Obituary & people search
Search Obituaries
Look up obituaries, death records and people by name in any state.
- Search by name
- All 50 states + D.C.
State Obituaries
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Obituary guide
How to find an obituary
For a recent death, start with the funeral home's website and the obituary page of the local newspaper where the person lived. For an older death, your public library and the state library or archives in the state where the person died are the best places to start. Choose a state above for a step-by-step guide.
What to have ready
- The person's full name, including a maiden name or nickname
- The approximate date of death and the city or county where they died
- Their age or birth year
- Names of close relatives
Knowing the county narrows your search the most, because most obituaries ran in the local paper.
Where to look, by when the person died
| When the person died | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Last few years | The funeral home's website; the local newspaper's obituary page; Legacy.com, which hosts obituaries for many U.S. newspapers |
| 1990s to recent decades | Newspaper databases at your public library, often usable from home with a library card; the newspaper's own archive |
| Older or historic | Your state library or archives (see your state's guide); Chronicling America from the Library of Congress for digitized historic papers; microfilm at public libraries; local genealogy societies; Find a Grave for burial details |
| Official death record | Death certificates are kept by each state or territory. The National Archives explains where vital records are held. Pick your state on our public records pages to see how to order one. |
Major obituary sources
- Legacy.com: recent obituaries from many newspapers and funeral homes
- Find a Grave: volunteer-built burial and memorial records, often with obituary text or photos
- Social Security Death Index on Ancestry: helps confirm a date of death. Ancestry is a subscription site, and many public libraries offer it in the library.
Libraries and archives
- Your public library can tell you which newspaper databases you can use, and may be able to borrow microfilm from other libraries.
- State libraries and archives often keep the largest newspaper collections and obituary indexes for their state. Each state guide on this site links them.
- National Archives explains where to find birth and death records and when to contact a state office instead.
Timeline expectations
- Recent obituaries usually appear online within days of the death, often before the service.
- Digitized newspaper coverage varies by state, town and year.
- Look-up and copy turnaround depends on the library. Each state guide lists posted times and fees where the library states them.
Tips
- Search every version of the name, including maiden names, initials and "Mrs." with a husband's name, which older papers often used.
- If you can't find an obituary where the person died, try the town where they grew up or where their children lived.
- Find the exact date of death first, using a death index or grave record. Then searching a newspaper is much faster.
Last verified:
Note: Coverage years, fees and web addresses are set by the libraries, archives and newspapers listed and can change. PublicLibraries.com is not affiliated with them.