The Belmont County District Library will provide a copy of an obituary, or a related article, from our microfilmed copies of LOCAL NEWSPAPERS. The newspapers are not indexed; therefore it is important that you provide an exact date of death. You are welcome to come to the library and do the research yourself. Photocopies cost $0.20 per page.

If you do not know the exact date of death, try searching your local library’s genealogy databases or try the Social Security Death Index or the Ohio Death Certificate Index. We also input obituary data in the RB Hayes Obituary Index.

The charge for this service is $3.00 per obituary.  You will be contacted by email 1-2 business days after sending your request. You will be asked to send payment before the obituary research begins. If no obituaries are found, you are still charged the research fee. If you do not know the exact date of death, we will do our best to search various databases to determine the date of death.  We have to narrow down the date of death to at least the month of death.

The library also has an Obituary File for research use in the library. This file was created by town historian, Annie Tanks who passed away May 12, 2004. The Obituary File contains obituaries from approximately 1980 to the present. All local obituaries are cut out of the newspaper, filed and data entered into the RB Hayes Obituary Index.

To Request an Obituary, please contact:

Reference Librarian
research@bcdlibrary.org

Provide the name and date of death of the deceased. You will receive a confirmation email with instructions on payment, etc.

By phone (if you have 1 or 2 requests) call the Reference Librarian at 740-633-0314 and give all the pertinent information for your search.

By mail send obituary requests to:

Belmont County District Library
Attention: Reference
20 S. 5th St
Martins Ferry, OH 43935