Obituaries on some funeral home websites are more detailed than the one that is eventually published in a print or online newspaper. The charge for the funeral home’s obituary is usually a part of the funeral cost and is not dependent on the length of the obituary (within reason). That’s not necessarily true for a print obituary which may end up being edited and reduced in length even if cost is not an issue.

Do not assume those funeral home website obituaries will always “be there for the taking.” That’s not the case.

While working on DNA matches, I needed the obituary of a distant cousin. I had a paper copy but did not have it handy. “It doesn’t matter. I can get it on the funeral home website.”

Nope. Not any more. The funeral home was bought out a few years ago and the new owner updated the site and the old obituaries were gone.

A good reminder for me to make copies of obituaries when they run or when I discover them and not just think “it’ll still be there later.”

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4 Responses

  1. I have had success obtaining the obituary by contacting the funeral home and simply requesting a copy. Unless the ownership has changed, they usually will have a copy and furnish it at no charge. One did have a charge for a copy of a video tribute for a 2 yrs ago funeral. Never hurts to ask!

  2. This applies to pretty much everything, as I’ve sadly learned. If you find it, print it or download it or both, at that moment, and write at least the basics of a source citation. I could still kick myself over a couple of documents that seem to be gone forever now.

  3. Same goes for any online source, potentially. I found that a newspaper archive from which I had located an obituary and many other articles no longer existed and the archive had been taken over by GenealogyBank. Lots of work “refinding” many items not to mention extra dollars for access. This time everything gets downloaded immediately.

    • Good point. Another reason is that even if something is online, you may not be able to find it again.

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