Definitely, between them, Ancestry, and Census reports, I’ve been able to trace my ancestors back to the 1700s. It could be as simple as a news clipping mentioning a death, but the obituary has the names of siblings and children.
I write obituaries for free (way less since AI took over) but it’s a BIG issue. I try to play safe by naming eldest adult (bracket the non blood husband wife etc) then do grandchildren in same way. If extra close friends job or place, I list them in paragraph below.
exactly it can be used to piece together your whereabouts in the future. if you live a rather unremarkable life where else will you be mentioned in an archive for 2026 etc etc
I’ve had this happen to me and some family members, I really didn’t care because the deceased was a terrible human being and I didn’t attend their funeral anyway, disgusting side of the family that sides with abusers.
It’s so important to tell a persons whole story and make sure it’s put somewhere online. The internet is here forever, but the physical copies will eventually get lost or fade 100 years from now. Generations to come need your story and to know their family. List those relatives.
I went to my classmate’s funeral a few weeks ago and the funeral home messed up the obituary so instead of paying to have them redone there was a QR code to a digital obituary and photo album 💛
Doing online genealogy and I stumbled onto a family obituary. Which is now a small mystery , because those who are left alive (not a lot actually) . Don’t know why those who should have been at the funeral were not .
My mama made sure all her kids were all up and through my granny obituary. Our best pictures too. Ik my cousins were mad asf cause we got more space than a lot of them 😂😂
