Finding Obituaries and Death Records
Death records often hold the most family information of any document. Here is where to find certificates, obituaries and indexes, and how to read them carefully.
Newspapers & Obituaries
Obituaries, notices and local news, and how to search old papers well.
City Directories: Tracking Your Ancestors Year by Year
The phone books of the past list adults with addresses and jobs every year, filling the ten-year gaps between censuses.
Getting More from Old Newspapers
Search strategies that beat bad OCR, the sections genealogists overlook, and how to find papers that aren't online.
Find the records
Websites and archives for this topic are in our Resource Directory under Newspapers.
Other topics
Getting Started 21Census Records 16Birth, Marriage & Death Records 15Church Records 12Cemeteries & Burials 2Newspapers & Obituaries 3Land & Property Records 7Wills, Probate & Court Records 13Tax Records 3Military Records 5Immigration & Naturalization 12DNA & Genetic Genealogy 9Libraries & Archives 8Research in the Old Country 10African American Research 2Research Methods & Evidence 31Brick Walls 11Organizing Your Research 7Online Sites & Family Trees 11