Iowa Obituaries

Online Resources

 * 1899-2012 at FamilySearch; index and images — How to Use this Collection


 * 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
 * at FamilySearch; index and images — How to Use this Collection

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 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)..


 * Iowa Genealogical Society (Des Moines, Iowa). Obituary Cards, 1850-1991. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1991)..

Websites

 * The Davenport Public Library has Obituaries on-line by clicking on Local databases.
 * Iowa Counties Historical Obituaries at GenWeb
 * Iowa Obituaries
 * Iowa Obituary Volunteers that will look up obituaries.
 * Obituary Collection Search at Ancestry.com

Family History 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