Unlocking Family Histories: Using Obituaries for Genealogy

How I Use Obituaries to Build Family Trees

Most people think of obituaries as endings. For me, they're starting points.

When I'm researching a family line, obituaries are one of the most underrated tools available. A single obituary can hand you 10+ names in one read: parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, in-laws, and sometimes even maiden names that would take hours to find any other way.

How I use them:

I start with whatever name I have. Could be a great-grandparent, a maiden name someone half-remembers, or just a last name and a rough location. I search obituary databases (Newspapers.com, Find A Grave, legacy.com, local newspaper archives) and look for matches.

When I find one, I don't just read it. I pull every name mentioned and map the relationships. "Survived by her daughter Jane (Smith) Doe, son-in-law Robert Doe, and grandchildren Michael and Sarah." That one sentence just gave me a maiden name, a married name, a spouse, and two more branches to follow.

I cross-reference those names go into Ancestry, FamilySearch, public records. Each one can lead to another obituary, another set of names, another generation. One obituary can crack open an entire branch of a family tree that was completely stuck.

What to look for:

Maiden names in parentheses (this is gold)

"Preceded in death by" (gives you the generation above)

Church names, lodge memberships, military service (open up whole new record sets)

Locations mentioned (where they lived, where they're buried, where they moved from)

Don't just search for the person you're looking for. Search for their siblings, their parents, their in-laws. Sometimes the obituary you need isn't theirs. It's their brother's, and your person is listed as a survivor.

One good obituary can save you 20 hours of digging.