Virginia Obituaries

The Local History/Special Collections Division of the Alexandria Library has a complete Virginia death notices index of all of the obituaries published by the Gazette after 1915. The reason that the records start in that year is that there was a volume published by Willow Bend Books that covers the clippings from before that time, back to 1784.

The official website for the city of Newport News has several resources where obituary indexes can be searched in order to try to locate a specific clipping. From the Daily Press database (which is available directly on the site) to offsite links, they have made a real effort to help people track down the right file. Once found, a copy of the original clipping can be requested.

Being able to search for online obituary records is useful, which is why newspapers like the Central Virginian are highly valued by researchers. This paper offers the latest death notices online grouped by date, with some older records available. Unfortunately, there's no easy search tool, so finding exactly what you need, especially among older records, could be complicated.

The Daily News Record of Virginia takes an interesting approach to obituaries and death notices. Instead of having thumbnail tabs or other search functions, the website begins with a list of the day's deceased, followed by a two sentence death notice. These death notices are followed by paid obituaries for those individuals who's loved ones wrote a more detailed story.

Often obituary pages are so complex that they are difficult to navigate quickly. For anyone who appreciates information at a glance, the Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, Virginia lists not only the names of the day's deceased, but also includes a search function so visitors can search for previously published death notices.

For anyone who sometimes regrets the classified ad like organization of many obituary pages, the Smith Hill Enterprise, instead of using a search function, lists the person's name and a few sentences of their death notice. This way it is possible to go directly to the obituary you need, but also to read through the section.

One of the downsides to the organization offered by tabs and search functions on obituary pages is that if you know what you are looking for, it is so easy to do directly to it that you might miss the death notice of some important member of the community, The South Boston Gazette-Virginia features a few detailed obituaries for the day in addition to a complete list of names that you can search.

Many obituary pages that list a thumbnail tab version of a person's death notice can be difficult to scan for specific details, especially when you are looking for someone who passed away several days or even weeks previously. The Virginia Southside Sentential lists the date immediately underneath the obituary link, so you can be sure that you have found the right person before you read about them.