Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia) Newspaper Obituaries (1865 - Current)

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Virginian-Pilot Obituaries in Norfolk, Virginia

Uncovering your family history can be difficult. Virginian-Pilot obits are an excellent source of information about those long-lost family members in Norfolk, Virginia.

With the Virginian-Pilot obituary archives being one of the leading sources for uncovering your history in Virginia, it's important to know how to perform a Virginian-Pilot obituary search to access this wealth of research from newspapers all across the country.

Our online database enables you to perform searches without the hassle of performing manual searches through old records.

Some of the most beneficial reasons to look into Virginian-Pilot local obituaries include:

  • Uncover the branches of your family tree.
  • Connect with extended family members.
  • Discover the stories of your ancestors.

Explore the comprehensive records in our online database, and you'll gain access to almost 150 years of local history.

Plus, 95% of GenealogyBank records cannot be found through any other online services.

How to Search Virginian-Pilot Obituary Archives

Looking up Virginian-Pilot obituaries in Virginia doesn't have to be difficult. Whether you're trying to understand where you come from for the first time or you're looking to add some detail to a family tree, it couldn't be easier to perform a Virginian-Pilot obituary search.

All you have to do to get started is enter the last name of a chosen relative and press the “Search” button. It’s an excellent launching point for further research into those elusive relatives.

You can also get some additional guidance by downloading the free “Tips for Searching Titles” guide.

If you’re trying to get more information on a specific relative, follow these steps to perform an advanced search of the Virginian-Pilot obituary archives.

  • Step One – Begin by entering the first and last names of your relative. You’ll get more accurate results if you also have a middle name. Our search results will present you with close match obituaries.
  • Step Two – Add a keyword, such as a school or a town, to narrow your search results.
  • Step Three – Exclude keywords to avoid uncovering obituaries unrelated to your family tree.
  • Step Four – Include a year range. With almost 150 years of history, the chances are your ancestors share the same name as someone else’s ancestor.
  • Step Five – Get different results by changing the sorting options. You can order your results by showing the best matches, newest entries, and oldest entries.

Tips for a Successful Virginian-Pilot Obituary Search

Genealogy research can be challenging as many records are incomplete or filled with mistakes. For a successful Virginian-Pilot obituary search, it’s good to have multiple strategies at your disposal to ensure you get the correct relative.

Most older obituaries will include some pieces of family information. Obituaries can be used to uncover information about other relatives or to confirm that you have the right person in Norfolk, Virginia.

For a successful search of Virginian-Pilot obituaries, follow these tips:

  • Use information from more recent ancestors to find older relatives.
  • Try searching by initials. Many old Virginian-Pilot obits used initials instead of full names.
  • Are you looking for a female relative? Try searching for their husband’s name.
  • Perform searches by using common misspellings. TITLE editors often didn’t fact-check spellings in the past.

By implementing these strategies, you can go deeper with your research and uncover the ancestors you never knew you had. It’s also ideal for fact-checking, as many obituaries weren’t necessarily created with 100% accuracy.

How to Find Virginia Death Notices in the Virginian-Pilot

Finding death notices in the Virginian-Pilot can be another vital source of genealogical research. But what’s the difference between a death notice and an obituary?

Although some people use the terms interchangeably, they’re actually two different things. Obituaries describe the person, who they are, and what they did in their lives. Death notices, on the other hand, are formalized reports of someone’s death in the local news.

Family members would have published death notices in the Virginian-Pilot to detail the person’s name, age, residence, work history, and any information about the funeral service. As family members typically wrote these, they tend to be relatively accurate.

Death notices can help extract more information about an ancestor and uncover their place of burial. So, how do you look up local death notices and sift through hundreds of years’ worth of history? If you want to find death notices alongside Virginian-Pilot obits, follow these tips:

  • Include Boolean operators and proximity search techniques.
  • Use multiple collections to fact-check any found records.
  • Connect other family members mentioned in the death notice to confirm whole sections of your family tree.

The Virginian-Pilot records are invaluable sources of historical information about local people. We make it easy for you to search, discover, and share your family’s untold story. Get started with GenealogyBank and start making connections today.

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