Florida’s first newspaper appeared in 1783 under British rule. The University of Florida’s Florida Digital Newspaper Library and the State Archives’ Florida Memory site are the two main free resources for obituary research.
Florida obituaries in historic newspapers
The East Florida Gazette was printed in St. Augustine in 1783, during the British period. After Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821, papers in Pensacola, St. Augustine, Tallahassee and Key West reported deaths, often of soldiers, sailors and people who died of fever.
Florida grew slowly until the late 1800s, when railroads, citrus and tourism brought rapid growth. Many people who died in Florida had moved there late in life, so their obituaries also ran in home-town papers in the North and Midwest. Tampa’s Spanish- and Italian-language papers and Miami’s Spanish-language press record Cuban and other immigrant communities.
Statewide death registration began in 1899, though some records go back to 1877. Before that, newspapers, church records and cemetery records are the main sources.
Where to find Florida obituaries
Digitized Florida newspapers
- Florida Digital Newspaper Library, University of Florida — Free digitized Florida newspapers from across the state.
Archives and libraries
- Florida Memory, State Archives of Florida — Digitized records from the State Archives and State Library of Florida, including some early death records.
- Florida Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Florida 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 Florida 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 Florida
- 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.
Looking for death certificates and other official records? See our guide to Florida public records.