Ancestors at Rest · since 2004
Death records, burial locations, and obituaries — free.
Looking for where an ancestor is buried, confirming a death date, or locating their final records? A 20-year archive of coffin plates, cemetery transcriptions, funeral cards, and obituaries.
1,458 records · 45,082 transcribed names · 180 cemeteries indexed
A note from the editor
“This site is designed to help genealogists find the free death records of their ancestors — and, as morbid as it may sound, to learn a little about the customs, traditions, and culture of death in the past.”
Some chapters end. The names remain.
— Originally compiled by Brian. Editorial stewardship by the late Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy.
Free death and burial records
Seven categories of primary-source records — live and browsable today, gathered and transcribed over twenty years.
Coffin plates
Engraved metal plaques from the coffin, kept by families as a remembrance.
548 records →
Cemetery records
Burial registers, plot records, and transcriptions of cemetery archives.
180 records →
Obituaries
Newspaper death notices — often the most detailed account of a life.
111 records →
Funeral & memorial cards
Funeral notices plus memorial, mourning, and mass cards kept after the death.
Includes German death cards (Sterbebilder)
508 records →
Probate & wills
Wills, probate filings, and estate inventories — testate and intestate.
13 records →
Church & parish registers
Parish books from Ireland, England, and the US — burial, baptism, and marriage entries.
17 records →
Military death records
Service deaths, casualty rolls, and pension files for servicemen and women.
Includes cenotaphs
17 records →
Vital records
County civil registers — death, birth, and marriage records indexed name by name.
21 records →
Source documents
School yearbooks, named group photographs, and other original papers that name ancestors.
Includes school yearbooks
43 records →
Recently transcribed
New to the archive
Reading
Understanding tombstone engravings
Although monuments to the dead have existed for thousands of years, ornately carved tombstones for common folk are a relatively modern development — beginning in the 18th century with limestone and sandstone, before the Victorian era brought granite, marble, and a new vocabulary of symbols.
- Dove
- The soul
- Willow
- Grief
- Lamb
- Innocence — often a child
- Hourglass
- The passage of time