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How do you use Obituaries and Funeral Programs

Hello all----I thought I would start a thread as I am a collector of obituaries and funeral programs. I am curious as to how they are used in your genealogical/historical projects.

I have found them to be a wonderful way to document not only a family, but also a community. If you have someone in the family who attends everybody's funerals, that person usually has a stash of obits and funeral programs. I get permission to copy them (sometimes taking the owner with me to Kinko's) and return them immediately.

However, with my stash, I add the programs to a community database on my FTM program. Many times I end up linking families through these obits and funeral programs as next of kin are often mentioned.

How about others out there? What do you do with them?

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Permalink Reply by Dae Powell on July 9, 2009 at 5:44pm

Hi Angela and Terrence,

With such a community database, you might entertain creating a Genogram with them, which can demonstrate their relationships and interactions. I've a presentation on my site which describes genograms, if you are unfamiliar with them. They can really put folks into a visual context, related or not.

Visit: Genograms and see what you think.

Happy Dae·

Permalink Reply by Paula Hinkel on July 9, 2009 at 8:44pm

I have posted my own cache of obituaries, as well as pre-1923 obits that I have harvested from newspaper microfilms, on FindAGrave. That way they are available free and accessible on a site that gets millions of hits of traffic, making it likely that the work will be found.

I joined RAOGK and volunteered to do obituary lookups in Southern California (which is a bit like making the sun rise in the west) After too many unproductive trips to the Main Library, I decided to create entries that could be found, as opposed to waiting to be asked.

Permalink Reply by Angela Walton-Raji on July 10, 2009 at 8:43am

Thanks, I shall take a look! I have a close friend and colleague who has more than I have and she has amassed a database much larger, of over 11,000 people--various families from the community! The info is so useful. People now know to phone her for a quick look up and she can tell them so much about their families!

Permalink Reply by Tara Pfarner on July 13, 2009 at 9:36pm

I do the same, going through them and checking against FTM for anyone mentioned. I have built branches of families using obituaries. Coming from a small town, they are such a valuable source of information!

Permalink Reply by CHASTITY on July 14, 2009 at 7:57pm

I have a collection, and all I have done with them is keep them all together in a brown envelope. I have just family, friends of family, and some church members, tha's all. I would like to start an extensive collection for people in my community.

Permalink Reply by Kathleen Terry Billingsley on July 17, 2009 at 5:49am

I have found many, many obits on newspaper archive sites, then have added many side branches to my tree on Ancestry which is public. The tree keeps growing and growing and growing, but I do it for others because the obituaries provide so much valuable data.

Permalink Reply by Regina Lynn Williams on November 1, 2009 at 10:20pm

I have about 1000 or so and would love to share what I have. Do you know how to do it on here?

How do you use Obituaries and Funeral Programs

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