Omaha Obits Index – Introduction

For information on how to obtain copies of any obits listed in this index, click [here].

This site is updated when we have about 1,000 or more new listings to add to it.

This is an index to obituaries and death notices in Omaha papers. We have included people whose item indicates that they may have lived within an hour to an hour and a half away from Omaha, but appeared in the Omaha newspapers. (The only exception is that we’ve added deaths of Civil War vets from anywhere in a larger area.)

This site is more than just an index of obituaries. The items indexed here run the gamut from a lengthy obituary, funeral story and extensive personal coverage to tiny one line “death certificate” notices. In all cases, we include them because it is often difficult to locate a time period for the death of a family member when doing genealogy if the date is not already in family records.

We have tried to include anything that indicates someone who died. If the name &/or location of the cemetery is included, we have added it. Hopefully you can use this index to add information to your family history. Some may have several different types of items in the paper.

Unless the person has two different spellings of the name given, the individual is probably going to only appear once in the index for each paper they appeared in. In the case of alternate spellings, we usually give both as they appear in the paper. There is no way that we can always be sure of correct spelling in the case of 100 year old newspapers, and some of the papers were poorly filmed or in very fine print being difficult to read. Indexers have done the best that they can with what is available.

Multiple news papers will qualify an individual for multiple listings. For example, one person may have an obit in the World Herald, the Omaha Bee, the Omaha Excelsior and the True Voice. In that case, as the other papers are indexed, the individual will be given lines for each different paper. Sometimes the stories vary slightly in content, but not always.

Explanation of terms:

D/C: Death Certificate notice in early papers may be the only indication that there was a death. The only information they give is the name, age, and location of death.

LN: Lodge Notice is an invitation for members of a particular organization to attend the funeral of a member. It may not be an actual lodge in all cases, but any kind of organization is included. The organization may have kept information on its members.

COT: Card Of Thanks. COTs sometimes list more family members than does the original obituary in the paper. In some cases, a COT is the only thing that was found in the papers.

*: An astrisk indicates that there is more than one paper that an item appears in. Sometimes later editions give more complete information than the first time a name appears in the paper.

Unidentified man, woman or child: If a later story indicates that the individual was identified, the “unidentified” designation will be changed. Otherwise, it stands as we find it originally in the paper.

w/: widow. The spouse may be living, but may also have predeceased the subject.

Maiden names: are included when available.