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 Massachusetts 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
Massachusetts
- Acton Civil War Veteran Obituaries (clippings and transcriptions)
- Barnstable County Obituaries and Death Notices (transcriptions)
- Barnstable/Cape Cod Obituaries
- Belmont Obituary Indexes
- Berkshire County Newspaper Indexes
- Berkshire County Obituaries and Death Notices
- Boston Newspapers Obituary Index 1704-1800
- Boston Public Library Obituary Database
- Boston Public Library Death and Obituary Index
- Boston Jewish Advocate Obituary Database
- Bristol County Obituaries and Death Notices (transcriptions)
- Bristol County Obituary Index
- Cambridge Public Library Obituary Card Index
- Chelmsford Newspapers Obituary Index
- Congregational Library Obituary Database
- Dukes County Obituaries and Death Notices
- Essex County Obituaries (transcriptions)
- Fall River Herald News Obituary Index
- Falmouth Enterprise Obituary Index
- Fitchburg Sentinel Obituary Index
- Franklin County News Archive (transcriptions)
- Hampden County Obituaries and Death Notices
- Harvard College Alumni Obituary Index 1851-1863
- Ipswich Public Library
- Lincoln Public Library Death and Obituary index
- Lowell Death and Obituary Indexes
- Lynn Item Obituary Index
- Lynn Public Library Death and Obituary Index
- Massachusetts Centinel and Columbian Centinel Index of Obituaries 1784-1840
- Massachusetts Obituaries - Obit City
- Massachusetts USGenWeb Obituary Project
- Middleborough Gazette Newspaper Index
- Middlesex County Obituaries and Death Notices
- Nantucket County Obituaries and Death Notices
- Norfolk County Obituaries and Death Notices
- Plymouth County Obituaries and Death Notices
- Plymouth County Obituary Index
- Plymouth Old Colony Memorial Obituary Index
- Suffolk County Obituaries and Death Notices
- The Boston Jewish Advocate Index to Obituary Notices, 1905-2007
- Vineyard Gazette Death Notices 1850-1875
- Vineyard Gazette Death Notices 1884-1939
- Wareham Courier Obituary Index
- Woburn Public Library Newspaper Indexes
If you wish to search this state's historic newspapers for obituaries, click on Massachusetts Online Historical Newspapers Summary
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