How can I find obituaries in the newspaper?
Answer
Locating an obituary in a newspaper typically requires searching the paper of record for several days after the date of death. It can be difficult to find death notices from the early to mid-19th century. They were often scattered throughout the paper (not in a specific section) and could be published several days after the event.
We can interlibrary loan rolls of newspaper microfilm. You can search for newspapers for Interlibrary Loan in our library catalog. We can interlibrary loan newspapers that have microfilm roll numbers.
Some chapters of the Ohio Genealogical Society have published indexes to death notices that appeared in area newspapers.
Some public libraries have obituary indexes or offer obituary searching of local newspapers as part of their local history and genealogy services. You can find public libraries in Ohio using OPLIN's Find a Library.
Ohio Obituary Indexes
- R. B. Hayes Ohio Obituary Index
- Akron Beacon Journal Obituary Indexes – Akron-Summit County Public Libraries
- Newsdex - The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
- Cleveland Necrology File and News Index – Cleveland Public Library
- Columbus News and Obituary Index – Columbus Metropolitan Library
- Dayton Historical Obituaries - Dayton Metro Library
- Mansfield Newspaper Index - Mansfield/Richland County Public Library
- Ohio Obituary Index – Ohio Genealogical Society
- Obituary Index - Toledo Lucas County Public Library
Please visit our research guide for more information about Newspaper Research.