Texas newspapers date to the Spanish colonial period and the Texas Revolution. The Portal to Texas History hosts millions of free digitized Texas newspaper pages, making it the best first stop for a Texas obituary.
Texas obituaries in historic newspapers
A Spanish-language Gaceta de Texas was printed briefly in 1813, and the Telegraph and Texas Register, founded in 1835, reported on the Texas Revolution and the deaths at the Alamo and Goliad. Through the Republic and early statehood, papers in Galveston, Houston, San Antonio and Austin covered deaths across the frontier.
German immigrants in the Hill Country founded papers such as the Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung in 1852, and Czech, Polish and Spanish-language papers served their communities into the 1900s. Black newspapers in Houston, Dallas and Galveston recorded deaths in African American communities. Galveston papers documented the 1900 hurricane, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
The Texas Digital Newspaper Program, run by the University of North Texas Libraries through the Portal to Texas History, works with libraries and publishers across the state to digitize and freely host local papers, including many 20th-century weeklies.
Where to find Texas obituaries
Digitized Texas newspapers
- Texas Digital Newspaper Program, Portal to Texas History — Millions of free digitized pages of Texas newspapers from every region.
Archives and libraries
- Genealogy Resources, Texas State Library and Archives — Texas death indexes, newspaper microfilm and research guides.
- Texas Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Texas 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 Texas 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 Texas
- 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 Texas public records.