I found out the hard way that searching for an old friend can end up with a newspaper obituary archives search. I tried everything I could to find my friend, only to come up with one dead end after another. He had a hard to spell name, so I thought perhaps I just could not get the spelling right. Through my search, I realized that something was wrong. In a last ditch effort, I started checking obits near where I knew him to be living last. What I found was not fun, but at least I knew why there was no longer any trace of him. He had died five years earlier.
You may have to do a newspaper obituary archives search when searching for someone who may have passed away, because only very recent deaths will come up online in a search for someones name. The older ones, ones as old as just a month ago, will be archived through the paper. Searching for them is going to mean going to each paper in the area and looking up their name with any other keywords you can think of. Fortunately, this type of newspaper obituary archives search is rather quick and easy.
The hard part of any newspaper obituary archives search is that there are times when you have no idea where someone has gone. They could have died anywhere and that means the information is hard to find. However, if you knew where they were born, that can help. You can do your newspaper obituary archives search in their home town paper. Even if they had not passed away there, the hometown paper will usually run the obit for those that knew them and still live in the area. Search through all papers in an area if they have more than one. Smaller towns may have the obits run in neighboring papers, so keep that in mind throughout your search.
You may not have to do an extensive newspaper obituary archives search if you know someones social security number. If you know the number, you can search for it through the Social Security Death Index. These are often used for genealogy searches, but they can be used to see if someone you know has passed away when you can not find them anywhere else. The name should come up right away. You can see the date of death, and even place of death at times, and that may help you better search out the right paper for your obituary search.
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