Your person of interest could easily have had more than one obituary or death notice. Don’t stop when you find the first obituary. Different local newspapers may have printed slightly different versions of the death notice or obituary. If your ancestor was an immigrant, a local “ethnic” newspaper may have printed an obituary or death notice–perhaps with more details than the English language newspapers. Religious, occupational, or trade publications may also have published an obituary with information not included the regular newspaper’s notice.
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8 Responses
Just know this: information may differ, and it may not be “correct”. When my father died, he had remarried. His oldest “step daughter” was grown, and had children. He was the only grandfather these children ever knew! So when his obituary was printed, we realized they were not acknowledged as “family”, but they were in every other sense. So we had his obit printed a second time, this time mentioning the kids by name, and stating they were his grandchildren! It may wreak havoc in the future, but it was appropriate at the time.
I have found obituaries and funeral reports very handy sometimes. Some of my ancestors have a very common surname, and to find the marriages of their daughters therefore well nigh impossible. However, if a Mr and Mrs Whatever are reported as chief mourners, it gives another avenue of enquirer.
When my first husband passed away, we were living about 85 miles from where we grew up/ He wanted to be buried in our hometown. He had an obituary in 3 papers. The town we lived in, the local weekly paper in our hometown, and the daily paper for Kankakee County.
Not only may there be more than one, it may also not be printed where the ancestor lived or died. I’ve been working on finding the parents of my 2nd ggrandfather. He died in Reading PA which is in Berks County and there was no obituary there. His death certificate didn’t have the correct information. Just recently, I found an obituary that one of his daughters had printed in the newspaper where she and another daughter lived…in Lebanon County. It gives much better information, including their Aunt…a sister I didn’t know about. With that information I’ve been able to move forward another inch or so. :o)
My great grandfather lived many years in Marshall County, Iowa. He died in Wyoming, and his obituary was printed in a local paper. A more detailed obituary was also printed in Iowa, home to many friends and family. The locations of the newspapers carrying obituaries are very helpful in determining where, and sometimes when, an ancestor lived in different places.
Whether the obituary was written by the family or by the newspaper may also make a difference. if the person was prominent, or an old resident of the place, the newspaper may print an article that highlights his community activities, while one written by the family may omit that and highlight others things.
I don’t know who wrote one of the obits for my 2nd great grandfather but they combined him with his uncle of the same name. So many wrong things in it. The obit was forwarded to me by another researcher who thought I had the wrong information. I sent her a will that named everyone. Part of the problem was that the next generation named all their children after their siblings. So 6 sons named all their sons after each other. Nightmare!
I’m kind of surprised that there would be multiple newspapers that would print an obituary. None of my immediate ancestors are all that famous. I would have thought that there would only be one obituary for them, but I will go back and check for more. Thanks for the heads up!