South Dakota Obituaries

South Dakota’s first newspaper was printed in 1859, before Dakota Territory was organized. The State Archives holds the state’s newspaper collection and indexes for birth, marriage and death notices in South Dakota papers.

Recent South Dakota 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 South Dakota are:

• Argus Leader (Sioux Falls)
• Rapid City Journal
• Aberdeen American News
• Mitchell Republic
• Watertown Public Opinion

Legacy.com’s South Dakota 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.

South Dakota obituaries in historic newspapers

The Dakota Democrat began at Sioux Falls in 1859. The Black Hills gold rush of the 1870s brought papers to Deadwood and Rapid City, and their notices recorded deaths in the mining camps, including the 1876 killing of Wild Bill Hickok.

Railroads and homesteading filled eastern South Dakota with small towns in the 1880s, each with a weekly paper. German-Russian, Norwegian, Czech and Dutch communities published their own papers, and the Dakota-language mission paper Iapi Oaye served Dakota readers.

The South Dakota State Archives in Pierre holds a large collection of South Dakota newspapers on microfilm, along with a South Dakota death index and a newspaper surname index covering birth, marriage and death notices.

Where to find older South Dakota obituaries

Digitized South Dakota newspapers

• South Dakota newspapers on Chronicling America — Free South Dakota titles digitized for the Library of Congress.

Archives and libraries

• State Archives, South Dakota State Historical Society — South Dakota newspapers, death indexes and genealogy research help.
• South Dakota Digital Archives — The State Archives' digitized records, photographs and publications.
• South Dakota Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to South Dakota 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.

South Dakota death records

South Dakota death certificates are restricted to family and others with an interest for 50 years; older ones are open. Order from the SD Department of Health or any county register of deeds; the State Archives has older death records.

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

Tips for finding an obituary in South Dakota

• Any county can help. County registers of deeds can issue death certificates for deaths anywhere in South Dakota.
• Search the county weekly. Most rural obituaries ran in the county seat's weekly.
• Ask the State Archives. It holds South Dakota newspapers on microfilm in Pierre.
• 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