Obituaries in Fort Smith, AR | Times Record (2024)

FAQs

How do I find a local obituary? ›

You can typically find current obituaries through a simple online search (if one was written). Most funeral homes and cremation providers publish obituaries on their websites. Older obituaries are becoming increasingly easier to find online. Search old newspapers or genealogy sites.

All you need to navigate an online obituary finder is the full name of the deceased (although other criteria, like birth date and location, can help narrow down your search.) If the person you're searching for passed away in your same city, it can also be helpful to visit your local mortuary's website.

As funeral homes across America post obituaries to their respective funeral home website, The Obituary App organizes them all into particular cities. Now, a user can look at all the obituaries posted by multiple funeral homes in one place.

The Vital Registration Office is the state's official repository of birth, death, marriage, and divorce records. These records are collectively referred to as Vital Records.

In terms of obtaining vital records, West Virginia is not an "open record" state. Access to certified copies of birth certificates is restricted to the following individuals: The registrant (person named on the certificate) as long as they are 18 years or older or are emancipated by court order or marriage.

Two state-level California Death Indexes can be found at Ancestry.com (a database anyone can access from any library branch and Central Library) or FamilySearch.org (a free internet database).

Many funeral homes publish obituaries on their websites. These can usually be located with a Google search on the person's name. Local genealogical and historical societies, public libraries, and some newspaper publishers maintain clipping files of obituaries.

However, many of the county libraries in South Carolina have special indexes for obituaries from local newspapers and may have the newspapers on microfilm. See the LibGuide at statelibrary.sc.libguides.com/sc-obituary-resources for information on how libraries help users with information in this field.

New York Public Library subscribes to many databases that can help researchers locate obituaries and death notices. The most useful are our newspaper databases. Oftentimes obituaries can be located by entering a person's name and week of death into the newspapers databases.