Arizona’s first newspaper was printed in 1859 in Tubac. The Arizona Digital Newspaper Program and the state’s free birth and death certificate site are the two main resources for Arizona obituary research.
Arizona obituaries in historic newspapers
The Weekly Arizonian began in Tubac in 1859, when the region was part of New Mexico Territory. Papers in Prescott, Tucson and later Phoenix reported deaths on the frontier, in mining camps and in conflicts during the Apache wars.
Mining towns such as Tombstone, Bisbee, Jerome and Globe supported lively papers, including Tombstone’s Epitaph, which reported the gunfight near the O.K. Corral in 1881. Spanish-language papers in Tucson, such as El Fronterizo, served Mexican American communities and are important for families on both sides of the border.
The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records runs the Arizona Digital Newspaper Program, which hosts digitized Arizona papers on the Arizona Memory Project. The state’s Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates site offers free images of older Arizona death certificates.
Where to find Arizona obituaries
Digitized Arizona newspapers
- Arizona Memory Project — Free digitized Arizona newspapers and historical records.
- Arizona Newspapers, Arizona State Library — Guide to the state library’s digitized and microfilmed Arizona newspapers.
Obituary and death indexes
- Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates — Free images of Arizona death certificates older than 50 years.
Archives and libraries
- Arizona Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Arizona newspaper archives, indexes and microfilm, with county-by-county links.
Nationwide newspaper archives
- Chronicling America, Library of Congress — Free digitized newspapers from every state. Narrow a search to Arizona and the years you need.
- Google News Archive — Free scans of hundreds of older newspapers, browsable by title and date.
- Internet Archive newspapers — Free digitized newspapers and microfilm uploaded by libraries.
- FamilySearch — Free obituary indexes, death records and the Social Security Death Index (free account).
- Find a Grave — Volunteer-built cemetery memorials, many with transcribed obituaries.
- Newspapers.com — Large subscription archive of U.S. papers. Many public libraries offer free access.
- GenealogyBank — Subscription archive of historic newspapers and modern obituaries.
- Legacy.com — Obituaries published since about 2000 in most U.S. daily newspapers.
Tips for finding an obituary in Arizona
- Pin down the date and place first. A death index or death certificate gives the exact date and county, and then you only need to search the local papers for the following week or two.
- Search more than one town. Obituaries often ran in the paper where the person was born or had lived before, not just where they died. Small-town weeklies sometimes published a notice weeks later.
- Look beyond the word “obituary.” Older papers reported deaths under headings like “Died,” “Deaths,” local news and personals columns, funeral notices and cards of thanks. See death notices vs. obituaries.
- Try every spelling. Search initials, nicknames and misspellings, and for married women in older papers, search the husband’s name (“Mrs. John Smith”). Digitized text often misreads old type.
- Ask a librarian. Many public libraries and state archives will look up an obituary for free or a small fee, and newspaper microfilm can often be borrowed through interlibrary loan.