Mississippi’s newspapers began around 1800 in Natchez. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) holds microfilm of all known surviving Mississippi papers from 1836 to 1922 and has put hundreds of thousands of pages online.
Mississippi obituaries in historic newspapers
Natchez, the territorial capital, had the first Mississippi newspapers around 1800, and through the early 1800s its papers reported deaths along the river and in the planter class. As the state’s population moved north and east in the 1830s, after Choctaw and Chickasaw removal, county weeklies multiplied.
Vicksburg, Jackson and Meridian became newspaper centers later in the 1800s. Yellow fever epidemics, Civil War casualties and floods all appear in Mississippi death notices. Published compilations of Mississippi newspaper obituaries from 1862 to 1885 can help bridge gaps where papers are missing.
MDAH contributed digitized papers from 1836 to 1922 to Chronicling America through the Mississippi Digital Newspaper Project. Papers from the 1930s and 1940s are mostly available only on microfilm at MDAH in Jackson.
Where to find Mississippi obituaries
Digitized Mississippi newspapers
- Digitized Newspapers, Mississippi Department of Archives and History — How to search the Mississippi newspapers MDAH has digitized.
Archives and libraries
- Research, Mississippi Department of Archives and History — Newspaper microfilm, finding aids and research help in Jackson.
- Mississippi Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Mississippi 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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi
- 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.