The newspapers examined for this study are on microfilm at the Cairo Public Library in Cairo, Ill., Morris Library of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield. Ill.  All extant Cairo newspapers published before 1905 were read and the obituaries and death notices extracted, with the exception of the Cairo Journal (19 Sep 1857, to 6 May 1858), which was one of the German language newspapers printed in the town. Obituaries and death notices from issues currently on line are:

The Cairo Delta (13 Apr 1848-20 Sep 1849)
The Cairo Sun (10 Apr 1851-8 Apr 1852)
The Cairo City Times (31 May 1854-21 Nov 1855)
Cairo Weekly Times and Delta (28 Nov 1855-1 Dec 1858)
The Cairo Weekly Delta (4 Jul 1855-21 Nov 1855)
Tri-Weekly Times Delta (3 Jan 1856-19 Feb 1856)
Egyptian (23 Feb-June 1857)
Cairo Semi-Weekly Times and Delta (25 Mar 1859-8 Jul 1859)
City Gazette (10 June-2 Sep 1859 and 5 Jul 1860) 
Cairo City Weekly Gazette (21 Feb 1861-13 Dec 1862)
The Camp Register(Camp Defiance, 6 and 12 May 1861)
News (10 Jun and 3 Sep 1863)
The War Eagle and Daily Evening Extra (18 Nov 1864-21 Apr 1865)
Leader (22 May 1865)
The Cairo Daily Times (Oct 1865-April 1866; 2 Dec 1868-31 Dec 1868)
The Cairo Daily Democrat (3 Oct 1865-14 Nov 1868)
Cairo Evening Bulletin (21 Dec 1868-3 Mar 1870)
The Cairo Daily Bulletin (4 Mar 1870-31 Dec 1884)
Cairo Evening Sun (3 Sep-13 Dec 1878)
Radical Republican (2 issues 1878)
Cairo Daily Argus (8 Sep 1879)
The Weekly Cairo Bulletin (a few issues 1880-1882 & 1884-1886)
The Cairo Argus and Mound City Journal (7 Jul 1883)
The Cairo Citizen and Cairo Evening Citizen (1 Oct 1885-31 Dec 1909;
        2 Jan-28 Dec. 1912; 1 Jan - 31 Dec 1918)