Obit Magnet takes a name and death date and generates date-bounded obituary search URLs.

URLs generate for Google Books (newspapers only), Newspapers.com, NewspaperArchive.com, and Chronicling America.

Enter the name of the person you're searching and the day, month, and year of their death. Obit Magnet will generate news searches for a span of 7 days and 15 days after death. The resources that can be specifically set to search for obituaries will be, while the others will have "obituary" added as a query word.

Names: If the person you're searching has a middle name, use it in the search. Obit Magnet will automatically create searches with and without a middle name. If you're searching for a married woman and you have her middle name, enter her full name like this: firstname middlename maidenname lastname. Obit Magnet will automatically generate a full complement of name variations for your search.

Sources: Neither Google Books nor Chronicling America require registration to access their results (though some Google Books results may be behind a paywall.) Newspapers.com is a pay site but is generous about letting you view search result pages without being logged in. NewspaperArchive.com is a pay site and if you're not logged in can sometimes generate weird search result pages. Try the other resources before NewspaperArchive.com. One more thing: Chronicling America has nothing after about 1963, so don't bother checking it for more recent obituaries.

Include middle names and maiden names when available for better results.

About the sources:

  • Google Books (Newspapers): Searches newspapers that have been digitized in Google Books. No login required.
  • Newspapers.com: A subscription service with millions of newspaper pages. You can view search results without logging in.
  • NewspaperArchive.com: Another subscription service. May require login to view meaningful results.
  • Chronicling America: Free service from the Library of Congress. Contains newspapers from 1777-1963 only.