Ancestry Magazine

Using what we already know about a person, it is possible to reconstruct portions of an individual’s life from the facts published in an obituary. Obituaries can provide a wealth of important information and research clues and include valuable pointers that can send our research in new directions. They’re easy to use and they’re easy to access. But they may not remain so useful forever.

A number of newspapers publish obituaries of a reasonable length free of charge as a public service. The addition of a photograph or an especially lengthy obituary text may cost a little more. Unfortunately, there are also a number of newspapers that charge exorbitant rates for publishing obituaries of almost any length in their print publication and perhaps also at their online website.

In researching one newspaper to which I used to subscribe, I found that I could publish the first three lines of an obituary for free, but each additional line came at a cost. Now, a three-line obituary cannot possibly summarize a person’s life and provide details of a funeral or memorial service, but, if I opt for a ten-line obituary, this newspaper will tack on a hefty charge. In large-circulation publications, which also tend to be the newspapers covering areas where most of us live, I could be looking at fees well over $600—a cost that would probably make me and the average American family think twice about publishing any details.

The impact of the cost for publishing an obituary is guaranteed to inhibit some families from placing obituaries in newspapers altogether. While it might not seem so important today, think about how your own family history research has benefited from a well-written, informative obituary you found. Is it fair to keep future generations from accessing similar information about the lives of our generation? This lack of available obituary information published by our generation will certainly limit or eliminate the number of clues a future generation of genealogists has to investigate. This, in turn, will also stymie a future researcher’s ability to locate other original sources.

Charging for obituary content should be a matter of public service rather than merely a business function. For me today, that means any newspaper that charges exorbitant fees to a family to publish an obituary no longer gets my business.

George G. Morgan is president of Aha! Seminars and can be reached at aha@ahaseminars.com.