Obituary Records

Obituary Records

Obituary records will include information pertaining to a deceased person, such as the date they passed away, the cause of death, and where they died. These records are maintained by the state and are used for a variety of reasons by government agencies or the public.

If you’ve been wanting to find out more information on an old friend’s sudden death or unlock more details surrounding your family history, obituary records can be found online or in a public library dating back hundreds of years.

What Are Obituary Records?

Although obituaries were much more common in older times -- especially when the newspaper was more popular -- they can still be vital pieces of information kept over time. Obituary records, by definition, are an article reporting the death of a person and also giving information about the funeral or burial service that follows.

Throughout history, obituary records have been a way to celebrate someone’s life with the wider community. In less-digital times, obituaries were also a major way of learning about deaths in the community since it was more difficult to hear this kind of news back then.

Where Can You Find Obituary Records?

If you’re looking for someone’s obituary, one of the more reliable places to look is your public library -- which will often have information dating back the furthest. A lot of older documents have been transferred to the web, but it’s common for things to get missed. In addition, this method can take a lot of effort to find success and can take long periods of time.

If you struggle with patience and need your information fast, there are ways to search various death and obituary records online with a public records search. Although you might uncover more information than you’re looking for, that extra information can help to detail more about that person’s life you didn’t already know about.

Better yet, you can perform such a search right here on our website -- and we’ll tell you all about how to do so below!

Who Can View Obituary Records?

Obituary records are available to the public and can be viewed by anyone willing to search for them. In fact, obituaries are normally written by someone close to the deceased person, meaning they are written by the public. It’s only right that we have access to these documents if we so desire.

Obituary records are extremely valuable to genealogists around the world, helping to easily fill in gaps in someone’s family tree and uncover more information about the nature of the death. Since obituaries will often list the immediate family of the deceased, it becomes a great tool for linking certain people to other family members.

Other people might want to print out a version of someone’s obituary to keep for themselves -- whether they want to frame it or keep it in a scrapbook. Obituary records can be a treasured piece in a family and is often treated as such.

It doesn’t matter if you read obituaries to be aware of the deaths going on in your community or use them as part of your job, obituary records can be useful pieces of information.

What Else Can the Public View?

There are loads of information available online, not just obituary records. In some cases, you might even be able to find other vital information about the deceased, including birth records, death certificate, marriage records, divorce records, and much more. Some vital records are sealed for various reasons, but it mostly depends on the laws in the state involved.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the details that can be included in public records:

• Personal Information - Public records can show your date of birth, birth location, whether you were issued a social security number (it won’t give the SSN, just whether they have one or not), and even a photo of what they look like.
• Contact Information - Did you know your contact information can be out in the open for anyone to see? This can include your phone numbers, postal addresses, email addresses, social media profiles, and online dating profiles. It might include past information as well!
• Property Records - If you’ve ever lived in an apartment, condo, townhome, single-family home, or any other type of residence, it can show up in your public record with the full address. If you owned the house, it will give a detailed history of the home including estimated value, past owners, and more.
• Criminal Records - People will be able to view your entire arrest history, whether you were convicted of the crime or not. If you were, it’ll detail the charge or offense, any punishments, fines, incarceration, and even where you were serving time. You can use criminal records to keep those around you honest about their past.
• public History - Whether you filed for bankruptcy, had a lien placed on your property, or were involved in any other court case and lawsuit, that information can be found publicly through the court’s database.

Public records can contain much more than just obituary records, helping you to continue filling in gaps to your family tree. With the information available, you can also ensure that you are surrounded by safe and harmless people -- doing away with the constant lying and consistent secrets.

How to Find Obituary Records

Searching for obituary records is as simple as performing a public records search. If you were wondering how to do that, you’ve come to the right place because we have all the tools and resources you’ll need.

In order to get started, you’ll need the first and last name of the person you’d like to search for. Go ahead and type that name into the search engine located below. You can add a city or state if you know where they were last located, but this won’t be needed to receive results.

Hit the search button to bring up a list of possible matches. Once you’re confident you have the right person, open their report and unlock memories from their past. Be careful, you never know what you might find behind closed doors.