What Use Are Obituary Notices To Family History?

If you have a rough date of death of an ancestor or distant relative, one way to find out their actual death date without going to the expense of ordering their death certificate (currently £7 each), is to look up local newspapers around that time to see if you can find an obituary or death notice.

Often this will be a notice put in the newspaper by the family but, if you are really lucky, there can be a longer obituary or description of the funeral. These can mention family connections and other relatives and a list of people who attended the funeral as well as giving information about the deceased person's life.

Few local papers have indexes so it will be a matter of trawling through the newspaper copies on microfilm to try to find the entry you are looking for. If you do persist though, the rewards are usually worthwhile and most libraries and archives have a copier so that you can take the piece away with you.