most of these databases can be used from home by logging in with your library card number and 4-digit PIN. Ancestry Library Edition must be used on a library computer or on our wi-fi using your own device.

Not all of these resources will contain the full obituaries.Ancestry Library Editionhas a variety of collections, including obituaries. It can also include index entries, which can tell you where and when an obituary was published. You can also use it to search for death dates, so you can know which databases or microfilm to research.Boston Obituary Databaseis an index, which means it will tell you where and when the obituary was published. You can then use this information to find the obituary in a database or microfilm.

19th Century US Newspapers This link opens in a new window
19th Century U.S. Newspapers provides access to primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. The collection encompasses the entire 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life, among other subjects.
Ancestry Library Edition This link opens in a new window
Provided by ProQuest and MyFamily.com, this genealogical collection covers U.S. and the U.K. census, vital, church, court, and immigration records, as well as record collections from Canada and other areas. It contains more than 4,000 databases, 1.5 billion names, as well as over 1,000 historical maps. Coverage:1300-present
No remote access.
Boston Globe (1872-1992) via Proquest This link opens in a new window
Searchable full-page and article reproductions back to the first issue on March 4, 1872. Coverage: Morning Edition only.
Boston Globe (1980-Present) This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text articles for staff-written news items, feature stories, columns, and editorials for the Boston Globe. Coverage: 1980-present
Boston Obituary Database This link opens in a new window
The Obituary Database is an index of obituaries that appeared in the Boston Evening Transcript (BET), Boston Globe (BG) and the Boston Herald/Herald American (BH). Currently, this database includes obituaries published between 1932 and 1941 and between 1953 and 2010.

A number of free resources with obituaries are available outside the Boston Public Library.

Chronicling America
This website contains searchable newspapers from the United States for 1789 to 1963. It also contains a newspaper directory for titles from 1690 to present. This collection is maintained by the Library of Congress and National Endowment for the Humanities.
FamilySearch
FamilySearch.org is a free genealogy website with a variety of records. It contains some obituary indexes, which would tell you where an obituary was published. You have to create a free account to view some of the content on this website.
Find A Grave
This website contains millions of user-uploaded records on graves around the world. Many of the records contain images of graves, and some of the records can contain obituaries.
Google News Library
This website contains a number of digitized newspapers from around the world. Many of the titles here are out of copyright (pre 1920s).
Legacy
This resource contains millions of obituaries, in partnership with newspapers and funeral homes.

Step 4: Microfilm

Most of the library's newspaper collection is on microfilm. Microfilm is a reel of film with images of the newspapers. Microfilm is used because it takes up a small amount ofspace and is more durable than paper. Researching microfilm is like reading the newspaper; it is not keyword searchable. When you request microfilm, you request specific newspaper titles and dates.

Our newspaper research guide is the easiest way to see what titles we have on microfilm. You can see lists of titles based on location, from Boston to Massachusetts to the United States. A small number of our newspapers have indexes, which would tell you where to look for an obituary.

You can learn about using microfilm on this guide.

Steps for searching for an obituary in microfilm:

Use the death date and location to create a list of newspapers an obituary could be in. To do this, look at newspapers in or near the location of death, and look for titles with the correct date. If you can't look for titles from home, you can also do this step at the library.
Come to Central with your library card or research cardand go to the Research Services desk in Bates Hall, which is the reading room on the second floor of the McKim Building.
Fill out a request slip for each title you want to see. If you don't know the exact date an obituary was published in, request at least several days following the death.
You will be logged onto a computer, and library staff will retrieve your microfilm.
When your microfilm arrives, library staffcan show you how to use the microfilm readers.
Looking at the film, you will probably want to start looking in the issue on the day the person died. If the newspaper has an index on the first or second page, that should tell you on what page "deaths," "death notices," or"obituaries" are located. If the newspaper doesn't have an index, look slowly through the newspaper until you find them.
Death noticeswill usually be a long list organized by last name. Obituariesare usually separate from death notices,on a different part of the page or evenon a separate page.
If you find the obituary you're looking for, you can save a digital file for free or print them for 15 cents per page.

Help! I can't find an obituary.

If you've struck out with your research, there are some strategies you can try next.One thing to consider is that, unfortunately, not everyone had an obituary. If you have tried different strategies to search for an obituary with no luck, it is possible one was not published.

Some tips for advanced obituary research:

Reconsider the location an obituary might be published. If you've checked the newspapers in the city where the person died, think about ifthe person was from a different area.An obituary might have been published in their hometown. If there was anewspaper published in a neighboring city, especially a larger city, you can also try there.
Wasthere a big news story when the person died?If it was during a big news story, such as a war or other big event, an obituary might not be publishedor could be delayed.
Obituaries for active military can take time to publish.If the person died in a war, it could take a long time (weeks, months, or even years) for news of thedeath to travel to their next of kin. There can also be so many deaths that not all of them haveobituaries. For military deaths in Massachusetts, you can try searching in a big database like the Boston Globe.Casualty lists were sometimes published, and this can give you an idea of when news reached the family.
Was the local newspaper published weekly? If the funeral was being held before the next issue, the family might not have published an obituary.
1950s and before will have fewer obituaries as you go back in time.Obituaries as we know them were less common. When people had death notices, thosewouldcontain less information than a full obituary.
Early1900sandbefore,obituaries will mostly be for famous people. Newspapers back then were quite small becausethe type was set by hand. Obituaries were not something published for regular people. Even if there isn't an obituary, you mightfind an article written about a shocking or scandalous death.
- Also, older newspapers will not have a separate obituary section, which is a pretty new concept, andyou will probably have tolook all around the newspaper. When there was an obituary, it would be tucked in wherever they could fit it in.