You have an ancestor who died in
Kalamazoo County and you desperately want to find an obituary. Where
should you look? I'm happy to report that there are many options,
depending on the time period. Not all of them are free, but
depending on how many you are looking for there is probably an option
to fit your budget.
Free Options:
KPL Digitized Newspapers. The
Kalamazoo Telegraph and several other area newspapers have been
digitized by the Kalamazoo Public Library. The years covered vary by
newspaper, and sometimes there are holes in the coverage, but in
general the years span 1845-1922. In addition to several Kalamazoo
papers (not the Kalamazoo Gazette), newspapers for Allegan,
Otsego, Fort Custer, Scotts (newly added) and Climax (newly added)
can be searched by keyword here.
Kalamazoo County Rootsweb Message
Board. More recent obituaries (along with a handful of older
ones) can be found on the Kalamazoo County Rootsweb message board. While message boards are waning in popularity, the Kalamazoo
County board is going strong thanks to some dedicated contributors.
As of March 2014, there are a whopping 30,000 or so posts, many of
them obituaries.
Kalamazoo Area Newspapers On
Microfilm. Note: this is only free if you can make the trip to
the Kalamazoo Public Library in downtown Kalamazoo. You can see the
list of the many Kalamazoo area newspapers available on microfilm at
the KPL here.
Fee-Based Options:
GenealogyBank. The Kalamazoo
Gazette (1-23-1837 to 12-31-1922) has been digitized and is keyword
searchable. Kalamazoo Gazette obituaries from Jan 1, 2005 to the
present are also available. The cost is about $70 for a year or $20
for a month. If you have never subscribed you can get a 30-day trial
for about $10. This is the way to go if you have many relatives in
the area (or in other areas covered by their newspapers). You can
view the complete list of newspapers by state.
Kalamazoo Public Library Look-Ups.
Library staff will conduct look-ups in the Kalamazoo Gazette if you
can provide a death date or if you have the publication information
from their online newspaper index (there is currently a gap that has
not yet been indexed from 1890-1938). Copies are $3/look-up. You
can find more information about this service here. To look in the
newspaper index go to the Local Information Database page.
I recommend you read their tips on searching the database.
If you think your person died in
Kalamazoo county, but you don't know when, you have several options
for finding an exact date of death (to the present day) and even a
death record (1867-1933). For more information see Sources for Kalamazoo Death Records.
I hope you find some great information
in these resources. I sure have!
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