Find an Obituary for a Specific Person: Your Expert Guide
Cindy Ellis - February 18, 2023
Obituaries can provide you with a wealth of information about a specific person, and if you are doing any type of research about family members, long-lost friends, or your ancestry, obituaries are a great thing to reference.
If you are looking for an obituary for a specific person, you may be wondering where to start when it comes to tracking down this information. Our article gives you more details on finding an obituary for a specific person either online or with offline research.
Reasons to Search for Specific Obituaries
There are many reasons why you may want to search obituaries to find one belonging to a specific person. Below, we list common reasons a specific person’s obituary is searched for.
- You’re researching your family’s ancestry and wish to look through an obituary to figure out specific information about your lineage or ancestors.
- You’re researching a historical figure and need access to their obituary to understand their life completely.
- You are trying to locate information about a long-lost family member or friend.
- You want to know if you have any previously undiscovered family members or ancestry you didn’t know about.
Of course, these aren’t the only reasons why you may be looking for an obituary belonging to a specific person. The choice to look up a specific obituary can be highly personal, so don’t worry if you don’t see your reasoning on our list.
What Can I Use an Obituary For?
Obituaries have historically been a great source of information about a person’s life, who they may have married, their unmarried surname in the case of women, their religious affiliation, and any children they may have had during their life. You can use the obituary of a specific person to find out more information about their life, legacy, and how that information may pertain to you if the specific person is a member of your family.
Obituaries can also be used to gain closure in the case of a long-lost friend or family member that you have fallen out of contact with. Obituaries are a great way to pay tribute to the memory of any individual and their life accomplishments.
Details to Include in Your Obituary Search
When performing a search for the obituary of a specific person, there are a few details that you want to make sure to include. Information about the person, like their full legal name, including their unmarried surname in the case of many women, their marriage surname, their birthday and death date, and their death location, are all vital to finding the correct obituary.
Other information that may be helpful in your search includes their children’s names, their parents, the date of their immigration to a new country, and their place of birth.
If you can’t find this information or only have sparse information about the person you are looking for, be sure that you at least have their full legal name as it was at the time of their death.
Methods for Searching Obituaries
The following methods for searching obituaries can help you find the obituary of a specific person. If you don’t have much luck with one search method, be sure to try the other ones on our list as you never know which one will give you the best obituary information.
Check Online Resources
Online resources include family search websites such as ancestry.com and other internet browsing methods. The best way to check online resources is to navigate to a website such as ancestry.com and input all of the information you know about the person you are looking for into the search bar. Once you run the search, you can review the results and match the obituary with the person you are looking for.
If you are using a general internet browser such as Google, you should type in the person’s name along with the search term “obituary,” the person’s date of death, and their place of death, if it is known.
When it comes to searching online resources, it’s important to remember that the further back through the search results you go, the less accurate they get. Typically, the most precise obituary matches will be within the first page of search results.
Consult Local Publications
Local publications such as newspapers and journals often have sections dedicated to community events. A big part of being in a community is recognizing and memorializing the deaths of any community member, which is why these local publications are a great place to search for obituaries.
Some local publications may have offices where you can access archived publications of the newspaper or journal. While others may have an online website where you can access and locate previously published editions of the newspaper or journal. Speak to a staff member of your county’s local publication or someone who works at the archiving department to figure out the best way to find the specific obituary you are looking for.
Visit Your Local Library
Local libraries provide a wealth of information for the community, and obituaries are often accessible through these spaces. Both recent newspapers, local publications, and archive publications that may carry obituaries in them can be found in your local library. To search these records, visit the library, speak to a librarian, and follow the directions to access archived information, collections of obituaries from the local area, and any documents that might pertain to your search.
If you still want to use a library but your local library doesn’t have the information you need, you can try searching the Library of Congress online for archived newspapers and obituaries.
Use a Genealogy Service
Genealogy services can be online or in person, and these services are designed to help you track down your family’s ancestry or more information about relatives in your lineage. Some of the helpful information that can be collected through a genealogy service includes the names of family members, birth and death places, and obituaries.
It’s important to note that many genealogy services require a fee or payment, especially if you use an in-person service. So if you are looking for a cheaper way to find an obituary for a specific person, you may want to try a different search method on our list first.
Utilize People Search Tools
People search tools are an easy way to run a quick online search of public records and find out if any obituaries are attached to a certain person’s name. Additionally, these online tools can be a great way to track down more recent obituaries and discover if there is any publicly available information about relatives or family members that you have lost contact with over recent years.
For a people search tool to work, you will need to input the person’s name and location into the search bar, run the search, and review the reported information returned to you. This report will generally have information such as the person’s name, address history, and any obituaries, if they are available.
You may also be able to find social media information, phone numbers, or e-mail addresses that will help you get into contact with their relatives and figure out how to access the obituary information you need.
Check Find a Grave
Websites such as Find a Grave provide a convenient way to find grave records, memorials to the deceased, and further information about obituaries regarding a specific person. The most common way to search records on Find a Grave is to input the person’s name, cemetery location, and place of birth. However, the website offers other search methods and tips if you aren’t sure about all the information regarding the person you are looking for.
Troubleshooting Your Obituary Search
Problems finding the correct obituary for a specific person can often arise if you don’t have the correct name information, surname information, or place of death. The best thing you can do to troubleshoot these issues is to continue your family research and piece together information from other obituaries or ancestry information you can find. This may provide you with a more accurate name, birth location, and death date, in addition to leading you in the correct direction for the specific obituary you are looking for.
You may also want to talk to friends and family members to gather more accurate information about the deceased individuals you are looking for or stick to running people searches online for an easy way to review publicly available information about a specific person.
An in-person genealogy and ancestry service is the best way to troubleshoot your obituary searches if you cannot find any information about a specific person or if the person you are searching for died outside the US. Searching for obituary information for people who died outside the US (when you live in the US) can sometimes prove difficult without expert help.
Accessing Important Obituary Information
Obituary information for a specific person is a great way to review a memorial dedicated to someone’s life, learn more about your ancestry and a person’s legacy, or discover whether or not a long-lost relative or family member has passed away. Our article provides several different search methods to find an obituary for a specific person. However, you may want to contact a genealogy service if you are having trouble finding exactly what you’re looking for.
Make sure to try online and offline search methods to locate obituaries as you never know which method will give you the best results and allow you to access the important information you need.
