One of the main goals for genealogists in searching historic newspapers is to find obituaries. Obituaries are a gold mine of information. They provide death dates and locations, funeral and cemetery information and sometimes more importantly - information about the relatives of the deceased's family and extended family. This family name information is often not found anywhere else.
Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians and archivists, a great number of indexes to death information and obituaries from newspapers have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes or index lists provide the location in old newspapers where the obituary can be found. Sometimes the obituary clipping or transcription is even provided.
Below is a list of links to Iowa obituary indexes, an alternative means to newspaper searching to find obituary information. If the newspaper clippings are available, or if the obituaries are transcribed, they will be denoted. Please be aware that if you find a desired obituary in an index, that the holder of the actual obituary (e.g., library or genealogical society) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the obituary itself.
(Updated June, 2020; recently added links are in BOLD)
General U.S.
- Currentobituary.com index, 2001-2014
- United Methodist Church Annual Conference Journal Memoirs and Obituary Index
- United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014
- United States, Obituaries, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1899-2012
Iowa
- Adair County Obituary Indexes
- Adair County, Obituaries, 1907-1959 (clippings)
- Allamakee County Obituary Index
- Appanoose County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Appanoose County, Book of Obituaries
- Appanoose County, Obituaries of early settlers
- Bellevue, Index to Obituaries in newspapers
- Benton County Obituary Index
- Benton County, Obituaries
- Black Hawk County Obituaries
- Boone County Obituary Index
- Bremer County Tripoli Leader Obituaries
- Bremer County Waverly Phoenix Obituary Index
- Buchanan County, Obituaries and cemetery records, 1881-1984
- Buena Vista County Obituaries
- Burlington Public Library Obituary Index
- Butler County Obituary Index
- Carroll County Obituaries
- Cass County Obituaries
- Cedar Township history records, 1800-1970
- Chickasaw County Obituaries
- Clarke County Obituaries
- Clayton County Obituary Index
- Clinton County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Council Bluffs and Pottawattamie County Obituary Index
- Crawford County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Creston, Obituary file, 1983-1988
- Dallas County Obituaries
- Davenport Obituary Search
- Decatur County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Decorah Newspapers Index, an alphabetical list of Obituaries
- Delaware County Obituaries
- Des Moines County Obituaries
- Des Moines Obituary Index Search
- Dickinson County Obituaries
- Drake Community Library Obituaries (clippings)
- Dubuque County Obituaries
- Dubuque Telegraph Herald Obituary Index
- Fayette County Obituaries
- Floyd County Obituaries
- Franklin County Obituaries
- Fremont County Obituaries
- Graceland Cemetery Obituaries : 1934-1991
- Greene County Obituaries
- Grundy County Obituary Indexes
- Guthrie County Newspaper abstracts
- Guthrie County Obituaries
- Hamilton County, Newspaper clippings, 1849-1937
- Hancock County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Harrison County Obituary Index
- Howard County Plain Dealer Index 1867 - 1942
- Humboldt County Obituaries
- Ida County Obituaries
- Iowa City News Index
- Iowa County Obituary Index
- Iowa Obituaries - Obit City
- Iowa, Story County, obituary card file, 1880-2009
- Jackson County Obituaries
- Jackson County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Jasper County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Jefferson County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Jefferson County, Iowa Historical information
- Jones County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Keokuk County, Iowa, Newspaper extracts : birth, death, marriage, etc.
- Keokuk Obituaries, 1872-1946
- Laurens Vital Records - Obituaries (clippings)
- Lee County Obituary Indexes
- Leon, Decatur County, Obituaries 1969-70 (clippings)
- Linn County Obituaries
- Linn County Obituary Index
- Livonia Public Library Obituary Indexes
- Lovilia Press Obituaries (clippings)
- Iowa USGenWeb Obituary Project
- Lucas County Newspaper Indexes
- Madison County Obituary Index (transcriptions)
- Mills County Obituary Index
- Mitchell County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Monroe County Cemetery Index (clippings)
- Monroe County Genealogical Society card index of births, obituaries & marriages from newspaper clippings, 1898-2015
- Monroe County, Obituaries, 1930-1995
- Mount Pleasant newspaper clippings, 1836-1966
- Muscatine Obituary Index
- Newton Daily News Obituary extracts, June 1918-June 1921
- North Central Iowa Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Page County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Pottawattamie County Newspapers Obituary Index
- Poweshiek and adjoining counties pioneer records, including Obituaries
- Prairie City News, Obituaries and Death notices 1880-1900
- Quad City Times Newspaper Obituaries
- Sabula, Newspaper Clippings
- Semi-Weekly Iowegian, Newspaper clippings and Obituaries 1899-1909
- Sioux City Journal Index
- Sioux County Obituaries
- Spirit Lake, Birth, Marriage and Obituary notices
- Story County Obituaries
- Taylor County Obituary Indexes (transcriptions)
- Taylor County, Obituaries and death notices 1888-1920
- Taylor County, Obituaries, 1888-1904
- Van Buren, Selected Obituaries
- Wayne County, Scrapbooks of births, marriages, obituaries from Iowa newspapers, 1907-1976
- Wayne County, Scrapbooks of Obituaries
- Wayne County, Obituaries and news items of prominent people
- Wright County, Obituaries, 1948-1982
- Yale Ledger, Newspaper abstracts, 27 Apr. 1922 - 26 Jul 1923
If you wish to search this state's historic newspapers for obituaries, click on Iowa Online Historical Newspapers Summary
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
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