How to Find Someone Who is Dead
The web sites below will allow you to locate people that have passed away or that you suspect might have passed away. You can also use these sites to locate where a past friend or family member was buried. Results are best obtained if you have their first and last name as a minimum. If you have additional information such as the city or state of their death this will assist you in locating them easier and faster.
The database was assembled by volunteers from the Sysoon (dead people search engine), serving as transcribers, data entry, and validators, and we thank them for their hard work.
Information about deceased people is sometimes needed for legal or health related reasons as well as for genealogical research. As more records become available, tracing deceased people becomes easier. Researchers should first investigate the vast amount of free data that is available to help find deceased people before paying for such information. Accessing free records may take a little extra time and patience but quite a bit of information is available to help a researcher find a deceased person for free.
- Gather as much information as possible about the deceased person. There are often a number of individuals with the same name. When searching for a specific deceased person, it's important to locate the records for the correct person.
- Go to Sysoon and type the person's name into the "search" field. This free service contains the death records of people who died within the United States after the establishment of the Social Security Administration. The records include the person's Social Security number, last known address, date of birth and date of death.
- View the available online records of the National Archives and Records Administration. Most of these records require payment, but some are free.
- If you have this information, visit the cemetery where the person is buried. Tombstones often offer valuable information about a person, such as their parents' names, name of spouse, and dates of birth and death. Look at nearby tombstones to see if there are other people with the same last names or other matching information. Record this information as well. Tombstones offer important information for a genealogical search as the search widens to include information about other deceased family members.
- Visit the local library to see what newspaper archival information there is concerning the deceased person. Obituaries offer valuable information for a genealogical search. Other articles may also provide information about deceased people.
- Go to the county courthouse. Courthouse records can include immigration papers, naturalization papers and other documents that allow a researcher to find extensive information about a deceased person.