Obituaries provide information such as the age of the deceased; birth date and place, including foreign town and country of birth; parents; names and residences of living children; relatives and other family members; maiden name; and occupation. Deceased family members are also frequently mentioned. The obituary may indicate previous places of residence, immigration information, religious affiliation, and any social organizations or activities in which the deceased was involved.

The “Obituaries” and “Newspapers” sections of the United States Research Outline (30972) list sources for finding obituaries and the newspapers that publish them.

Various collections of obituaries for Minnesota have been compiled. For example:

Southwest State University (Minnesota). Southwest Minnesota Historical Center. Obituary File Index, ca. 1873–1953. Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1990. (FHL films 1728586–922; computer number 613941.) There is no list of the newspapers that were used to compile this index. Index gives name of deceased, death date and place, and other information.

Southwest State University (Minnesota). Southwest Minnesota Historical Center. Obituary Files, ca. 1985-1990. Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1990. (FHL films 1728922–28; computer number 613948.) The cards are in alphabetical order and have the original obituaries pasted on them. Obituaries come from miscellaneous newspapers of southwestern Minnesota.

To find obituaries and obituary indexes, check the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

MINNESOTA – OBITUARIESMINNESOTA, [COUNTY] – OBITUARIESMINNESOTA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] – OBITUARIES

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