One of the main goals for genealogists in searching historical newspapers is to find obituaries. Obituaries are a gold mine of information. They provide death dates and locations, funeral and cemetery information, and sometimes more importantly – information about the relatives of the deceased’s family and extended family. This family name information is often not found anywhere else.
So not only can we search old newspapers for these gems, but we sometimes can get transcriptions and clippings and also get directed to the location of the obituaries from obituary indexes.
Here are alternative means to newspaper searching to find obituary information, listed by the link to each province’s list of free links. Please be aware that if you find a desired obituary in an index, the holder of the actual obituary (e.g., library or genealogical society) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the obituary itself.
(Updated November 2022)
General Canada
- Acadian and Maritime Obituaries
- American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1899-2012 (includes Canadian Obituaries and Clippings)
- Canada Obituaries
- Canada, Obituary Index, 1898-2018 (Hover over “View Record” link to get info; don’t need to subscribe to Ancestry to obtain index information)
- Canadian Health Obituaries Index File
- Canadian Jewish Heritage Network Search
- Canadian Mennonite Obituaries
- Canadian Necrology Database
- Canadian Obits
- Der Bote death notices and obituaries index (1924–2008)
- Der Bote obituaries index (1950–2004)
- Mennobits
- Mennonitische Rundschau Obituaries Index 1930-2001
- Mennonite Brethren Herald Obituaries: 1961-2010
- Northern News Service Obituaries
- Obituary Daily Times
- Royal Canadian Legion Obituary Index
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police obituary card index and notices, 1876-2007
- Seventh-day Adventist Obituary Index
- The Obituary (multi-province)
British Columbia
- BC Local New Obituaries 1978 –
- British Columbia Canada Obituaries
- British Columbia Index – Obituaries
- British Columbia Obituaries
- British Columbia Obituaries
- Campbell River Obituary Index
- Canadian Obits – British Columbia (scroll to top)
- Canadian Obituaries Forum – BRITISH COLUMBIA
- Coquitlam Obituary Indexes
- Hope Standard Obituaries 1986-
- Kelowna & District Genealogical Society Obituary Index
- Le Necrologue, British Columbia
- Mennonite Brethren Herald Obituaries: 1961-2010
- Nanaimo Family History Society Obituary Index 1998-
- Nanaimo News Bulletin Obituaries – 1986-
- Obituary Extracts from BC Newspapers 1861-1875
- Parksville/Qualicum Obituaries 1948 to 1994
- Peace Country Roots Group Obituaries (clippings)
- Powell River Obituaries
- Vancouver Courier Obituaries & Guest Books
- Victoria Daily Times, Death Notices Index 1901-1939
- Victoria Newspapers, 1858-1936
- Yukon News Obituary Index of British Columbians 1960-2000
If you wish to search this province’s historic newspapers for obituaries, click on British Columbia Online Historical Newspapers Summary
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
For all Free British Columbia Links, click on the category of interest:
Newspapers
Obituaries
BMD Records
Photos
Yearbooks
Directories
For all Free British Columbia Links, click on the category of interest:
Newspapers
Obituaries
BMD Records
Photos
Yearbooks
Directories
Obituary Search Frequently Asked Questions
Many current obituaries can be found online via a Google search. These obituaries may be found on obituary archive sites, newspaper websites, or on funeral home websites. You may even find some obituaries by doing a search on social media. If it is someone who died many years ago, you should search newspapers, do a Google search, or look on local library websites.
Unless you visit a library with newspaper originals or access to a microfilm machine for newspapers that have been scanned, the easiest way is to search online newspapers. There are subscription newspaper databases and free historical newspaper collections. For free online collections, you should use The Ancestor Hunt’s lists of links to collections from the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Access to links to over 75,000 titles can be achieved, by going to that site’s Newspaper Links Page.
If you are looking at the original local newspaper or a scanned copy, just go to the Obituary section in the few days following the death. If you are searching online, it is more difficult because the newspaper had to be scanned and the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process had to be applied. Depending on the quality of the original, you might need to be creative with your search criteria, especially if you do not have the date of death. Make sure that you are looking in the right location as well as making sure that the online newspaper collection has a date range that includes the date of death.
Fortunately, public libraries, some genealogy sites, and genealogy societies have transcribed millions of newspaper obituaries, and they also have created obituary indexes that specify the deceased’s name, the title of the newspaper that contains the obituary, and the date of publication. Using The Ancestor Hunt’s Obituary Page will lead you to obituary and obituary index collections for the U.S. and Canada. It has about 20,000 links to free transcription, index, and clipping collections.
Many libraries and genealogy societies have either transcribed obituaries in their local area or have created obituary indexes that list the deceased’s name, the title of the publication, as well as the date that the obituary was published. With this information, you can track down the newspaper that has the obituary in it. Often if you find the deceased in an index in a library or the library offers research services and the library has the newspaper, they may be able to send you a copy via email or postal mail.
Some of the most popular are Legacy.com’s Memorial websites, Forever Missed, and Ever Loved. To find a possible memorial site for someone who has passed away in recent years, look for these sites as well as complete a Google search.