Missouri offers free statewide death certificates from 1910 to 1975 and a free digitized newspaper collection from every county. That combination makes it one of the best states for obituary research.
Missouri obituaries in historic newspapers
Joseph Charless printed the Missouri Gazette in St. Louis in 1808. St. Louis became the gateway to the West, and its papers reported deaths among fur traders, river men and emigrants, as well as the cholera epidemic of 1849.
St. Louis had a very large German-language press in the 1800s, including the Anzeiger des Westens and the Westliche Post. Kansas City grew into a second newspaper center, and Black papers such as the St. Louis Argus and the Kansas City Call recorded deaths in African American communities from the early 1900s.
The State Historical Society of Missouri’s Missouri Digital Newspaper Project offers free searchable images of historic papers from every county. The Missouri State Archives’ death certificate database covers 1910 to 1975 and links to the certificate images.
Where to find Missouri obituaries
Digitized Missouri newspapers
- Missouri Digital Newspapers, State Historical Society of Missouri — Free searchable historic Missouri newspapers from every county.
Obituary and death indexes
- Missouri Death Certificates, 1910–1975 — Free searchable index and images of Missouri death certificates.
Archives and libraries
- Newspaper Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri — The Society’s large Missouri newspaper collection on microfilm.
- Missouri Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Missouri 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 Missouri 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 Missouri
- 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.