How To Search For Deceased Family Members In Obituaries

Obituaries: Getting all the clues

Thomas Jay Kemp
Director, Genealogy Products
NewsBank, inc.
28 March 2012

Search Obituaries - GenealogyBank.com

◦ Over 1 billion names
◦ Over 5,850 newspapers
 All 50 states
 1690 to today
◦ Over 263,000 rare books &
documents
◦ 210 million obituaries &
death records


Newspapers
5,850 & Growing! 1690-Today


GenealogyBank


Obituaries -


Obituaries -
• Full name
• Names of relatives


Obituaries -
• Full name • Name of cemetery
• Names of relatives


Obituaries -
• Names of relatives • Name of clergy and
their denomination


Obituaries -
• Date, place and their denomination
cause of death


Obituaries -
cause of death
• Date and place of
birth


Obituaries -
cause of death
birth
marriage


Obituaries -
cause of death • Occupation
• Date and place of • Education
birth • Social groups
marriage


Let’s see a typical obituary -

Charlotte Observer (North Carolina)
30 November 1920, page 13.


Let’s see a typical obituary -


Find the ancestral home town -

Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana) 26
April 1893, page 4.


Can be printed across the country -

San Francisco Bulletin (California)
23 October 1874, page 2.


Printed in another language -

El Continental (El Paso, Texas)
20 January 1959, page 3.


Or in long lost styles & syntax -

Boston News Letter (Massachusetts)
30 April 1705, page 2



Providence Patriot (Rhode Island)
18 September 1822, page 3


…. Papers Please Copy -


Typical Search -


Typical
Search


GenealogyBank.com


What do you have on Grace (Toms) Stewart – who was
born and married in Stamford, CT?

What do we know about her?

Her maiden name: Grace Toms
Born: abt1896 in Stamford, CT
Spouse: Charles Stewart
Other: “Toms” family lived/died in Stamford area.


Search for Grace Stewart
= Over 3,500 hits


= Over 3,500 hits

Just Recent Obituaries = 167 hits


= Over 3,500 hits

Just Recent Obituaries = 167 hits

Limit to CT only = None


Search for Charles Stewart
= Over 700 hits

Just CT Obituaries = 1 hit


Not him


New Search for Grace Stewart
Adding “Stamford” to the
Extra search terms box

Just One Obituary


It was her:


Grace M. Stewart, 93, …. died of pneumonia Feb. 1 at the
Collingswood Nursing …Center, Rockville, MD

“…a native of Stamford, Conn. …”

“Her husband, Charles Stewart, died in 1920.”

Washington Post – 4 Feb 1992


Some Practical Tips


Can You Read This?
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty
uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid,
aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr
theiproamtnt ltteres in a wrod are, the olny
tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and
you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed
ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Azanmig huh?
yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was
ipmorantt!


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How To Search For Deceased Family Members In Obituaries

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How To Search For Deceased Family Members In Obituaries