
One of the main goals for genealogists is to find obituaries. Obituaries are a gold mine of information. They provide death dates and locations, funeral and cemetery information, and more importantly – information about the relatives of the deceased’s family and extended family. This family name information is often not found anywhere else.
Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians, and archivists, a great number of indexes to obituary information and transcriptions of obituaries from newspapers have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide the location in old newspapers where the obituary can be found. Sometimes the scanned newspaper clipping is included.
And remember you can always find online historical newspapers to search for obituaries for free on this website (links at Newspaper Links).
Here are a few articles that may be helpful:
- How to Find Historical Obituaries
- What is the Future of Obituaries?
- What is the Difference Between an Obituary, a Death Notice, an Obituary Index, and a Death Index?
- 32 Reasons Why Searching for Obituaries is Like Finding Gold
- 9 Ways to Effectively Find Obituaries in Online Newspapers
Each entry below will be appended with one of the five types of obituaries: Transcriptions, Clippings, Index, Abstracts, or Online.
Online entries present an obituary on a website that publishes online obituaries, generally, a phenomenon that occurs after the year 2000.
Indexes are just that, an index that at a minimum includes the deceased’s name and the name and date of the newspaper that the obituary appears in. Some indexes also include the date of death, so be careful if you are recording the date in your genealogy database. Make sure that it is the death date.
(Updated May 2023)
General U.S.
- Currentobituary.com index, 2001-2014
- Obituary Daily Times Index, 1995-2016
- U.S., Selected Jewish Obituaries, 1948-2002
- United Methodist Church Annual Conference Journal Memoirs and Obituary Index
- United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014
- United States, Obituaries, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1899-2012
Maine Obituaries
- Androscoggin County Obituary Index
- Androscoggin County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Androscoggin County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Aroostook County Obituary Index
- Aroostook County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Aroostook County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Bangor Daily News Transcribed Obituaries 2007-
- Biddeford and Saco Journal Obituaries 1902-1975 (Clippings)
- Biddeford Area Obituary and Newspaper Indexes (Transcriptions)
- Bowdoin College & Medical School of Maine Obituaries (1867-1909)
- Bowdoin College & Medical School of Maine Obituaries (1891-1922)
- Bowdoin College Library Obituary Records (Transcriptions)
- Central Maine Obituaries 1985- (Transcriptions)
- Cumberland County Obituary Index
- Cumberland County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Cumberland County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Dexter Obituary Database (Transcriptions)
- Ellsworth Herald / Ellsworth American Death and Obituary Index 1851 to 1864
- Ellsworth Newspapers Obituary Index
- Franklin County Obituary Index
- Franklin County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Franklin County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Hancock County Miscellaneous Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Hancock County Obituary Index
- Hancock County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Hancock County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Kennebec County Obituary Index
- Kennebec County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Kennebec County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Knox County Obituary Index
- Knox County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Knox County, Town of Union, Miscellaneous Obituaries (and Cemetery records), 1986-2008
- Lincoln County News Obituaries 2006-present (Transcriptions)
- Lincoln County Obituary Index
- Lincoln County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Lincoln County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Madawaska, Lajoie Funeral Home Obituaries 2009-present (Transcriptions)
- Maine Genealogy Network Obituaries (Clippings)
- Maine GenealogyBuff Obituary Files
- Maine Military Obituaries 1700-1940 (Clippings)
- Maine Miscellaneous Obituaries 1700’s (Transcriptions)
- Maine News Index
- Maine Obituaries – 2000- (Transcriptions)
- Maine Obituaries – Obit City
- Maine USGenWeb Obituary Project
- Maine, Miscellaneous Obituaries from Newspapers (and other Vital Records) 1735-2006
- McArthur Public Library People Index
- Oxford County Obituary Index
- Oxford County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Penobscot County Obituary Index
- Penobscot County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Piscataquis County Obituary Index
- Piscataquis County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Piscataquis County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Presque Island Obituary Index
- Sagadahoc County Obituary Index
- Sagadahoc County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Sanford and Springvale Newspapers Obituary Index
- Scarborough Historical Society Obituaries (Clippings)
- Somerset County Obituary Index
- Somerset County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Somerset County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- University of Maine Alumni Obituaries
- Waldo County Obituary Index
- Waldo County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Waldo County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Washington County Obituary Index
- Washington County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Washington County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
- Westbrook, Walker Memorial Library, Scrapbook Collection
- Western Maine Deaths, Obituary Index
- York County Obituary Index
- York County, Obituaries (Transcriptions)
If you wish to search this state’s historic newspapers for obituaries, click on Maine Online Historical Newspapers Summary
For all Free Maine Links, click on the category of interest:
Newspapers
Yearbooks
Births
Marriages
Deaths
BMD Records
Alumni Records
Cemetery Records
Church Records
Coroner Records
Criminal Records
Digital Archives
Directories
Divorce Records
Immigration Records
Institutional Records
Military Records
Mortuary Records
Naturalizations
Obituaries
Photos
Probate and Wills
School Records
Tax Records
Voter Records