Georgia Obituaries

Georgia Historic Newspapers offers free access to papers dating back to 1763, and the Georgia Archives’ Virtual Vault adds death certificates. Together they cover most Georgia obituary searches.

Recent Georgia obituaries (2000 to today)

Most obituaries published since about 2000 are online. Daily papers post paid death notices and family-written obituaries in an Obituaries section, usually hosted by Legacy.com, and keep them online with a guest book. The largest daily papers in Georgia are:

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Augusta Chronicle
• Savannah Morning News
• The Telegraph (Macon)
• Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus)
• Athens Banner-Herald

Legacy.com’s Georgia page searches the obituaries of most of these papers and many smaller ones at once. Funeral homes also post obituaries on their own websites, often before the newspaper does and sometimes instead of it: search the person’s name with the town and “obituary” or “funeral home.” For obituaries no longer online, ask your public or state library: many offer NewsBank or ProQuest databases with the full text of recent newspapers, free with a library card.

Georgia obituaries in historic newspapers

The Georgia Gazette began in Savannah in 1763. Savannah and Augusta papers dominated the 1700s and early 1800s, and their notices covered deaths across the colony, including deaths from yellow fever and other epidemics.

As settlement moved west and north in the 1800s, county weeklies spread across the state. The Cherokee Phoenix, printed at New Echota from 1828 in English and Cherokee, is one of the most important Native American newspapers in the country. After the Civil War, Atlanta grew into the state’s newspaper center, and Black papers such as the Atlanta Daily World, founded in 1928, recorded deaths ignored by the white press.

Georgia Historic Newspapers, run by the Digital Library of Georgia at the University of Georgia, has digitized more than 1,000 titles. The Georgia Archives’ Virtual Vault has free images of Georgia death certificates from 1919 to 1930.

Where to find older Georgia obituaries

Digitized Georgia newspapers

• Georgia Historic Newspapers — Free searchable Georgia newspapers from 1763 onward, from the Digital Library of Georgia.

Obituary and death indexes

• Georgia Death Certificates, Virtual Vault (Georgia Archives) — Free images of Georgia death certificates, 1919–1930; check the collection page for any years added since.

Archives and libraries

• Research, Georgia Archives — Guides to Georgia vital records, newspapers and genealogy resources.
• Georgia Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Georgia newspaper archives, indexes and microfilm, with local links.

Also search the nationwide archives: Chronicling America, FamilySearch, Find a Grave, Newspapers.com. See all nationwide obituary resources.

Georgia death records

Georgia has registered deaths statewide since 1919. DPH and county vital records offices issue certified copies to family and others with a legal interest; the Georgia Archives posts older death certificates free on its Virtual Vault.

• Georgia State Office of Vital Records (DPH) — the office that issues Georgia death certificates, with ordering instructions and fees.
• Where to Write for Vital Records: Georgia — the CDC’s summary of where to order, current fees and which years the office holds.
• Georgia Vital Records, FamilySearch Research Wiki — free death indexes and certificate collections, with the years each covers.

Tips for finding an obituary in Georgia

• Start with the Virtual Vault. Georgia's free death certificate images give the county and funeral home for the years they cover.
• Remember 1919. Georgia's statewide death registration began in 1919, so earlier deaths depend on newspapers and county records.
• Search Black newspapers. The Atlanta Daily World and Savannah Tribune carried notices other papers did not.
• Look beyond the word “obituary.” Older papers reported deaths under headings like “Died,” “Deaths,” local news and personals columns, funeral notices and cards of thanks, and often listed married women under the husband’s name (“Mrs. John Smith”). See death notices vs. obituaries.

Common questions