Obituary Research Cheat Sheet

Your ancestors' newspaper obituaries, death notices and other death announcements can be full of rich genealogical information, such as birth dates and places, death dates and places, relatives' names and relationships, funeral and burial details, and more. This cheat sheet guides your search for old obituaries, whether in online sources or from libraries. We've packed eight pages with helpful tips, charts and resources for finding your relatives' obituaries and death notices, including:

• Types of death announcements you should look for
• Examples of death notices and obituaries
• Model source citations for a range of death notices and obituaries
• Tips to find obituaries online in digitized or indexed collections, and in libraries on microfilm or in print
• Essential history of obituaries
• Genealogical clues found in in obituaries
• Glossary of obituary terms
• Old causes of death at a glance
• Resources listing of websites and books for finding old obituaries
• Obituary research worksheet

Once you download the Obituary Research Cheat Sheet, you'll need a PDF reader, such as the free Adobe Reader software, to open it. Adobe Reader is available for both Macs and Windows computers.