The Hayes Obituary Index and the Defiance Connection

Did you know that the Rutherford B. Hayes Library in Fremont hosts an extensive obituary index online for Ohio?  Over fifty libraries contribute to the index by submitting obituaries from their local newspapers, either current papers or older newspapers that survive on microfilm.  Millions of obituaries and death notices have been indexed and are searchable online HERE.


Many volunteers have transcribed obituaries from Defiance's newspapers, and they are slowly being added to the database. The index, itself, has fields for name, age at time of death, place of death, spouse, parents' names, maiden name, and date of death.  Once an obituary has been found in the index, it may be requested from the library.  Instructions will appear on the site for the process of requesting via email or post office.  Each library has its own methods of ordering and cost, if any, and that will appear on the site.

These newspapers have been indexed on the Hayes Obituary Index for Defiance:

Defiance Democrat - 1844 - 1894
Defiance Democrat - 1900 - 1901
Defiance Democrat - 1911 - 1918

Crescent-News - 1903 - 1914
Crescent-News - 1942 - 1945
Crescent-News - 1972, 1974, 1977, 1988, 1989, 1991 - 1994, 1998 - 2002
                  2011 - the present 


The library could definitely use volunteers to help with abstracting obituaries from the newspapers.  This would require using the microfilm to peruse each newspaper and then writing down the pertinent information. We would be happy to give a lesson on how to do this...it's not hard!

Be aware that many "obituaries" are but one line in the paper; sometimes they are even found in the social news.   Long, elaborate obituaries, especially in the earlier years, are an exception. When people were charged for submitting an obituary, it excluded many who could not afford to do that, so not everyone has an obituary.  However, if one can find a good obituary for an ancestor, what a treasure it is!