Posting Obituaries on the
RootsWeb Message Boards
The
United States and
International
RootsWeb Message Boards provide Localities boards for each county (USA) and region (other countries) where information and queries are posted. Each
board contains an Obituary category, along with others such as Cemetery, Death, Will, etc.
Below is a short outline of the steps needed to post an obituary:
- Display the message boards for the county (USA) or region (other countries). The easiest way to do this is to use the RootsWeb Message Boards link (below the volunteer listings) on the volunteer page for the state or
country,
which will display the counties or regions index. Another way is to display the
RootsWeb Message Boards Localities
page and follow the links until the counties or regions index is displayed.
- Select the county or region from the list of links.
- Check that the obituary isn't already there. To list all the Obituary messages, select Obituary for View Message Type. If there are many, you may want to search for the surname instead by entering it in the Search box.
- To post the obituary, first click on Login and enter your RootsWeb or Ancestry username and password. If you don't have a RootsWeb or Ancestry profile, click on the Sign Up link on the Login page to register. It doesn't cost anything to register, and your profile allows you to keep contact information, such as your e-mail address, up to date.
- Click on the Post New Message link. If you did a search, you may have a page that doesn't have the Post New Message link. In that case, use your browser's Back button or the Back link on the search results page to display the county or region page.
- Fill in the following information:
- Subject - The name of the subject of the obituary
- Message - Put the text of the obituary or abstract here, plus the name
of the newspaper and the date the obituary was published
- Surnames - List all the surnames, separated by commas, that are mentioned in the obituary
- Classification - Select "Obituary"
- If you like, click on Preview Message to view the message before posting it. You'll be able to correct it if necessary. When the message is as you wish to post it, click on Post Message to post the message.
Publishing Obituaries on the
USGenWeb Obituary Project
The
USGenWeb Obituary Project
is particularly useful when you have a group of U.S. obituaries, such as one
year of a newspaper or members of a family in one location, but it can
accommodate single obituaries, too. Since the obituaries are typically
saved in a plain text file, it's possible to link to them from other places,
such as a listing on one of our volunteer pages.
The Obituary Project home page contains a state index. Your state's page
may contain information about adding files, but if not, contact the state
coordinator, whose e-mail address is on the page.