Iowa Obituaries

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U.S. Obituaries

Iowa

Obituaries

Online Resources

• 1899-2012 United States, Obituaries, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1899-2012 at FamilySearch; index and images — How to Use this Collection
• 1980-2014 United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
  
• Online Iowa Death Records Indexes and Obituaries, by county
• IAGenWeb Obituaries
• Iowa Genealogical Society obituaries index
• Iowa Statewide Obituary and Death Notice Collection, GenealogyBuff.com
• Central Iowa Obituaries, GenealogyBuff.com
• Iowa Obituaries
• Iowa Counties Historical Obituaries at GenWeb
• Iowa Obituaries
• Iowa Obituary Volunteers that will look up obituaries.
• Obituary Collection Search at Ancestry.com

Specific Counties

• 1796-1986 Iowa, Buchanan County Obituaries and Cemetery Records, ca.1796-1988 at FamilySearch

Overview

Obituaries, or death notices, have been published in Iowa since the 1800s. Obituaries may provide such information as the age of the deceased, birth date, birthplace (including town and country of birth), names of parents and siblings, name of spouse, names and residences of living children, death date, cause of death, place of burial, maiden name, and occupation. Previously deceased family members are frequently mentioned as well. Obituaries may occasionally indicate previous places of residence, immigration information, religion, and organizations to which the deceased belonged.

Publications

The "Obituaries" and "Newspapers" pages list sources for finding obituaries and the newspapers that published them.

The FamilySearch Library has two large alphabetical collections of Iowa obituaries. The original collections are at the Iowa Genealogical Society, where most of the obituaries were collected. These obituaries date from about 1850 to 1991. These collections are:

• Iowa Genealogical Society (Des Moines, Iowa). Iowa Obituaries, 1860–1982. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1987). FS Library films 1487572 item 3 (first film of 101).

• Iowa Genealogical Society (Des Moines, Iowa). Obituary Cards, 1850-1991. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1991). FS Library film 1766206 item 2 (first film of 87).

FamilySearch Library

Obituary notices are listed in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:

• IOWA - OBITUARIES
• IOWA, [COUNTY] - OBITUARIES
• IOWA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - OBITUARIES
• IOWA - NEWSPAPERS
• IOWA, [COUNTY] - NEWSPAPERS
• IOWA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - NEWSPAPERS