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Search Hawaii Obituaries
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Obituary guide
How to find an obituary in Hawaiʻi
For a recent death, check the funeral home's website and the obituary pages of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser or your island's paper. For an older death, Hawaiʻi State Public Library System's newspaper indexes and the Hawaiʻi State Archives' obituary index are the best places to start.
What to have ready
- The person's full name, including a maiden name, Hawaiian name or nickname
- The approximate date of death and the island and town where they died
- Their age or birth year
- Names of close relatives
Knowing the island narrows your search the most, since each island has its own 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 Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The Maui News, Hawaii Tribune-Herald (Hilo) and West Hawaii Today (Kona) obituary pages |
| 1990s to recent decades | The Hawaiʻi Newspaper Index, online from 1989 to the present, through the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System; newspaper databases with a library card |
| Older or historic | The State Archives' obituary index, 1836–1950; the printed Index to the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1929–1994, at the library; microfilm; the State Archives' digital collections |
| Official death record | All Hawaiʻi death certificates come from the state Department of Health. See how to order a Hawaiʻi death certificate. |
Major newspapers' obituary pages
- Honolulu Star-Advertiser
- The Maui News
- Hawaii Tribune-Herald (Hilo, on Legacy.com)
- West Hawaii Today (Kona, on Legacy.com)
Recent listings are open to read. Older articles may need a subscription.
Libraries and archives
- Hawaiʻi State Public Library System has a newspaper guide that shows, paper by paper, which years are indexed, digital, in print or on microfilm. The Star-Advertiser has been published since June 7, 2010. Before then, look in the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
- Hawaiʻi State Archives in Honolulu keeps an obituary index for 1836–1950, drawn mostly from English-language papers published in Honolulu. The Archives also has some of the cited newspapers on microfilm.
Timeline expectations
- Recent obituaries usually appear online within days, often before the service.
- The online Hawaiʻi Newspaper Index runs from 1989 to the present. The printed Advertiser and Star-Bulletin index covers 1929 to 1994.
- Coverage of neighbor-island papers varies. Check the library's newspaper guide first.
Tips
- In the State Archives index, a prominent person's death may be filed as a news item rather than as an obituary.
- Search under every name the person used, including Hawaiian, English, Chinese, Japanese or Filipino names and different spellings.
- For a Honolulu death between 1929 and 1994, start with the printed Advertiser and Star-Bulletin index to get the date, then read the page on microfilm.
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 Hawaiʻi obituaries
Hawaiian-language newspapers and kanikau
Hawaiian-language newspapers ran from 1834 to 1948. Many Hawaiian family members who don't appear in the English-language papers can be found in them. Besides death notices, these papers printed kanikau, mourning chants written by family and friends, which often name relatives and places. The papers can be searched online in the Papakilo Database, and the Nūpepa-Hawaii blog posts translated clippings.
Early death listings, 1826–1929
The Hawaiʻi State Archives' Vital Statistics Collection has a small number of death listings. These are reports, not certificates. Before 1896, schoolteachers kept death registers and sent them to the Department of Public Instruction. After that, agents sent them to the Department of Health. Each listing gives at least the name, date of death and district, and the index can be searched online through Ulukau.