Hawaii Obituaries

Hawaii has printed newspapers since 1834, many of them in the Hawaiian language. The Hawaii State Archives indexes obituaries from 1836 to 1950, and the free Papakilo Database makes Hawaiian-language newspapers searchable.

Recent Hawaii 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 Hawaii are:

• Honolulu Star-Advertiser
• Hawaii Tribune-Herald (Hilo)
• West Hawaii Today (Kona)
• The Garden Island (Kauai)
• Maui News

Legacy.com’s Hawaii 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.

Hawaii obituaries in historic newspapers

Ka Lama Hawaii, printed at Lahainaluna on Maui in 1834, was the first newspaper in Hawaii, and the English-language Sandwich Island Gazette followed in 1836. More than 100 Hawaiian-language newspapers were published between 1834 and 1948, and they record deaths, genealogies and kanikau (mourning chants) that do not appear anywhere else.

Sugar and pineapple plantations brought Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Filipino and Korean workers, and each community had its own newspapers. Japanese-language papers such as the Hawaii Hochi and Nippu Jiji printed death notices for plantation families. The Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin were the main English-language papers in the 1900s.

The Hawaii State Archives keeps an obituary index covering 1836 to 1950 and has many of the cited papers on microfilm. The Hawaii State Library’s main branch in Honolulu holds newspaper microfilm and an index to obituaries in the Honolulu dailies.

Where to find older Hawaii obituaries

Digitized Hawaii newspapers

• Papakilo Database — Free searchable Hawaiian-language newspapers and other historical sources.

Obituary and death indexes

• Obituary Index, Hawaii State Archives — Index to obituaries, 1836–1950, mainly in English-language Honolulu papers. For Hawaiian-language notices, search Papakilo.
• Hawaii, Obituaries Index, ca. 1980–present (FamilySearch) — Free index to more recent Hawaii obituaries.

Archives and libraries

• Hawaii State Public Library System — Newspaper microfilm and obituary indexes at the Hawaii State Library in Honolulu.
• Hawaii Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Hawaii 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.

Hawaii death records

Hawaii death certificates are confidential: certified copies go to family and others with a direct and tangible interest, ordered from the Department of Health. The Hawaii State Archives holds older vital records and indexes.

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

Tips for finding an obituary in Hawaii

• Search Hawaiian-language papers. Papakilo has the Hawaiian-language papers, where many Native Hawaiian deaths were reported as kanikau (laments).
• Check Japanese and Chinese papers. The Hawaii Hochi, Nippu Jiji and Chinese-language papers carried community notices.
• Know the index's limits. The State Archives index mainly covers English-language Honolulu papers to 1950.
• 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