{"id":14195,"date":"2016-05-04T11:46:32","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T15:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=14195"},"modified":"2021-06-17T14:53:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T18:53:49","slug":"3-places-to-find-your-ancestors-obituary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/3-places-to-find-your-ancestors-obituary.html","title":{"rendered":"3 Places to Find Your Ancestor\u2019s Obituary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega provides three genealogy tips to help you find your ancestor\u2019s obituary. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.<\/span>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve invested time in searching for your ancestor\u2019s obituary, only to come up short. Maybe you are at the point of giving up, admitting defeat over that particular brick wall. It\u2019s true that not every death was documented with an obituary \u2013 but before you give up, ask yourself: have you really looked \u201ceverywhere\u201d?<\/p>\n

I know it seems<\/em> like you have looked everywhere, but if you\u2019ve limited your search to a single newspaper title or even a specific city or state, you may have missed the obituary you seek. A person\u2019s obituary or death notice may be published in numerous locations, not just where they last lived or died. When you can\u2019t find the obit where you believe it should be, it\u2019s time to rethink your search.<\/p>\n

So how do you rethink that newspaper obituary<\/a> search? Consider alternative locations and newspapers. Don\u2019t just search one newspaper for the obituary; start thinking about where else that obituary can be, and do a series of searches that employ a combination of both narrow and broad parameters. Here are three search tips to help you.<\/p>\n

Hometown Newspapers<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the name of your hometown? The answer to that question might not be a simple one. What your children consider their hometown may not be the one you think of. Perhaps a city previous to your current residence is the one you think of as \u201chome.\u201d The dictionary defines a hometown as \u201cthe town where one was born or grew up, or the town of one\u2019s principle residence.\u201d* When I think of my hometown it\u2019s actually not where I spent the first years of my life, nor the two cities I lived in as an adult \u2013 it\u2019s where I lived for 15 years starting at age 11. I went to school there, worked my first job there, and rented my first apartment. I spent a lot of time there and it is where my parents still reside.<\/p>\n

Have you considered what your ancestor\u2019s hometown was? That\u2019s important because someone could have placed an obituary for your ancestor in that local newspaper, or asked the local newspaper where the person last resided to add the phrase \u201cplease copy\u201d to the obituary.<\/p>\n

In this column from the New Hampshire Sentinel<\/em>, there are two examples where the death notices contain the phrase \u201cplease copy.\u201d This phrase directed newspapers in other cities or states to copy and print the information for their readers. This is a good indication that your ancestor had ties to those other locations. For the notice of George Grimes\u2019s death, newspapers in Massachusetts were asked to copy, while Illinois newspapers were asked to print David Wheeler\u2019s death notice. These two notices include broad requests involving an entire state; it would be interesting to see how many newspapers in those states reprinted these death notices.<\/p>\n

\"death<\/a>
New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, New Hampshire), 21 September 1865, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This heartbreaking example from Little Rock, Arkansas, is about the tragic death of two siblings days apart. The heartfelt notice requests that newspapers in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi please copy. This request leads one to believe that family and friends could be found in each of those states.<\/p>\n

\"death<\/a>
Weekly Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas), 27 April 1846, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Remember a hometown may be where your ancestor was born, grew up, or resided in for a number of years. When expanding your obituary search, consider the newspapers where close family lived, where your ancestors spent their formative years, or where your ancestors lived the longest.<\/p>\n

Ethnic Newspapers<\/strong><\/p>\n

If your ancestor lived in a large metropolis, it might be harder to find an obituary for them in the city\u2019s main paper. Obituaries found in newspapers in larger areas were sometimes reserved for the well-known, famous, or infamous. But if your ancestor was part of a specific ethnic, religious, or immigrant group, chances are their passing might have been recorded in a specialized ethnic newspaper that covered their community more closely than the main paper.<\/p>\n

GenealogyBank has several historical ethnic newspaper collections:<\/p>\n