Where can I find an obituary from 1980 for free?
I am trying to located an obituary for my grandfather’s brother, who I believe to have died in 1980.
I am not sure if he was living in New York or Florida at the time of his death, but I do know that he was born in New York around 1911.
Does New York or Florida have free access to public records such as obituaries?
If you want his death certificate, look in the public records by going to the Vital Records Office of the town where he died. Obituaries, though, are not public records. They are newspaper items.
I’m not trying to quibble. I’m trying to point out the difference so that you don’t spend time going in the wrong direction.
Check in the library.
References :
If you want his death certificate, look in the public records by going to the Vital Records Office of the town where he died. Obituaries, though, are not public records. They are newspaper items.
I’m not trying to quibble. I’m trying to point out the difference so that you don’t spend time going in the wrong direction.
References :
1) By visiting the library
2) On-line
3) Via a real Genealogy bulletin board for the county in question
4) Not free, but cheap, by writing to the library.
http://www.tedpack.org/obit.html
explains all four, in longer detail than will fit here, with links and tips.
Public records aren’t always free. If they are at the courthouse, you have to buy them from the county.
Obituaries, death certificates and death indicies are all different. This is a death index:
http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
Your grand uncle may be on it. It is free, but the ad at the top may ask you for a name and take you to a fee site. Be careful.
References :