Obituaries (2024)

FAQs

How do I find an obituary for a specific person in New York? ›

Databases. New York Public Library subscribes to many databases that can help researchers locate obituaries and death notices. The most useful are our newspaper databases. Oftentimes obituaries can be located by entering a person's name and week of death into the newspapers databases.

Obituaries and indexes from a few individual newspapers can be found in the FamilySearch Catalog by using a Place Search under: ILLINOIS - OBITUARIES. ILLINOIS, [Name of County] - OBITUARIES. ILLINOIS, [Name of County], [Name of Town] - OBITUARIES.

The Web site hosts obituaries and memorials for more than 70 percent of all U.S. deaths. Legacy.com hosts obituaries for more than three-quarters of the 100 largest newspapers in the U.S., by circulation.

Many funeral homes publish obituaries on their websites. These can usually be located with a Google search on the person's name. Local genealogical and historical societies, public libraries, and some newspaper publishers maintain clipping files of obituaries.

Official government death records

Death records are essential for exploring your ancestry. They reveal your ancestor's name and where and when they died. Found the record you're looking for? Order a copy of the original from the General Register Office (GRO) to discover even more.

North Dakota newspaper The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead ran what is certainly one of the shortest obituaries ever published. Accompanying a photograph and name of local resident Douglas Legler, the obit, which ran Wednesday, had just two simple words: “Doug died.”

As funeral homes across America post obituaries to their respective funeral home website, The Obituary App organizes them all into particular cities. Now, a user can look at all the obituaries posted by multiple funeral homes in one place.

Are obituaries public domain? ›

To be clear, obituaries are protected by copyright. They are creative works of expression that are fixed into a tangible medium of expression. Both the text and the images that make up an obituary are protected by copyright (even if the facts and information are not).

When writing an obituary, leave out details that could be used for identity theft, such as the deceased's date and place of birth, middle name, maiden name and mother's maiden name. And don't include the deceased's home address.

It is common to include a list of those who have survived the deceased, in addition to those who passed away prior to the death of your loved one. The list should include (where applicable): Parents. Spouse and children.

In NY, there is no legal mandate to publish an obituary in a newspaper when someone dies. The official state paperwork is a death certificate, which is filed with the state's office of vital statistics by a medical certifier or a licensed funeral home director, not by the family of the deceased individual.

Obituaries are easiest to search for in the Obituaries section, which can be found at nytimes.com/section/obituaries. Below the Overlooked section, select Search. Enter the name associated with the obituary and select enter/return on your keyboard.