Whether you're in the midst of settling an estate, assembling a scrapbook or just looking to fill in the missing branches of your family tree, online obituary archives are plentiful if you know where to look.
Death records are among the most readily accessible of all public records because they are maintained in a number of different places. Newspapers routinely publish obituaries for their news value, state and local authorities are required to keep death certificates on file and the combined efforts of genealogy researchers have produced a virtual treasure trove of obituary archives and other databases.
The best place to start depends largely on what you're looking for.
If you're probating a will or filing an insurance claim, for example, you'll need a copy of a death certificate, which is an official record certified by a coroner or medical examiner and filed with state and local authorities at the time of a person's death. Death certificates contain basic information like age, race, gender, cause of death and place of burial. If you know where the death occurred, the National Center for Health Statistics can tell you which local agency to contact to request a copy.
Obituaries are published in newspapers and typically contain more biographical information than the sparse records maintained by governmental agencies. Most list the deceased person's occupation, surviving family members and funeral arrangements. Some smaller newspapers even include a photograph. Many newspapers maintain online obituary archives dating back anywhere from a few months to a few years. For older issues, you can try the local library or one of many genealogy web sites.
A genealogy site is a good place to start if you're armed with limited information or sleuthing for especially old records. Most if not all are loaded with links to archived obituary databases compiled from a wide swath of sources, search engines devoted solely to public records and newspapers dating as far back as the 1700s. You'll find that some information is available free of charge and some you can access only by registering with the site and paying a monthly subscription fee.
You can usually get a copy of an archived obituary for nothing more than the cost of making the copy. A notarized copy of a death certificate, on the other hand, typically runs anywhere from $10 to $20.
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