To use newspapers, the patron needs to know the place of death in order to begin the death, as there is no comprehensive Missouri newspaper index available. If the exact date of death is not known, indexed cemetery inscription lists and newspaper indexes can be helpful. Be sure to look at the part of this website titled Newspaper Card File Indexes for more information on our indexes, and links to online newspaper indexes run by other organiations. Census records do not give exact birth dates, but in 1850 and thereafter, the age of each person is given, together with the state or country of his birth. The 1900 census gives the month and year of birth.
Specific information is required for each person and a separate form used for each person sought.
The Society has an excellent collection of indexed cemetery inscriptions from all over the state, but not everyone who is buried in this state can be found in the books. Small family plots in remote places such as farmers' fields are easily missed even by the most dedicated cemetery book compilers. Of the cemeteries that were surveyed, some included headstones which had disintegrated into rubble years before. Other times, grave markers were not engraved headstones. We have one account of an old woman whose grave was marked by her cast iron kettle.