Obituaries for many individuals who died in Ottawa County
have been published in the Toledo Blade. Microfilms of most Toledo Blade issues from
1940 through 2007 are now available for on-line viewing through Google News.
These guidelines may be helpful in locating Blade obituaries:
1. Determine or estimate the publication date of the obituary.
For obituaries after 1970, first search the Toledo Lucas County Library
Obituary Index. For earlier obituaries, the publication date can be
estimated by the date of death. Prior to the demise of the Toledo Times in the late
1970's, the Blade operated as an evening newspaper on weekdays, so obituaries were
sometimes printed on the same day as the death date. Most times, the obituary was
published on the day following the date of death.
2. Go to the Google News Archives. Note that "blade" is entered in
the source field. Enter the estimated publication date in BOTH date boxes...in the
form of mm/dd/yyyy, and press "Search Archives". Leave all other
search fields blank. You can try searching for the name, but sometimes it is best
not to search for name as the papers have been character scanned and your search text may
not have been picked up. It is best to go to the film and search
manually. After pressing "Search Archives", you may then be
presented with a list of articles found.
If so, click on the first article. A new page will open showing the
microfilm. First go to the top of the newspaper page and confirm that the
publication date is the one you selected. Google's publication dates can be off by a
day or two, so you may have to back up and adjust your search date accordingly. You
can then use your mouse to scan through the paper and locate the obituaries.
If no articles are returned, back up and adjust your search dates by a day
and try again. Google's publication dates can be off by a day or two. If this
still results in no hits, the edition may not have been filmed.
Be aware that, prior to about 1980, obituaries were considered news
articles. Many times, there were also "death notices" in the classified
section. These appear at the front end of the classified ads, generally labeled as
category "2". Many times, these were published every day until the funeral
and information may be changed from day to day. You should look for these also, as
they sometimes provide additional information that is not in the obituary.
After the 1980's, all obituaries were considered classified ads and there were no longer
separate death notices.
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