Obituary & people search
Search Ohio Obituaries
Look up obituaries, death records and people by name.
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Obituary guide
How to find an obituary in Ohio
For a recent death, start with the funeral home's website and the local newspaper's obituary page. For an older obituary, search the Ohio Obituary Index at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library, then ask the library in the city where the person died.
What to have ready
- Full name, including a maiden name or an earlier married name
- Approximate date and place of death (city and county)
- Age at death or birth year
- Names of close relatives (spouse, children, parents)
Tip: Knowing the county narrows the search more than anything else. Ohio's indexes are built county by county by local libraries.
Where to look, by when the person died
| When the person died | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Last few years | Funeral home websites; newspaper obituary pages (listed below); Legacy.com's Ohio page |
| 1990s to recent decades | The Ohio Obituary Index; Cleveland Public Library's News Index (Plain Dealer, 1976–2014); Columbus Metropolitan Library's Columbus Dispatch database; Cincinnati's Newsdex |
| Older or historic | Cleveland Public Library's Necrology File (Plain Dealer 1850–1975, Cleveland Press 1941–1975); Ohio Memory; Chronicling America; newspaper microfilm at your county library; county genealogical societies |
| Official death record | The Ohio History Connection holds death certificates for 1908–1970, and the Ohio Department of Health holds deaths from 1971 on. See how to order an Ohio death record. |
Major newspapers' obituary pages
- The Columbus Dispatch
- The Cincinnati Enquirer
- The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), on Legacy.com
- Akron Beacon Journal
- The Blade (Toledo), on Legacy.com
Each page loaded without a login on our check. Older news archives usually need a subscription or a library card.
Libraries and archives
- Ohio Obituary Index (Hayes Presidential Library): searchable by maiden and earlier married names. About the index.
- Columbus Metropolitan Library obituary requests
- Cleveland Public Library News Index and Necrology File
- Ohio History Connection Archives and Library
- State Library of Ohio
Timeline expectations
- Recent obituaries appear when the family or funeral home publishes them, so timing varies.
- The Ohio Obituary Index has been online since 2000 and passed 3.7 million entries in 2019, with more than 60 partner libraries. Coverage varies by county.
- Columbus Metropolitan Library answers most obituary requests within 48 hours.
Tips
- Columbus Metropolitan Library's Dispatch database runs from 1871 to the present, and the library takes up to six obituary requests a month.
- Search the Ohio Obituary Index under every surname the person used. Entries are cross-indexed by maiden and previous married names.
- For deaths before 1971, go to the Ohio History Connection rather than the Department of Health.
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.