Kansas Obituaries

The Kansas Historical Society has collected nearly every Kansas newspaper since 1875 and has put most of them online. Much of the collection is free for anyone, and Kansas residents get free access to all of it.

Recent Kansas 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 Kansas are:

• Wichita Eagle
• Topeka Capital-Journal
• Lawrence Journal-World
• Hutchinson News
• Salina Journal
• Kansas City Star (also covers Johnson and Wyandotte counties)

Legacy.com’s Kansas 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.

Kansas obituaries in historic newspapers

The Shawnee Sun, printed in 1835 at the Shawnee Baptist Mission in the Shawnee language, was the first newspaper in what became Kansas. The Kansas Weekly Herald began in Leavenworth in 1854, the year the territory opened, and papers on both sides of the Bleeding Kansas conflict reported its deaths.

Cattle towns, railroad towns and homesteading communities each started their own weeklies. Kansas also had Black papers in Topeka, Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas, and in Exoduster towns such as Nicodemus, as well as German, Swedish and Mennonite publications.

The Kansas Historical Society’s collection is hosted on Newspapers.com. A large share of it, especially the older papers, is open to everyone without a login, and Kansans can verify residency with a driver’s license or state ID to search all of it for free.

Where to find older Kansas obituaries

Digitized Kansas newspapers

• Kansas Digital Newspapers, Kansas Historical Society — Free access to millions of pages of Kansas newspapers.
• Free access for Kansans — How Kansas residents get free access to Kansas newspapers and genealogy databases.

Archives and libraries

• Kansas Memory — The Kansas Historical Society’s digital archive of Kansas records and images.
• Kansas Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Kansas 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.

Kansas death records

Kansas has registered deaths statewide since 1911. KDHE issues certified death certificates to family and others with a direct interest. The Kansas Historical Society has guidance on older death records and newspaper research.

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

Tips for finding an obituary in Kansas

• Kansans get free newspaper access. The Kansas Historical Society offers free access to its digitized papers, and Kansas residents get extra databases.
• Search Kansas City papers. Johnson and Wyandotte County deaths often appeared in the Kansas City Star.
• Remember 1911. For earlier deaths, use newspapers, cemetery records and county probate files.
• 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