Canada, Newspaper Death Notices (National Institute)

Death Notices and Obituaries
Reports of deaths in the newspaper might come in the brief form of a death notice or in a lengthier description of a life, the obituary. Both are welcome to the genealogist. Contemporary death notices, often restricted by space in newspapers, are a combination of the two, giving the bare details of the old-time death notice, but also including information about the person’s life and interests.

The one-line death notice which is a familiar part of most early newspapers looks like this:


 * At Perth on Sat. the 4th inst., Maria, wife of William Bell Jr., aged 28 years. At Perth on the 11th inst., William Hawley, infant son of William Bell Jr. (Brockville Recorder, 16 March 1837)

These two deaths, which took place a week apart, were published in the same weekly newspaper as consecutive announcements. They tell a common story of the time, of a young wife’s death in childbed, followed by the death of the baby shortly after. We learn the date and place of death and a family connection from these announcements, and that is all. Occasionally a birthplace or occupation will be mentioned.

Places of Death
The Berliner Journal, a German-language newspaper, said that Andreas Keotsch was born ‘in Lindenkreuz near Gera, Sachsen’ which can’t be faulted as to exactitude and is a real find for a researcher who did not know where the family came from. More general birthplaces might be given in the form ‘a native of Fifeshire’ or ‘of Aberdeen’ which require further work, but they do at least narrow the field somewhat from the broad ‘of Scotland’.

People described as being ‘of Aberdeen’ or some other large city may indeed have come from that urban area, but it was common for people to describe themselves as coming from a city nearby their actual birthplace, if it was small or they were from a rural area.

An Englishman who was asked where he came from, and who said ‘Horsham St. Faiths’ would probably be asked, “Where’s that?” but if he said ‘Norwich’, he would be understood because it is a large and well-known city. Researchers should keep this habit in mind, especially if they have found someone ‘of Aberdeen’ but then had no luck finding that person in the Aberdeen records.

Another Berliner Journal death notice for Anna, Hermann and Wilhelm Jahn said they died “of an illness the same as cholera. Eight year old Louisa was not affected, and is the only comfort the widower has left.” Mr. Jahn’s wife had died the previous week. Although the deaths were in St. Louis, Missouri, they were reported in the Berlin [Kitchener] newspaper because Mrs. Jahn’s father lived there.

The researcher has an interesting sentence to add to the family history, and can consult a medical expert about what might be meant by ‘an illness the same as cholera’. Causes of death were of great interest to the Victorians (and to us, as well) and were often included in death notices.

Problem of Vague Information

 * In Edwardsburgh, on Friday the 9th instant, Mrs. Bass, aged upwards of 80 years. (Brockville Gazette, 16 April 1830)

Here we face the old problem of vagueness, both about the dead woman’s name (which Mrs. Bass is it who died?) and her age.


 * At Nicolet on Sunday afternoon, the 3rd inst., after a few days of very severe sickness, Thomas Anderson Squire, Wincasles, son of S. M. Cresse, aged 3 years, 6 months and 18 days. (Bytown Gazette, 16 April 1840)

To those unfamiliar with the family, the name of the dead boy is uncertain—is his family name Squire or Cresse? However, a researcher searching for the family will know and will be glad of the detail, including the fact he died after a short illness in the afternoon.

His exact age, in years, months and days, is in a form often given in death notices of this century. We may think that calculating his birthdate from this clear information would be easy, but the irregular number of days in months makes this difficult. There are formulae for making the calculation, which were often published in genealogical newsletters in pre-computer days. Now, it is easier to let your software make the calculation for you.


 * At Bytown, on the 1st inst., Mrs. E. B. Wilson, relict of the late Capt. Andrew Wilson, R.N., aged 67. (Bytown Gazette, 7 December 1843)

This early 19th century death notice still gives Mrs. Wilson her own name, not her husband’s as would be common later, although in the form of initials. This is included to point out that the form ‘Mrs. Andrew Wilson’ was not universal or historical as some pre-feminists would wish, although we did see a use of that form from 1829 in the Beach birth announcement, above. The term ‘relict’ is one all genealogists should know, and means ‘widow’. It comes from the Latin and means literally ‘one left behind’.

Most Canadian researchers would not recognise the abbreviation ‘R.N.’ and would need recourse to a dictionary. In fact, this might be difficult to find in a North American source. It stands for ‘Royal Navy’ and indicates Captain Wilson was an officer in that service.

Later death notices become fuller, until they reach the form of a full-blown obituary. Even more than with the birth or marriage announcements, the researcher should keep an open mind concerning what might be learned from an obituary, and where that obituary might appear.

Considerations
Here are some considerations to remember:


 * Although death notices usually appear immediately, there might be delay in publication


 * A death which occurs in Ontario might be reported in a Nova Scotia publication if the dead person lived there or had children living there


 * Death notices may be written by close relatives or by strangers (such as now, when they are often the work of funeral home personnel); try to verify all information found in them


 * The death notice may not appear in the nearest newspaper, but in another slightly farther away for reasons of transportation, politics or family interest


 * Information included in death notices varies so much, it is wise for researchers always to consult them even if the date of death is known from another source.

The Collingwood Bulletin for 10 March 1927 includes the obituary of a woman ‘called suddenly to rest’ while visiting her daughter in Calgary although she was born and lived in Collingwood and was buried there. A researcher looking for a death certificate for this woman would not find it, because she died in a different province, but the newspaper notice would explain why it was missing.

The same title’s issue of 31 March 1927 announces the death of Elizabeth McDonald in Toronto. Although McDonald spent much of her life in Toronto, her death was announced in the Collingwood newspaper because she had been born there.

Big City Newspapers Vs. Small Town Newspapers
When searching for a death notice, researchers having a choice between big-city newspapers and smaller ones might choose the smaller because they can be easier to search and are more likely to have been indexed or abstracted. In many big cities, residents do not bother placing death notices in the newspaper because of the expense. There may be neighbourhood papers to use instead, but the family may have relied on word-of-mouth and the use of death cards. The Oshawa Daily Reformer of 4 January 1927 includes several death notices, all from out of town. A local death which we might expect to find there does not appear. Why would this be? At this time, the more common way of announcing deaths was using the death card. These were pasteboard cards, usually folded, which announced the death on the left hand side, with the person’s place of death and age, and on the right gave details of the funeral arrangements. The stock phrase ‘friends will kindly accept this intimation’ indicated anyone who wished could attend; ‘funeral private’ meant a personal invitation was required.

These cards were sent through the mail to relatives (at the time, people could expect next-day delivery to nearby locations) or handed to neighbours. More importantly, they were displayed in store windows, or in glass-fronted boxes on the main street of towns. People went by these displays on a daily basis, and would learn who had died, and when the funeral would take place from them.

In a small or rural place, where the newspaper came out only weekly, a person might die and the funeral have taken place before the next issue of the paper. Using the death card was a more efficient way of informing friends than the paper was.

This time period also saw a growth in the number of telephones in houses, and communication of the melancholy news of a death could be made that way, eliminating the need for a newspaper announcement.

As time went on, towns grew larger and people no longer went through ‘the downtown’ on a regular basis. This made the death card display less effective. The larger urban areas had daily newspapers and thus a return to the regular announcement of deaths in the newspaper happened. Learning about deaths, and funeral information, from newspapers is now the standard, and obituary columns in newspapers from the late 1940s to the present will always be a rich resource for genealogists.

Publication of Death Announcements
We can see a pattern in the publication of death announcements in newspapers as society or settlement evolves:


 * In the pioneer era, deaths are found occasionally but not regularly in the newspaper because the paper may serve too wide an area or may not regard local deaths as newsworthy


 * As the area is settled, death announcements become more regular, although they are often brief and without detail


 * With the growth of towns and the development of the telephone, death announcements are once again rarer. It may also be the newspaper has begun charging for the publication, which many people find objectionable.


 * As towns become cities, there is a growth in the death columns, with more informative announcements


 * In very large cities, some people may use neighbourhood or local newspapers rather than the large regional publication

''Death of Kimball Kime Kimball F. Kime, a well known and high respected farmer of Pickering township, and beloved husband of Helen J. Williams, residing about two miles west of Whitby, on the south side of the Kingston Road, passed away recently after a brief illness, and at the age of 66 years. The funeral took place on Monday from his late residence to Groveside Cemetery. The service at the home was conducted by Rev. V. M. Irwin, pastor of Almond’s Church, which deceased attended, and the funeral was attended by quite a number of friends and residents. Deceased is survived by his wife, two daughters, Miss Winifred at home, Mrs. Mark of Oshawa and one son on the farm. (Oshawa Daily Reformer, 7 January 1927)''

This is an example of an obituary published slightly far away from home. Mr. Kime’s obit might be expected in the Pickering News, a flourishing weekly, but here it is in Oshawa, and published too late for readers to attend the funeral.

Internal evidence provides some possible explanations: he had a daughter in Oshawa, and he was buried in a cemetery close to Oshawa, indicating some other family ties in the area. This example does emphasise that we might find obits in unexpected newspapers.

Otherwise, this obituary has other characteristics of interest to genealogists. In the vague way newspapers of this time had, the date of death is not given (although the day of the funeral is), nor his second daughter’s full name or any name at all for the son.

It is interesting that, given the cavalier way with the other names, the wife’s full maiden name is included.