Obituary & people search
Search Washington Obituaries
Look up obituaries, death records and people by name.
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Obituary guide
How to find an obituary in Washington
For a recent death, start with the funeral home's website and the local paper's obituary page. For an older obituary, use your city or county library's newspaper databases and indexes, such as The Seattle Times archive at Seattle Public Library or Tacoma's obituary index. The Washington State Library no longer does obituary lookups.
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, because the best indexes in Washington are run 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 Washington page |
| 1990s to recent decades | Seattle Public Library genealogy resources (The Seattle Times, 1895 to the present, and HeritageHub), library card needed; the Tacoma-Pierce County Obituary Index |
| Older or historic | The Seattle Times Historical Archive (1895–1984) at SPL; Tacoma's index (partial before 1980); Chronicling America; newspaper microfilm through interlibrary loan; county genealogical societies |
| Official death record | The Washington State Digital Archives has searchable death records. The Department of Health holds deaths from July 1, 1907. See how to order a Washington death record. |
Major newspapers' obituary pages
- The Seattle Times
- The Spokesman-Review (Spokane)
- The Columbian (Vancouver)
- The Daily Herald (Everett)
- Legacy.com, Washington
Each page loaded without a login on our check. Older news archives usually need a subscription or a library card.
Libraries and archives
- Washington State Library: obituary requests: the lookup service has ended because of budget cuts. The page lists other options, including interlibrary loan.
- Seattle Public Library
- Tacoma Public Library obituary index: the original obituaries are on microfilm at the downtown Main Library.
- Washington State Digital Archives
Timeline expectations
- Recent obituaries appear when the family or funeral home publishes them, so timing varies.
- Tacoma's index is complete from 1980 to the present and partial before that.
- The Seattle Times archive runs from 1895. Other papers' coverage varies.
Tips
- Search the Digital Archives' death records first to get the exact date and county, then go to the newspaper.
- Since the State Library has stopped doing lookups, ask your local library to borrow newspaper microfilm through interlibrary loan.
- HeritageHub at Seattle Public Library covers U.S. obituaries and death notices from 1704 to today, which helps when a Washington family came from another state.
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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.