There are several IMPORTANT matters that you should be aware of. First, the “County” field on the results page refers to the county where the publication was located. It is quite possible that the death occurred in a neighboring county as some publications served multiple counties. In some cases, the item may refer to a former resident who died in another state or province. Second, the “Year” field does not necessarily reference the year a person died in, but the year the obituary or death notice appeared. If a person died on December 29, 1895, the obituary or death notice most likely appeared in January 1896. Please take a minute to read “Search Tips”, “Abbreviations Used” and “About Your Results” on the search page.
Each of the items returned from your search is identified as either being an obituary “O”, death notice “D” or news story “N”. The column header used by the publication from which the item was extracted is what we reference. Columns titled Dead, Deaths or Died get a “D”. If there is no column header it is considered a news story “N”. It should be understood that some obituaries and death notices are quite short and not very detailed while others provide a wealth of information. Some of the items we offer were poorly microfilmed or the publications themselves were very faint. Some appear as though they were printed yesterday, some are hard to read. Every effort was made to produce the best possible copy.
If you find something of interest, use the order form on the results page. Your order will be mailed to you within 48-hours of receipt. It will contain the name and date of the publication. We make no claim that what you order is entirely legible. After all, these are images that have been copied from very old publications on a microfilm reader. You are also advised to be thoughtful about whether or not this person is your “John Smith” before ordering. Although we hope he is, there are no refunds if he isn’t.
OBITUARIES
Informative and Fascinating
The publishing of detailed obituaries by newspapers in United States began to become more customary following the end of the Civil War and were more likely to include common folk. Prior to that, most mentions regarding someone’s death were usually quite brief unless they were about a prominent member of the community.
Obituaries, and sometimes Death Notices, not only indicate when someone died but may also reveal what they died from, when and where they were born, the names of their spouses and other relatives, where they were buried and much more. And although it is true that some were still brief and not terribly informative, some contain a wealth of biographical information. Obituaries and Death Notices are sometimes the only record of someone’s death. Death certificates, even if supposedly required, were often never issued in some parts during the 1890’s to 1920’s. In addition, they are sometimes the only source for the maiden name of a woman.
The period following the Civil War right through to the Roaring 20’s saw huge migrations of families to the West. It is often difficult to trace where some of these people ended up, and although you may have a reference to their birth in one locale, you may not be able to find a reference about their death. Old Obits is attempting to produce a database encompassing the US and Canada in the hopes that some of these lost individuals are once again connected to their families. We have already discovered numerous instances wherein perhaps a man following the death of his wife in the Midwest, travels out west to a mining town where he ends up being killed in a cave-in some years later. The obituary for his wife and the one for himself make it obvious that these two were husband and wife even though their obits appeared in publications thousands of miles apart.
Obituaries and Death Notices can often make for a fascinating read even if you aren’t related to the to the person being
OBTAIN ITEMS FROM OUR DATABASE INEXPENSIVELY __________
Old Obits provides copies of original obituaries, death notices or short stories about someone’s death to people who are researching their family histories. We charge a modest fee of $4.50 per item to help cover some of our costs. We have also developed an option for you to use what we refer to as S-Credits. Using S-Credits, you can obtain items for as little as $.90, plus the cost of postage. S-Credits can also be banked for future use. Click on the file drawer to the left labeled “Welcome” and learn more about acquiring and using S-Credits. Of course, you still have the option of obtaining items the old fashioned way, by check or money order.
remembered. There are civil war accounts, mentions of connections to famous historical figures and references to having been the inventor of one thing or another. Some are very sad. Some are heartwarming.
Obituaries can be a wonderful source of information. They are also a reminder to live well, as one day we too are likely to be the subject of one.
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Old
Obits
1890 - Tobacco replaces hemp as Kentucky's leading crop. 1894 - The Lowell Observatory is established in Flagstaff, Arizona. Later it is used to discover the planet Pluto. 1897 - Jim Corbett loses the world heavyweight championship to Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on March 17th. 1900 - The deadliest natural disaster in US history occurs when approximately 6,000 people are killed during a hurricane in Galveston, Texas. 1902 - A tribunal of six judges, three American, two Canadian and one British is created to settle the dispute between Canada and the US over the boundary of Alaska. President Roosevelt warns that if the Americans don't win, "It is going to be ugly". They do win when the British representative sides with the Americans. 1905 - Delaware becomes the last state to abolish the use of the pillory or whipping post. 1910 - The thirteenth US decennial population census of the 46 states takes place. There are now over 92-million people living in the country. 1912 - The RMS Titanic sinks on April 15th. More than 1500 lives are lost. 1917 - The Canadian Parliament passes the Military Voters Act, allowing the wives, sisters and mothers of Canadian soldiers to vote.
A division of CURTIN & ASSOCIATES LLC One Main Street Racine, Wisconsin 53403
PUBLISHER...................Randall F. Curtin Office................................(262) 681-6379 Fax....................................(262) 637-1566 E-mail................publisher@oldobits.com
WHY THEY DIED
During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s many people died of diseases or conditions that are unfamiliar to us today. Of course there were also train, auto and farm accidents as well as war deaths and the occasional murder, but diseases took the heaviest toll. These are the dictionary definitions.
CONSUMPTION: A progressive wasting away of the body especially from pulmonary tuberculosis. LA GRIPPE: An acute febrile contagious virus disease identical with or resembling influenza. BRIGHT’S DISEASE: Any of several kidney diseases marked by albumin in the urine. DROPSY: Also known as Edema. An abnormal excess accumulation of serous fluid in connective tissue or in a serous cavity. TYPHOID: A communicable disease marked especially by fever, diarrhea, prostration, headache, and intestinal inflammation and caused by a bacterium. APOPLEXY: To cripple by stroke. CROUP: A spasmodic laryngitis especially of infants marked by episodes of difficult breathing and hoarse metallic cough. DIPHTHERIA: An acute febrile contagious disease marked by the formation of a false membrane especially in the throat and caused by a bacterium that produces a toxin causing inflammation of the heart and nervous system. CHOLERA: Any of several diseases of man and domestic animals usually marked by severe gastrointestinal symptoms. An acute diarrheal disease caused by an enterotoxin produced by a comma-shaped gram-negative bacillus when it is present in the proximal part of the human intestine. DYSENTERY: A disease characterized by severe diarrhea with passage of mucus and blood and usually caused by an infection. PARALYSIS: Complete or partial loss of function especially when involving the motion of sensation in a part of the body. TUBERCULOSIS: A highly variable communicable disease of man and some other vertebrates caused by the tubercle bacillus and characterized by toxic symptoms of allergic manifestations which in man primarily affect the lungs. SMALL POX: An acute, highly infectious disease caused by a virus and initially characterized by chills, high fever, headache, and backache, with subsequent widespread eruption of pimples which eventually blister, produce pus, and form pockmarks. SCARLET FEVER: An acute contagious disease caused by a hemolytic streptococcus occurring predominately among children and characterized by a scarlet skin eruption and high fever.
HOW ARE YOU SPELLING THAT NAME?
Discovering that your surname is misspelled so often in historical records, including obituaries, is one of the more frustrating aspects of doing family research. Obviously the more unusual your name, the more chances there are for it being spelled incorrectly. Just think about how many times you’ve had to correct people about the spelling of your name. For many of us it is a daily occurrence. Why not put that experience to work for you? Try writing down all the incorrect spellings of your name that you have seen. Chances are good that in some archive somewhere you have an ancestor whose surname was spelled one of those ways. A phonetic misspelling is the most frequent reason for an inaccurate record. How would someone who has never seen your last name written out spell it? Even the most common surnames can be misspelled. Smith/Smyth. Brown/Browne. Kelly/Kelley. If you have not found the name you are looking for in the Old Obits database, try one or more of the alternate spellings on your list.
As we all know, many immigrants to the United States and Canada during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s had their names changed upon arrival. In some cases it was voluntary but in most cases it was as a result of a bureaucratic error or indifference. Fedder became Vetter because that was how the immigration officer heard it. One way of trying to determine if your surname may have undergone such a change is to consult the Soundex system developed by the US Government. The index groups similar sounding names together. The Soundex is available at many larger libraries. Check the names you are researching and make note of the other names that are associated with it. If your name begins with a “C” don’t forget to check the “K” names. Good luck and may the variables be few.
NAME REGISTRATION __________
Looking for an obituary between 1890 and 1920? To recieve an alert, click on "WELCOME" and register the name.
