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Search South Dakota Obituaries
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Obituary guide
How to find an obituary in South Dakota
For a recent death, start with the funeral home's website and the local paper's obituary page. For an older obituary, try the South Dakota State Archives in Pierre. It keeps the state's newspapers on microfilm and a surname index to newspaper notices, and its digitized early papers are on Chronicling America.
What to have ready
- Full name, including a maiden name or nickname
- 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. Many small towns were covered by a county paper, so search by county as well as town.
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) |
| 1990s to recent decades | The State Archives' surname index (mostly 2000 to the present); newspaper databases through your public library and the South Dakota State Library |
| Older or historic | The State Archives' newspaper microfilm search; Newspapers Online and Chronicling America (82 South Dakota titles); the Sioux Valley Genealogical Society obituary index |
| Official death record | State death records cover deaths after 1905. See how to order a South Dakota death record. |
Major newspapers' obituary pages
Each page loaded without a login on our check. Older news archives usually need a subscription or a library card.
Libraries and archives
- South Dakota State Archives: part of the State Historical Society in Pierre, with more than 12,000 cubic feet of records
- Surname index: birth, marriage, death and other notices printed in South Dakota newspapers
- Newspaper microfilm search: find which rolls cover a town and year
- Sioux Valley Genealogical Society: more than 170,000 obituaries and death notices from papers serving southeastern South Dakota, southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. Copies cost $5.00 each by mail, or you can read them at the library in Sioux Falls.
- South Dakota State Library
Timeline expectations
- Recent obituaries appear when the family or funeral home publishes them, so timing varies.
- The surname index isn't complete. Most entries are from 2000 on, and only recent papers are being added.
- Digitized papers on Chronicling America are mostly from before the 1920s. For later years, use microfilm.
Tips
- If the newspaper search doesn't show a paper for the town you need, search the whole county. Many papers carried news from nearby towns.
- Once you've found the right microfilm roll, you can send the State Archives a research request or borrow the roll through interlibrary loan.
- For Sioux Falls-area deaths, the Sioux Valley Genealogical Society index gives the code that shows where each obituary is filed.
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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.