Obituary & people search
Search Alabama Obituaries
Look up obituaries, death records and people by name.
- Search by name
- All 50 states + D.C.
Obituaries in another state
Obituary guide
How to find an obituary in Alabama
For a death in the last few years, start with the funeral home's website and the obituary pages of AL.com or the local daily paper. For an older death, Alabama's two big library obituary indexes, in Huntsville and Birmingham, are the fastest way to find the exact date and page.
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 a spouse, children or parents, which help confirm you have the right person
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; AL.com obituaries (Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile areas); local dailies such as the Montgomery Advertiser, Tuscaloosa News and Dothan Eagle, whose obituaries are hosted on Legacy.com |
| 1990s to recent decades | Newspaper databases at your public library, which you can often search from home with a library card; the paper's own online archive |
| Older or historic | The Birmingham Public Library Obituary Index and the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library Obituary Index; Chronicling America for digitized historic papers; a research request to the Alabama Department of Archives and History |
| Official death record | Alabama has filed death certificates statewide since 1908. See how to order an Alabama death certificate. |
Major newspapers' obituary pages
- AL.com obituaries: Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and Mobile Press-Register areas (hosted by Legacy.com)
- Montgomery Advertiser
- Tuscaloosa News
- Dothan Eagle (hosted by Legacy.com)
Recent obituary listings are open to read. Older articles on newspaper sites may need a subscription.
Libraries and archives
- Birmingham Public Library Obituary Index can be searched online by anyone. Its largest source is the Birmingham News, indexed from August 1917 to December 1996 (about 269,300 entries), plus smaller Birmingham papers such as the Birmingham World and Birmingham Post-Herald.
- Huntsville-Madison County Public Library Obituary Index lets you search by name, cemetery or newspaper, and you can ask the library for a copy of an obituary.
- Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery takes research requests and research visits.
Timeline expectations
- Recent obituaries usually appear online within a few days of the death, often before the funeral, and stay on the funeral home's site and Legacy.com.
- Library index coverage varies by newspaper and year. The Birmingham index is strongest for the Birmingham News between 1917 and 1996.
- Neither library lists a turnaround time for copy requests, so ask when you request one.
Tips
- In the Birmingham index, use the "sounds like" option and the year range to catch misspellings.
- Many older Alabama obituaries list a woman as "Mrs." with her husband's name, so search that way too.
- If the person lived in a small town, also check the nearest daily paper. A small weekly paper may have run its notice in the next week's issue.
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.
More about Alabama obituaries
Coal mine deaths, 1898–1938
A miner killed on the job may never have had a newspaper obituary. The death may still be listed in the Birmingham Public Library's Alabama Coal Mine Fatalities database, which anyone can search online. Library staff compiled its 2,188 records from the Alabama mine inspectors' annual and biennial reports, 1898 through 1938.
The "year of report" is the year the death was listed. That can be weeks or months after the accident, and some years are incomplete. The original inspector reports are at the library's Southern History Department (by appointment) and Government Documents Department in Birmingham. The same data is also on Ancestry as "Alabama, U.S., Coal Mine Fatalities, 1898–1938."