Obituaries, Cemeteries & the Dead

Obituaries detail the death of an individual. Obituaries provide the deceased name, date of death and disposition of remains. Informative obituaries detail cause and place of death, list of survivors and their relationship to the deceased, biographical facts, employment, social activities and whether the person was a member of a faith community. Obituaries, death, burial and funeral notices along with memorials and notices of thanks from the family may contain any, all or none of the facts about the deceased. The two major obituary resources are the Denver Obituary Project from the Denver Public Library and the Colorado Obituary Project from the Colorado Genealogical Society. Read about how to find and order a Denver obituary

Cemeteries are the final resting place for many Coloradans. For our purposes we have included single burial sites, family and community graveyards and urban memorial gardens.

Funeral home and mortuary records usually give detailed information about the deceased. Information to be found may included the name of the deceased, date and place of birth and name of parents, date of death and burial, location of burial, payment, and clues to the type of funeral. Mortuary Records such as Horan Mortuary, Rogers and Nash Mortuary, and Farmer and Hale Mortuary are terrific indexes to archival records. 

Research Tools

American Woodmen Insurance Ledger: 5 June 1901 to 31 July 1907: Index

Index to life insurance files of insured and beneficiaries 1901 to 1907. American Woodmen’s Life was founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 as a Fraternal Benefit Society established to provide life insurance for the “un-insurable” Black Community. The register shows in chronological order the name of the insured, “camp and state” of residence, age, name of beneficiary or beneficiaries, and their relationship to the insured. States covered in this first ledger include Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indian Territory [Oklahoma], Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington, D.C. This register represents the first of 40 ledgers. The company went out of business in 1993.

Colorado Obituary Project

Statewide index of approximately 50,000 non-Denver obituaries mostly from the 1970s through 1990. Researchers may request a copy of the full-text obituary through the Western History and Genealogy Department. Full obituaries are accessible in C MSS WH1317.

Colorado Statesman Index

Index of funeral notices, obituaries, and news articles from the leading weekly newspaper serving the African American community from 1904 to 1954.

Intermountain Jewish News (IJN) Obituary Index

The index is composed of a number of columns of information, most taken directly from the IJN obituary, but many also supplemented from different sources. Associated cemetery (burial) information is also included when that information could be identified 
in the obituary.

Clipping Files: Biography (WHG)

The clipping files are a large collection of articles of local interest which have been gathered from a variety of newspapers. The articles range in date from the early 1900's to the present. They are available for use on-site in the Library. The subject heading of Biography includes a list of the clippings of notables and lesser known persons.