A helpful research aid to those family historians looking for information in the Omaha area is now available through the auspices of the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society (GOGS).
The Omaha Newspaper Obit Index
Originally started a decade or more ago as a simple newspaper index kept in a notebook at the Dale Clarke Library, the project is now an available online death index covering the period 1901-1977. The original index only recorded death notices that appeared in the Omaha World-Herald, but the online version has expanded to include those from two other daily newspapers, no longer in existence, as well as group oriented papers such as The Jewish Press and The True Voice, a Catholic weekly.
Problems with Omaha Genealogical Research
This index is a particularly valuable tool for finding records in early 20th Century Omaha newspapers. Although smaller towns from that period often carried complete obits on its deceased citizens and are relatively easy to find, the papers from Omaha, like other larger cities of the time, present much more of a challenge. What death reports did appear were often short and likely to be scattered throughout the papers. Even when an exact death date is known, the researcher is usually obligated to sit before a microfilm reader browsing film that is often hard to read and often finding nothing.
Features of the Omaha Online Obituary Index
- Death Certificates. These are the official listings from the county and usually only include name, age, and sometimes place of death. As such, they do not have much value other than helping to establish an approximate date of death. Unfortunately, they are sometimes the only record given.
- Cards of Thanks or In Memoriam Notices. These, too, do not have great value, but can help identify family members. The IMs can also help in determining a death date since they were usually published on or near the anniversary of a person’s death.
- Omaha Funeral Notices. Similar to those today. At a minimum, they usually included age, address, family members, funeral director, and place of burial.
- Obituaries. These are the most complete form of information and can range anywhere from a paragraph or two to comprehensive biographies.
- Newspaper Articles. These are different from the obits. If the individual died, for instance, as a result of an accident, foul play, or an act of Nature, there were often separate articles that can be of great value to the researcher. Any such reporting should be part of the page numbers listed in the index.
Weakness of the Index.
The index does have one notable drawback. Only those individuals who lived within an hour to an hour and a half drive from Omaha (60 to 100 miles) are included even though their deaths appeared in the paper(s). This leaves out, and will continue to leave out, hundreds of names. This is a shame since many deaths from out-state and western Iowa did appear in the Omaha papers. However, there is one exception to the rule: Deaths of Civil War veterans, no matter their geographic location, are included.
There are upwards of 500 or more names being added to the Omaha death index weekly, so if the Omaha genealogical researcher finds nothing on the first try, he or she should definitely try again. More information on the index can be found here. How to obtain copies of any obits, etc. can be found here.
