Obituaries in Des Moines, IA | The Des Moines Register (2024)

FAQs

How do I find an old obituary in Iowa? ›

The FamilySearch Library has two large alphabetical collections of Iowa obituaries. The original collections are at the Iowa Genealogical Society, where most of the obituaries were collected. These obituaries date from about 1850 to 1991.

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.

Placing an obituary in The Des Moines Register starts at $95.00.

The State of Iowa calls marriage, birth, and death records Vital Records. You may request certified copies of records by telephone, in-person, online, or through the postal service.

The Web site hosts obituaries and memorials for more than 70 percent of all U.S. deaths. Legacy.com hosts obituaries for more than three-quarters of the 100 largest newspapers in the U.S., by circulation.

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.

To be clear, obituaries are protected by copyright. They are creative works of expression that are fixed into a tangible medium of expression. Both the text and the images that make up an obituary are protected by copyright (even if the facts and information are not).

Why does it cost so much to post an obituary? Publishing an obituary in the newspaper is expensive because of the limited space papers have. Newspapers value every inch of each page, so they must charge to use that limited space for an obituary.

Costs vary by publication. Newspapers charge by the line and can average $450 for a complete obituary. The average obituary cost begins at $200.00 and increases due to the amount of content, including a photograph and the length of the obituary.

Do you pay by the word for obituary? ›

Most newspapers charge by line, so the higher the word count, the higher the price. However, families and loved ones can save money by looking into online options.

When writing an obituary for a woman who had a maiden name, simply write her first name and then in parentheses write her maiden name and then her married last name. For instance, Laura (Ingalls) Wilder, Marie (Sklodowska) Curie or Julia (McWilliams) Childs.

Ancestry is a handy source for those researching and preserving a family tree. The website will help you complete a detailed search for obituaries published from 1930 to current times. Additionally, you may be able to find the Texas obituary you are looking for by looking at other users' family trees.

Obituaries and indexes from a few individual newspapers can be found in the FamilySearch Catalog by using a Place Search under: ILLINOIS - OBITUARIES. ILLINOIS, [Name of County] - OBITUARIES. ILLINOIS, [Name of County], [Name of Town] - OBITUARIES.