Delaware’s newspapers go back to the 1760s, but much of the state’s historic press is still on microfilm. The Delaware Public Archives and the Wilmington Library are the main places to find older obituaries.
Delaware obituaries in historic newspapers
Wilmington had a newspaper by the 1760s, and through the 1800s the city’s papers, along with weeklies in Dover, Georgetown and smaller towns, reported deaths for the whole state. Because Delaware is small, its residents also appear in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Eastern Shore Maryland papers, which are often better digitized.
Delaware began statewide death registration relatively late, so newspaper notices, church records and cemetery inscriptions carry much of the load for 1800s deaths. Rural notices are short, but they often name the farm or hundred where the person lived, which helps tell families of the same name apart.
The Wilmington Library holds local newspapers on microfilm back to 1871 and will search them for obituaries on request. The Delaware Public Archives in Dover keeps newspaper microfilm along with state death records.
Where to find Delaware obituaries
Archives and libraries
- Delaware Public Archives — State death records, newspaper microfilm and research help in Dover.
- Wilmington Library — Wilmington newspapers on microfilm from 1871, with an obituary lookup service.
- University of Delaware Library — Delaware newspaper microfilm and special collections in Newark.
- Delaware Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Delaware 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 Delaware 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 Delaware
- 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.