(This page's most recent update is
August 2024)
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Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians, and archivists (as well as the largest of them all – FamilySearch), a great number of indexes to death collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific death information and sometimes scanned images of the actual death certificates themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in them in total.
There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include death information that is not included in the lists below. For example, newspapers and obituaries have death info, but most times obituary indexes include the date of the obituary but not the date of death. To find out which types of other records may include death information, please see:
The lists below are specific death indexes and record collections that are available for free online for the state of North Dakota.
Note: Some links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.
Note: I have included links to Free Ancestry records and indexes. You do not need a subscription, but do need an Ancestry account. Without a subscription, you can view indexes. If there is an image associated with a record, in most cases you will need a subscription, but the index does include very usable information.
North Dakota Death Records
- Bottineau County, Deaths
- Bowman County Deaths and Obituaries
- Cass County, Death Records, 1974
- Devils Lake Agency, Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1905
- Fort Berthold Agency Agency Records, 1885-1951
- Fort Berthold Agency, Indian Census Rolls, 1889-1939
- Fort Totten Agency, Indian Census Rolls, 1906-1939
- Fort Totten Agency, Agency Records, 1881-1941
- Foster County, Deaths
- Grand Forks Coroner Inquest Records
- Griggs County, Deaths
- Hankinson, Richland County, Marriage and Death Announcement Extractions from the Hankinson News
- LaMoure County St. Paul Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths
- Miscellaneous BMD Records by County
- North Dakota Department of Health Public Death Index, 1892-present
- North Dakota Federal and State Census Mortality Schedules 1870-1880
- North Dakota, Funeral Home Indexes, 1903-1997
- North Dakota, Funeral Home Records, 1900-1996
- North Dakota, Obituaries, 1929-2005
- North Dakota, Red River Valley Genealogical Society, Pioneer Files, 1880-1953,
- North Dakota, World War I American Expeditionary Forces, Deaths, 1917-1919
- Online Searchable Death Indexes
- Ransom County, Deaths
- Richland County, Deaths
- Sargent County Deaths and Obituaries
- Standing Rock Agency Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1880-1942
- Steele County, Deaths
- Stutsman County Death Register – 1893-1933
- Stutsman County Death Register – 1903-1952
- Stutsman County, Deaths
- Turtle Mountain Agency, Indian Census Rolls, 1910-1939
- Turtle Mountain Agency, Agency Records, 1884-1952
- United States Deaths and Burials, 1867-1961
- United States Korean War Battle Deaths, 1950-1957
- United States Social Security Death Index
- United States, World War I American Expeditionary Forces Deaths, 1917-1919
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!