Iowa Obituaries

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.

The "Obituaries" and "Newspapers" sections of the United States Research Outline list sources for finding obituaries and the newspapers that published them.

The Family History 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. (On 101 FHL films beginning with 1487572 item 3.)

Iowa Genealogical Society (Des Moines, Iowa). Obituary Cards, 1850-1991. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1991. (On 87 FHL films beginning with 1766206 item 2.)

Obituary notices are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

IOWA - OBITUARIES

IOWA, [COUNTY] - OBITUARIES

IOWA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - OBITUARIES

IOWA - NEWSPAPERS

IOWA, [COUNTY] - NEWSPAPERS

IOWA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - NEWSPAPERS