When an ancestor dies, most genealogists know the usual records to search.
There’s the death certificate, obituary, cemetery record, gravestone, probate file, and perhaps a church burial record.
But there’s another source that can be just as useful and is often overlooked.
The funeral home.
Funeral homes kept records for practical reasons. They needed to know who had died, where the person lived, where the funeral would be held, where the person would be buried, and who was responsible for the arrangements.
For genealogists, that paperwork can contain valuable family information.
What Might Be in a Funeral Home Record?
The amount of information varies depending on the funeral home and the time period.
Some records contain only basic details. Others can be surprisingly complete.
You may find:
- Full name of the deceased
- Date and place of death
- Date and place of birth
- Home address
- Occupation
- Marital status
- Cause of death
- Name of the physician
- Funeral date
- Place of the funeral service
- Name of the minister or priest
- Religion
- Cemetery or burial location
Some funeral home records also name the deceased person’s parents.
That can be especially helpful when you’ve been trying to identify a mother or father and other records haven’t provided the answer.
You may even find the mother’s maiden name or the parents' birthplaces.
Pay Attention to the Person Who Arranged the Funeral
One name that can easily be overlooked is the person who made or paid for the funeral arrangements.
Don’t skip over it.
That person could be a spouse, child, sibling, cousin, or another close relative.
If you’re trying to identify family members or separate two people with the same name, the person responsible for the funeral can provide another useful clue.
It can also help you understand who was still closely connected to your ancestor near the end of his or her life.
Funeral Home Records Can Explain Unusual Burials
Sometimes an ancestor dies in one place and is buried somewhere completely different.
That can leave you wondering why.
Funeral directors were often responsible for transporting the deceased from one town or state to another.
Their records may show where the body came from, where it was sent, and who requested the transportation.
That information can help explain why your ancestor died hundreds of miles from the family cemetery.
They May Help You Find a Missing Grave
Not every ancestor has a surviving gravestone.
Markers can disappear, become unreadable, break, or never have been placed at all.
A funeral home record may still name the cemetery where the person was buried.
In some cases, it may provide a section, lot, or other burial information that can lead you to cemetery records.
If you’ve searched a cemetery and found no marker, the funeral home may give you another route to follow.
Even the Funeral Bill Can Provide Clues
Old funeral files may contain itemized expenses.
You could see charges for:
- The casket
- Hearse
- Embalming
- Transportation
- Burial clothing
- Newspaper notices
- Flowers
- Cemetery fees
- Other services
At first, a funeral bill might not seem very useful for genealogy.
Take another look.
Who paid it?
Was the bill paid by a spouse or child? Did an insurance company, church, employer, veterans organization, or fraternal group contribute?
Even financial paperwork can tell you something about your ancestor’s family and community connections.
How Do You Find Funeral Home Records?
Start with records you may already have.
Check the death certificate, obituary, cemetery record, or newspaper funeral notice. Any of these may name the funeral home or funeral director.
When searching older records, remember that the word “undertaker” was commonly used.
If you still don’t know which business handled the funeral, check old city directories and newspapers.
Funeral directors regularly advertised, and city directories often listed undertakers by name and address.
Once you identify the business, find out what happened to it.
The funeral home may still exist.
It may have changed names, merged with another business, or been purchased by another funeral home.
That doesn’t mean the old records disappeared.
A successor business may still have them.
If the funeral home closed completely, check with:
- Local libraries
- County historical societies
- Genealogical societies
- State archives
- University archives
- Local museums
- Other historical repositories
Old funeral home records were sometimes donated when a business closed or changed ownership.
You should also search the FamilySearch Catalog using the city or county where your ancestor lived.
Try terms such as:
- Funeral home
- Funeral records
- Undertaker
- Mortuary
- The name of the funeral business
Some collections have been digitized or microfilmed, while others may still need to be viewed through a library, archive, or record repository.
Don’t Assume Every Detail Is Correct
Funeral home records are valuable, but they aren’t automatically accurate.
Much of the personal information came from someone else.
That person might have been a spouse, child, sibling, neighbor, or friend who was grieving and may not have known every detail about the deceased.
A birth date could be wrong.
A birthplace may be vague.
A parent’s name might be misspelled.
If a funeral record gives you the name of an ancestor’s mother, treat it as evidence rather than proof.
Compare it with census records, marriage records, church records, obituaries, probate files, and other sources.
Also pay attention when a funeral home record disagrees with a death certificate.
Instead of assuming one is wrong, ask who provided the information for each record and which person was more likely to know the correct answer.
Sometimes that disagreement is exactly what leads you to the next discovery.
One Record Can Pull Together an Entire Life
One of the best things about funeral home records is how much information can appear in one place.
You may have spent years collecting separate records about an ancestor’s birth, parents, occupation, residence, religion, death, and burial.
Then you find a funeral home register and discover that someone wrote much of that information on one page decades ago.
That’s why it’s worth going one step beyond the death certificate or obituary.
The next time you research an ancestor who died, look for the funeral home.
Find the undertaker.
See whether the records survived.
There may be one more file waiting for you, and it could hold the clue that helps you connect another part of your family tree.
Learn More
FamilySearch: Funeral Home Records
An explanation of funeral home records, what they may contain, and how these records are organized.
FamilySearch Funeral Home Records
FamilySearch: Search the Catalog for Records
Use the FamilySearch Catalog to look for funeral home, undertaker, mortuary, cemetery, and other local genealogical record collections.
FamilySearch Catalog Search Help
National Archives: How to Begin Genealogical Research
The National Archives includes funeral home records among the sources genealogists should remember when researching deaths and burials.
National Archives Genealogical Research Guide
