Wisconsin Obituaries

The Appleton Public Library Local History Project is currently in the process of building an obituary index which is searchable on their website. They are always updating as they progress through their efforts, allowing for an ever-increasing amount of success in discovering the desired file. It is currently complete from January 2001 through the present, as well as other year ranges dating back as far as 1856.

The Hedberg Public Library has used the fact that they have the Janesville Gazette on microfilm in order to create an extensive obituaries index that is searchable at the organization itself. More recent files can be queried over the internet, but those are only from the dates of January 1993 to the present.

Realizing that sometimes very detailed obituary pages can be overwhelming for mourners, the Capital Times of Wisconsin's page caters to both the loved one's of the deceased as well as genealogical researcher. In addition to links useful after someone passes away, like funeral and flower services, the website includes a search feature that allows visitors to search the archive by the date of death.

Organization is key for anyone attempting to use and read obituary pages, but too often death notices do not seem to be in any real order. The Green Bay, Wisconsin Press Gazette uses not only convenient streamlined thumbnail tabs for quick searching, but also lists the deceased in alphabetical order by last name, so if you know who you are looking for, finding what you need should be easy.

So often, even the most detailed and easy to access obituary pages only include information on local residents. The Journal Times in Wisconsin allows visitors to search not only for the area's deceased, but also for national and even some international death notices. Clearly, this paper takes its commitment to news seriously.

For anyone who reads obituaries on with any regularity, the standard format of the headlines can get very repetitive, minimizing the importance of the deceased's individuality. Most of the time a death notice headline consists only of the person's name and age. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Journal Sentential, however, includes short personalized headlines that give some indication of the person's life and interests.

If you do not know precisely when someone died, finding their death notice can sometimes be a challenge. The River Falls Journal in Wisconsin takes a straightforward approach towards obituary pages, offering a thumbnail tab for not only those that died that day, but also for some time, going back almost two weeks.

So much attention is paid to genealogical research that very often the needs of the deceased loved ones get placed on the back burner. The Wisconsin State Journal in Madison recognizes the importance of death notices pages to serve as a place of healing for mourners. With links to funeral homes, flower shops, and guest books, this paper sticks true to the traditional function of obituaries notices.