Source Information

Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Death Newspaper Extracts, 1801-1890 (Barber Collection) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
Original data:
  • Barber, Gertrude A., comp. Deaths taken from the "Brooklyn Eagle." Volumes 1-27. n.p.: n.p., 1963-66.
  • Barber, Gertrude A., comp. Deaths taken from the New York Evening Post. Volumes 1-54. n.p.: n.p., 1933-47.

About New York, U.S., Death Newspaper Extracts, 1801-1890 (Barber Collection)

Gertrude A. Barber created two multi-volume series of extracts of deaths recorded in two New York newspapers. One series is of deaths recorded in the "Brooklyn Eagle" and the other of deaths recorded in the "New York Evening Post." This database is an index to these extracts, with corresponding images. The extracts from the "Brooklyn Eagle" cover the years 1841-1890. However, Ancestry.com does not currently have Volume 2 of this series and so the years 1846-1850 are missing from this database. The extracts from the "New York Evening Post" cover the years 1801-1890.

The amount of information included in this database varies according to the amount of information provided in the original record. The following pieces of information may be recorded for an entry:

  • Name of deceased
  • Date of death
  • Date record appeared in the newspaper
  • Name of newspaper in which the individual appeared in
  • Last residence
  • Spouse's or other family members' names
  • Name of cemetery where buried

It is important that you use the information found in this database to locate your ancestor in the original record that this database references as more information may be available about your ancestor in the original newspaper entry. Begin by locating a copy of the newspaper. Check with local New York libraries to see if they have copies of the newspaper. Once a copy of the paper is found, if you do not live in the New York area and cannot easily visit the library in person, microfilm copies of the newspaper may be able to be sent to your local library through the Inter Library Loan (ILL) program.

Additional information found in the original entry may be able to lead you to other records and further research. As the keeping of vital records by the state of New York did not officially begin until 1880, a newspaper recording of a vital event may act as a vital record substitute and as documentation of that event.