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Search Tennessee Obituaries
Look up obituaries, death records and people by name.
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Obituary guide
How to find an obituary in Tennessee
For a recent death, start with the funeral home's website and the local paper's obituary page. For an older obituary, use the city library's obituary index in Knoxville or Chattanooga, Memphis Public Libraries' Commercial Appeal database, or the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) in Nashville.
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. Before 1908 and in 1913, the only records may be city or county ones.
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 Tennessee page |
| 1990s to recent decades | Knox County Public Library's Knoxville obituary index, 1991 to the present; the Chattanooga obituary index; Memphis Public Libraries' Commercial Appeal database (1847 to now), library card needed |
| Older or historic | TSLA indexes, including death notices in Nashville newspapers for 1855–1907; the Knoxville obituary index, 1885–1906; Chronicling America; county historical and genealogical societies |
| Official death record | TSLA holds statewide death records for 1908–1912 and from 1914 on. There are none for 1913. See TSLA's vital records guide and how to order a Tennessee death record. |
Major newspapers' obituary pages
- The Tennessean (Nashville)
- The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)
- Knoxville News Sentinel
- Chattanooga's daily newspaper
Each page loaded without a login on our check. Older news archives usually need a subscription or a library card.
Libraries and archives
- Tennessee State Library and Archives
- TSLA index search: Tennessee death records for 1908–1912 and 1914–1933, plus Nashville obituaries for 1913
- Knox County Public Library, McClung Historical Collection
- Chattanooga Public Library obituary index: Chattanooga papers, 1873 to the present
- Nashville Public Library
Timeline expectations
- Recent obituaries appear when the family or funeral home publishes them, so timing varies.
- The Knoxville index can run up to four months behind. Chattanooga's index is updated once a year.
- Statewide death records start in 1908. 1913 is a "dead year" with no statewide certificates.
Tips
- Tennessee death records for 1908–1965 are on Ancestry through a TSLA partnership, and Tennesseans can use them at no cost.
- Knox County's McClung Collection charges $3.00 for up to three obituaries from its Knoxville indexes.
- For a 1913 death in Nashville, search TSLA's index of 1913 Nashville obituaries and death notices.
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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.