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These records differ from Bible records in that they are intended for publication and can, therefore, be prone to some embellishment on the part of the writer or family members since they want the deceased to be viewed in the best possible light.
Obituaries also face another issue not found in Bible records with regard to space limitations placed on the family in the newspaper. So appreviations and omissions are possible just because the newspaper may have some size or word limit standard they need to adhere to during publication.
So in our opinion obituaries should not be used as a primary source of data unless no other information is available on which to build a family portrait. We feel that their primary value is in the understanding of relationships and validation of facts gathered elsewhere. In this regard they tend to be like census records, helpful but subject to a lot of interpretation and possible misrepresentation. |
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The primary source of obituary information has shifted in recent years from newspaper archives to the internet. As more and more historical records are made available, there is no other place where one can make as much progress with obituaries as on the internet.
Today there are web sites for newspaper archives, genealogical records, and even sites specializing in just obituaries. We are storing all we can find on our family here to reduce search times for our family members, even if it duplicates records available elsewhere.
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Obituaries, like Bible records, are a primary source of valuable information on family members. in a typical obituary one could learn:
- Who died
- Where they lived
- Whether or not their spouse is living and the name of the spouse
- Childrens' names
- Burial location
- Church affiliation
- Military service
- Associations and affiliations
- Work history
- A host of other minor items.
Because of the wealth of information available, obituaries are certainly worthy of the effort to find and collect them.
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Unlike other records the scheme for storing obituaries seems straight forward. We are storing all records in surname order, with females stored under the surname they used at the point of death.
The naming convention is as follows for Robert C. Whitehead obt_whitehead_rc_01. |
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