Wisconsin Obituaries

Wisconsin’s newspapers began in 1833 in Green Bay. The Wisconsin Historical Society holds one of the largest newspaper collections in the country, and its Wisconsin Name Index includes nearly 30,000 obituaries clipped by Society librarians.

Recent Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin are:

• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• Wisconsin State Journal (Madison)
• Green Bay Press-Gazette
• Post-Crescent (Appleton)
• La Crosse Tribune
• Kenosha News

Legacy.com’s Wisconsin 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.

Wisconsin obituaries in historic newspapers

The Green Bay Intelligencer was first printed in 1833, when Wisconsin was still part of Michigan Territory. Milwaukee, Madison and the lake ports followed, and German immigration made Milwaukee one of the country’s major German-language newspaper cities, with titles such as the Milwaukee Herold and Germania.

Norwegian, Polish, Dutch, Czech and other immigrant communities published their own papers, and many rural weeklies ran obituaries that named the deceased’s birthplace in Europe and the year they arrived in Wisconsin, which is often the key detail for tracing a family overseas.

Between 1860 and 1950 librarians at the Wisconsin Historical Society clipped obituaries of locally prominent people into 52 scrapbooks known as the Wisconsin Necrology. These are indexed in the Wisconsin Name Index, which also covers county histories and other sources. The Society has collected Wisconsin newspapers for well over a century and lends its microfilm through libraries.

Where to find older Wisconsin obituaries

Digitized Wisconsin newspapers

• Wisconsin newspapers on Chronicling America — Free Wisconsin titles digitized by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Obituary and death indexes

• Wisconsin Name Index and Necrology, Wisconsin Historical Society — Start here for the Wisconsin Name Index (obituaries and biographies), the Wisconsin Necrology and pre-1907 vital records indexes. The Society's site is being updated.

Archives and libraries

• Milwaukee Public Library — Milwaukee newspaper microfilm and local history collections.
• Wisconsin Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Wisconsin 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.

Wisconsin death records

Anyone can get an uncertified copy of a Wisconsin death record; certified copies go to family and others with an interest. Order from DHS or any county register of deeds. Pre-1907 Wisconsin vital records are indexed by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

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

Tips for finding an obituary in Wisconsin

• Search the Wisconsin Name Index. It indexes obituaries and biographical sketches from across the state.
• Use any register of deeds. County registers of deeds can issue Wisconsin death records.
• Try German papers. Milwaukee and other cities had German-language papers into the 1900s.
• 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