Maryland has one of the oldest newspaper traditions in the country, beginning with the Maryland Gazette in 1727. The Maryland State Archives has put many historic papers online, and the University of Maryland keeps a directory of every digitized Maryland title.
Maryland obituaries in historic newspapers
The Maryland Gazette, printed in Annapolis from 1727 (and revived in 1745 by Jonas Green), reported deaths of planters, merchants and officials, and also printed runaway and estate notices that can help confirm when someone died. Baltimore’s papers took the lead after the Revolution, and the Baltimore Sun, founded in 1837, ran death notices in a daily column for well over a century.
Baltimore also had a strong German-language press and, from 1892, the Afro-American, one of the country’s most important Black newspapers, whose obituaries record families often ignored elsewhere. County weeklies on the Eastern Shore, in southern Maryland and in the western counties cover rural deaths.
The Maryland State Archives’ digitized newspapers span from the 1720s to the 1950s. The University of Maryland’s Gateway to Digitized Maryland Newspapers does not host papers itself; it links to every site that does.
Where to find Maryland obituaries
Digitized Maryland newspapers
- Maryland Newspapers, Maryland State Archives — The state archives’ list of digitized Maryland newspapers, with links to page images.
- Gateway to Digitized Maryland Newspapers — University of Maryland directory of digitized Maryland newspapers wherever they are hosted.
Archives and libraries
- Enoch Pratt Free Library — Baltimore’s public library, with Maryland newspaper microfilm and research help.
- Maryland Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Maryland 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 Maryland 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 Maryland
- 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.