African American Genealogy: Look up Obituaries at Beaufort County, South Carolina Library Online

You can look up obituaries for any ancestor who passed away between 1862 to about 1992 in The Online Obituary Index online at the Beaufort County, South Carolina Library. The index includes the names of over 24000 people whose deaths were published in the local newspaper.

You do not need to know all this information, but you can put in what you know about your ancestor to narrow the results down:

• Title
• Last name
• First name
• See also
• Notes
• Source
• Year
• Month
• Day
• Reference Date
• Reference

You could just put in the first name and the last name if that is all you know, but you would have to research further to determine whether your ancestor is listed.

 For example, if I entered “Singleton” for the last name, these would be the results:

I would get 99 results. I would be able to see each Singleton who passed away in Beaufort County, SC. Remember that your ancestor would not be in here if he or she did not have an obituary published in the Beaufort County, SC.

When you find your ancestor’s indexed obituary, contact the Beaufort District Collection: 843-255-6468 or [email protected] for a copy of the actual obituary. Obituaries can be a goldmine when it comes to finding out who parents where, siblings, and who they left living.

Sharpen the Saw

What other records could you obtain that would show proof of death? Probate record, funeral home record, social security index, cemetery, and of course, death record. Let us know if you have had success in documenting death either in Beaufort County, SC or where your ancestor lived on Facebook.