Michigan’s newspapers go back to 1809 in Detroit. The free Digital Michigan Newspapers site, the Library of Michigan’s newspaper guides and a large FamilySearch collection of Michigan obituaries are the main places to start.
Michigan obituaries in historic newspapers
The Michigan Essay, printed in Detroit in 1809, was the territory’s first newspaper, though only a single issue is known to survive. The Detroit Gazette, begun in 1817 with a French-language section, was the first lasting paper. As settlement spread in the 1830s and 1840s, county seats founded weeklies that recorded local deaths.
Lumber, copper and iron mining brought immigrants to the Upper Peninsula and the north woods, and their papers reported mining and logging accidents. Dutch settlers around Holland published De Grondwet, Finnish communities in the Upper Peninsula had their own papers, and Detroit’s auto boom brought a large Polish, Black and Southern population whose newspapers recorded their deaths.
Digital Michigan Newspapers, hosted by Central Michigan University’s Clarke Historical Library, offers free digitized papers from across the state. FamilySearch’s Michigan obituary collection, covering 1820 to 2006, indexes obituary files kept by libraries around the state.
Where to find Michigan obituaries
Digitized Michigan newspapers
- Digital Michigan Newspapers — Free digitized Michigan newspapers from the Clarke Historical Library.
Obituary and death indexes
- Michigan, Obituaries, 1820–2006 (FamilySearch) — Free index and images of obituary collections kept by Michigan libraries.
Archives and libraries
- Newspaper Resources, Library of Michigan — The state library’s guide to Michigan newspaper holdings, databases and local obituary indexes.
- Michigan Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Michigan 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 Michigan 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 Michigan
- 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.