I was interested in reading the obituaries of dead relatives who died in the 1920's

Question

I located some of the old newspapers from that era in the library, but failed to find what I was looking for. I was told that in days gone by, obituaries were not the norm unless the deceased was notorious in some way. This was a major city in a major Newspaper of the state. I sill did not have any luck. Does anyone know if the theory that obituaries were not common before world war ll, is this true. Am I just wasting my time?

Answer 1

I've found many obituaries (death notices) way before WWII.  Some times it's in the community news section instead of a Obituary section.  For instance my county newspaper for 1870 might have news from an outlying little community and someone from there reports the death such as "We are sorry to hear about the death of Mr. Smith, a long time resident of this county".  So look in different sections of the newspaper and up to a few weeks after the death date.   I've seen long obituaries in these earlier years also.

Answer 2

All new papers should be on a computer database of the current newspaper, or in the celefoil, what it's called prints of the newspaper should also be down at your local newspaper office.  My home town has all copies of issues for the hundred years it's been around.

Answer 3

Even now, obits are hit and miss. You still want to try for them. Today, people are not doing them as much, due to burglaries when the family is at the funeral.

Your other "red flag" is major city.  Meaning, you are up against a population issue, and if your family was known enough to have an obit. No telling. On the other hand, my grandfather/ family were dirt poor immigrants in Chicago, around the turn of the century.. and they still had death notices (in the Polish newspaper).

No search is guaranteed for anything.  I take that back.. you won't find anything at all, if you don't try.  Good for you that you are willing to use a real library, instead of assuming it is all online.  

Answer 4

That's odd.  I know that the Chicago and Boston papers had tons of obituaries (even for the common folks) as early as the 1880s.  But they weren't always called "Obituaries"... in the earlier papers they were listed under "Deaths" or "Death Notices" or "Funeral Notices."  And they were often just a few lines long, so when you glance at the page, it looks sort of like the want-ad section.  Is it possible you could've overlooked them?

I've also found many obituaries or "memorials" in the rural newspapers; again, from the 1880s and even earlier.  These could range from a short notice to a lengthy article, and might be scattered around throughout the issue.  

But back to the major cities.  If there were several different papers in the city where you're looking, you might want to check the others.  Now that I think about it, I recall that one of the Chicago papers was much more likely to have obits than some of the others.  I think some papers liked to stick to news that held a broader interest, while others focused on local happenings as well.