Any FREE obit sites which go back 7-10 years? (American, find, search)

[no kudzu]

Looking for the obit for my long lost sister-in-law. I'm not even sure if she is dead but when I googled her name something very familiar showed up but of course they want me to pay . Any way to get that info free?

[myrc60]

Google has archived some newspapers. You can search here Google News Archive Search

[LibraGirl123]

Here's a site I use pretty regularly:

Obituaries: Newspaper and Funeral Home Obituaries and Death Notices from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand

[PA2UK]

It would greatly depend on the newspaper.

In you're in the same area as the paper, you could try the local library.

Also check the Library of Congress's Newspaper Directory - their digitized database only goes up to 1922 but they have a directory of many more newspapers with listings on where to find copies (not online): Search U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present « Chronicling America « Library of Congress

[Delahanty]

"Free" is the operative word because, if those sites are any good, they won't be free for long--Ancestry and other genealogy sites are snatching them up and adding a fee. That happened with the federal Social Security Death Index. You used to be able to access that directly but now you get routed to Ancestry.

Anyway, sites like Obitsforlife and Legacy give mixed results (I find), and require too much narrowing of parameters.

Frankly, I've had better luck googling names, including maiden names, survivors, etc.
then scrolling for more than a couple of pages. Most people quit too soon. Once I found someone after four pages.

[RDM66]

Originally Posted by PA2UK

It would greatly depend on the newspaper.

In you're in the same area as the paper, you could try the local library.

Also check the Library of Congress's Newspaper Directory - their digitized database only goes up to 1922 but they have a directory of many more newspapers with listings on where to find copies (not online): Search U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present « Chronicling America « Library of Congress

I agree with PA2UK. Check out your local library. If you live in a small town, see if your library has an agreement with a library in a nearby large city with more resources.

My local library subscribes to America's Genealogy Bank America's GenealogyBank | NewsBank

I can access this site for free at home, using my library card. It's a database of published obits from 10,000 American newspapers, going back nearly 15 years. It contains nearly every daily newspaper in the U.S.