Did you know that there are about 100 million newspaper obituary records available from FamilySearch in 43 different collections?
All but 1 collection have searchable indexes, and there are collections with images from newspapers, images from index card transcriptions only, and collections that are indexes only.
Now, the great majority do not have newspaper images available for free unless you have a subscription to GenealogyBank. FamilySearch and GenealogyBank have a cooperative effort to make the indexes available for free to FamilySearch users. These represent about 65 of the 100 million total.
But that still leaves millions of images that have newspaper obituary pages and clippings as differentiated from transcriptions. These are from private collections, libraries, archives, and other institutions that have made the images available to FamilySearch for digitization.
Here is a list of the collections and links to each collection:
- Arizona Obituary Index to Arizona Newspapers, 1993-1994
- Arizona, Mesa LDS Family History Center, Obituary Index, 1959-2014
- Arizona, Payson, Obituaries, 1948-2008
- British Newspaper Archives, Obituaries
- California, Fresno and Napa Counties, Obituaries, 1974-1997
- California, Napa and Butte Counties, Obituaries, 1866-1992
- California, San Joaquin, County Public Library Obituary Index, 1850-1991
- Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police obituary card index and notices, 1876-2007
- Currentobituary.com index, 2001-2014
- Guam Judicial, Land, Obituaries, and Census Records, 1712-2000
- Hawaii Obituaries Index, ca. 1980-present
- Hawaii, Hawaiian Islands Newspaper Obituaries, 1900-ca.2010
- Hawaii, Kauai County, Obituaries, 1982-2010
- Idaho, Southeast Counties Obituaries, 1864-2007
- Idaho, Southern Counties Obituaries, 1943-2013
- Illinois, Cook County, Maywood, Maywood Herald Obituary Card Index, 1885-2002
- Illinois, Cook County, Obituaries, ca. 1970-1990
- Illinois, Kane County, Elgin, Gail Borden Public Library District, Local Newspaper Obituary Digital Index, 1922-2017
- Illinois, Mildred Hooper Obituary Collection, ca. 1959-1981
- Illinois, Tazewell County, Obituary Card Index from the “Pekin Times”, 1914-2007
- Indiana, Daviess County, Washington Times Herald Obituaries, 1984-2012
- Indiana, Harrison County, Index Cards to Corydon Democrat Newspaper Obituaries, 1861-2008
- Iowa, Buchanan County Obituaries and Cemetery Records, ca.1796-1988
- Michigan Obituaries, 1820-2006
- Minnesota, Clay and Steele County Obituaries, 1865-2006
- Minnesota, Obituaries 1865-2006
- Montana, Mineral County Obituaries, 1870-2010
- New Hampshire, Hillsborough County, Manchester, Obituaries, 1800-2007
- New Zealand, Obituaries, 1844-1963
- Ohio, Crawford County Obituaries, 1860-2004
- Ohio, Washington County Newspaper Obituaries, 1884-2013
- Pennsylvania Obituaries, 1977-2010
- Pennsylvania Obituary and Marriage Collection, 1947-2010
- Pennsylvania, Schuylkill County, Schuylkill Haven, Funeral Home Obituary Cards, 1914-2007
- United States, GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries, 1815-2011
- United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014
- United States, Obituaries, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1899-2012
- Utah, Brigham City Family History Center, Obituary Collection, 1930-2015
- Utah, ObitsUtah Obituary Index, 2010-2013
- Utah, Obituaries from Utah Newspapers, 1850-2005
- Utah, Tremonton and Garland Obituaries, 1959-2013
- Virginia, Winchester, Evening Star Obituaries, 1899-1909
- Wyoming, Star Valley Independent Obituaries, 1901-2015
So you can search for obituaries in standard digitized newspapers as those listed in the Newspaper Research Links on this website (The Ancestor Hunt), or search obituary indexes in the Obituaries Page (also on this website), or you might also want to try searching the FamilySearch collections above that have indexed and cropped newspaper obituaries for you!
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
