I need help with the obituaries!?

Question:

I need help with the obituaries!?

hi, i would like to find the obituary information on the woman who owned my parents house before them. all i know is the womans first and last name and that she died in the mid 1980's. is there any wenbsite that i could find obit records that far back??

help is super apreciated =)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Genealogical websites don't usually carry information that recent for security reasons (the obits may contain personal information about survivors).

Your best bet, as one other responder said, is to forgo the web and do some research in the local area.

Local libraries almost always carry microfilmed copies of newspapers. It will be a b*tch to search them, though, because you don't know the exact date of death and you'll have to scan a LOT of papers before you find it - IF you do.

Some other ideas: if some of the neighbors remember her religion, go to the corresponding church and ask for the death record. You may have to make some sort of case for it, like saying that you live in the same house. They may only cough up for relatives.

OR go to the cemtary for the church and look for her stone. Even if that doesn't give you the exact date of death, the cemetary office should have it.

If you can get the date of death that way, you can then proceed to the library to try to find the newspaper containing her obit. Scan the paper for AT LEAST one week after the death date, as well as the actual date itself.

OR

you may get lucky and find that your library has been modernized, and has digital copies of the newspapers. Then you can just use one of their computers to search for the obit.

I doubt that last one, though. You may have to take the bull by the horns and do the legwork yourself.

OOPS: forgot one. Also try the funeral parlor that may have handled her funeral. They also have very detailed records, including the date of death.

Good luck,
Big Al Mintaka