Obituaries in modern United States newspapers are rarely fact-checked. Typically they are used by the newspaper as submitted, with the exception of formatting and other minor editing concerns. Biographical facts, dates, survivors are not usually fact-checked by the newspaper at all. The only ones that are are death notices for local notables or individuals who are known nationally.
Chances are that Grandma’s obituary from 1980 was pretty much printed as submitted to the newspaper.
6 Responses
If I didn’t know the information about my father, an obituary for him that I stumbled across in a Madison newspaper would have led me all wrong.
http://www.kingrat.us/2011/03/bad-obituary
The information in an obituary is only as accurate as the submitter. Some submitters aren’t concerned about accuracy or the obituary is a means by which to create a little more “family drama.”
I wrote my mother-in-law’s obituary. The funeral home sent it to me to review before they submitted it to the paper. Luckily – as they changed her 16 grandchildren to 2! I know of another where a couple divorced after many years which split the family. When the guy passed, the obit only listed the children who “took his side.” So you never know!
I’ve seen many errors in older obituaries. Perhaps the type-setter made the mistake.
My grandfather’s obituary was inaccurate since it said there were no survivors. His second wife had already died so I believe the information was from a friend or neighbor. Since my father was his son this was unknown and would not have been correct.
In today’s newspapers, death notices are paid items submitted by survivors, loved ones or funeral homes. They are not fact-checked; they are ads. Obituaries are written by the staff or a wire service; they are fact-checked by editors (though of course they can still contain errors).