Listed are indexes and databases designed to help users research Michigan death notices.
Michigan obituary records can be a valuable source of information when it comes to trying to do a genealogy or other type of family tree search. There are ways to search online and offline for obituaries, death records and burial records. The best approach is usually to use both methods for the greatest amount of success. It is a good idea to have as much information about the full correct, legal name, possible date of death as well as location. Being able to narrow down the possible location to at least the county can really help make your search a success.
Searching death indexes online can be crucial to finding the obituary you need for your genealogy records. The trick, though, is finding out where the death may have occurred or the county where the obituary may have appeared. For example, there is an extensive database for Detroit area death notices. Though it is incomplete, it dates all the way back to the early 1800s. But even searching through all of Detroit data from that far back could be time consuming, as well as frustrating if you do not find the data you need.
If you research newspapers online, it is important to keep in mind that obituaries were not always printed on a daily basis. In fact, some areas may have had a county paper that was not printed each day. If you have the approximate date of death, but aren't having luck finding the obituary, try looking within the week or even month to find what you are seeking.
The other thing you can do online is track libraries within a county or area of Michigan. Doing this helps you determine how many libraries there are and where they are located. You may even want to go ahead and establish contact and let an employee or volunteer for the library know about your search. That way, they can offer any advice or help they can. Also, this is a good way to ask if the records are kept in one location within the county or at multiple branches.
The best place to do obituary research is in a library by searching through newspapers and microfilm. For that reason, it is important to try to know the county where you should be looking. You may have to travel to one or more libraries within a county to track down the data you need.
If you cannot travel to an area yourself or live outside of Michigan altogether, than you may have to try to enlist the help of another. Sometimes, there may be a library staff member or volunteer who can help. If not, see if there are genealogy volunteers within the state or the particular county who can help retrieve documentation for you. Michigan obituary records can be very helpful, you just have to use some patience and determination to find the one you need.
Michigan is a varied state that features huge cities and lots of small towns as well as plenty of uninhabited wilderness. If you are looking all over the Internet for Michigan obituaries, you may want to consider using the following databases.
If you are looking for someone in Branch County, you can check out the Brach County Clerk's Office online. You can search for records that go all the way back to the 1800's. The website for the Brighton Public Library allows for searches that date all the way back to 1971 and include listings that were printed in the Livingston County Press and Argus newspaper. The Cheboygan USGenWeb site has comprehensive listings for anyone who resided in the beautiful Cheboygan area. Macomb County also has many of their listings on the web, as well.
Obits that have appeared in local papers throughout the county are printed on the official county website. The Saginaw Public Library website is the place to go if you are looking for notices for that region of the state. Michigan obituary records can be found there that include listings as far back as the 1800's. Finding records in this state is easy if you know where to begin your search.
Listed are indexes and databases designed to help users research Michigan death notices.
The Brighton Public Library is very proud of their obituary index and the lengths to which they have gone to make it easy for individuals to search through it themselves. The online form – available on the website – provides several different fields that can be completed with any information you happen to have about the desired clipping.
To receive a copy of a newspaper clipping containing a desired obituary, the Detroit Public Library provides a searching service through mail order. The newspapers that have been indexed include the city's News, Free Press, and Times. There is a fifteen dollar fee for requests made with the name and date the person died, and a twenty-five dollar fee when information is missing.
There is a very direct process at the Freemont Area District Library website for using their obituaries index within the local records database. The published newspaper clippings are organized in alphabetical order, so it is a matter of selecting the first letter of the last name of the decedent in order to find his or her related file.
There is nothing roundabout in the method that the Grosse Pointe Public Library uses for their website's obituary database feature. When seeking Michigan death notices, you need only head to the site and click the link for the year range that you with to view. Currently, indexed clippings go back as far as 1930 and reach to the present.
The official website for the city of Hartford, Michigan, is also the provider of the searchable obituaries index for the area. Though the records are incomplete, many years between 1914 and the present do have their published clippings available to locate online. Further seeking can be done by email request as long as the decedent either lived in the area or was active in that community.
Below is a list of Michigan newspaper obituaries to aid in genealogical research.
MLive.com is a great site for those who are searching for obituaries for people who passed away in Michigan, as it links to a variety of different sites all at the same time, making it easy to search for a specific person. To access obituaries, click on the living tab at the top of the page.
Free P is a website which brings news and information for those who live in and around Detroit, Michigan. This site makes it easy to find obituaries, by linking them directly at the top of the page with the word "obituaries". Simply click on it and you will be brought to the correct page.
News and information for those who live in the Detroit area can be found at the Detroit News page. This well-known site makes it easy to find links to obituaries, by putting the link to the obituaries on the top of the page directly underneath the banner on the site.
The Holland Sentinel is a website that showcases news and information for those who are living around Holland, Michigan. The site also lists obituaries, which can be accessed only by clicking on the announcements tab on the top of the page. You will then be able to select obituaries from the resulting menu.
People who are searching for obituaries for those who lived in or around Marquette, Minnesota can find what they're looking for at The Mining Journal. This site carries obituaries that are easily accessed, as the obituary link is directly next to the news link at the very top of the page.