February 17, 2025
Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about one of the most important types of records for genealogists: obituaries. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”
Newspaper obituaries can be rich in detail, but too often we only look for the obituary of a direct ancestor. In reality, looking at the obituaries of an entire family may help to fill in gaps.
I decided to test this out by searching for the obituaries of my great-grandmother, Mary Chatham Philibert, and her siblings to see what information could be found about the family via the death of her and her siblings.
Mary’s Obituary
I started my search with a version of my great-grandmother’s name: “Mary Philibert.” I found a short obituary containing information about her burial that was to be held that same day.
This short notice doesn’t reveal much – and in fact, one of the only two names mentioned besides Mary, her son, is incorrect. Her son is listed as Lee but his name was Leo. Her sister, Lillian Flemmer, is listed as well as the number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren she had. Missing is the name of a surviving brother, Edgar. Why is there this omission? I don’t know, but reasons could be everything from the cost of the obituary to a family rift.
This newspaper, the Press-Enterprise, is one that covers the county of Riverside, where she lived. Different versions of the newspaper exist for different parts of the county. Another newspaper exists covering the city she lived in, and that newspaper ran an obituary that lacked any family names and instead provided burial information and mentioned that she was born in Texas.
Genealogy Tip: Remember to identify what newspapers reported on the community where your ancestor lived. There may be more than one.
I’m disappointed in the lack of information in that obituary, since Mary worked all of her life and no details are given, but decided to continue on by looking for the obituaries for her siblings.
The Chatham Siblings
The Chatham siblings listed in age order are:
- Bessie Jane (Chatham) Hammen (1903-1979)
- Mary (Chatham) Philibert (1904-1988)
- Edgar Lewis Chatham (1905-1989)
- Leo Chatham (1907-1955)
- Harry Chatham (1908-1967)
- George Chatham (1909-1968)
- Lillie Mae (Chatham) Flemmer (1911-1992)
- Joseph Chatham Jr. (1914-1956)
Sibling Obituaries
Genealogy Tip: Don’t stop after you find the obituary for the ancestor you are researching. Look for the obituaries for all of his or her siblings, as each one may give you another piece of the family’s history.
Bessie Jane Hammen
Though she died in Oregon, Bessie’s obituary ran in a California newspaper near where Mary lived and where Bessie would be buried. (Bessie is identified as “A native of Texas, Mrs. Hammen was a long-time resident of Thermal,” California.) No one is named in Bessie’s obituary except for her sister “Mary Philibert of Thermal” despite a daughter, a second sister, and a brother surviving her.
Leo Chatham
Three of Mary’s brothers died at relatively young ages. Leo Chatham’s obituary hints at the cause of death, “while driving,” but doesn’t tell the whole story: he had a heart attack while driving. His obituary provides his occupation and the names of his wife and son.
Leo’s death is listed several times in subsequent newspaper editions in funeral lists. Unfortunately, they do not provide any additional information.
Who’s Missing
Mary’s other brothers Edgar, George, and Joseph Jr. don’t appear to have an obituary online. Harry doesn’t have an obituary appearing in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, but I did find one elsewhere. That obituary lists his immediate family and surviving siblings. Likewise, Lillie’s obituary was found outside of GenealogyBank and although it included the names of her children and grandchild, it did not include her siblings’ names which makes sense since they predeceased her.
Out of eight siblings, I found all but three of the siblings’ obits. Just because I didn’t find the obituaries now, doesn’t mean that they won’t be digitized and available at some point. It’s also possible they don’t exist. Not everyone has an obituary. In the case of one of the brothers, Joseph Jr., he was not married and had no children when he died. My great-grandmother, Mary, who appeared to take care of his final arrangements, may not have believed it was necessary.
Lessons Learned
What I learned from studying these obituaries is how little information was provided. In some cases, family names were omitted and in other cases very little personal information was found. There can be a variety of reasons for this including the cost of obituaries. That cost can directly impact how much information a family includes in an obituary. We also don’t know who the informant was on each obituary, which can also impact information shared.
This exercise made apparent a few things I need to do. While the obituaries didn’t provide a ton of information, they did offer some names and life details that I can follow up on. Also, I found other newspaper articles as I searched for obituaries, including a divorce mention that I need to explore. I realized that I do not have death certificates for anyone aside from my great-grandmother. That isn’t a necessity, but it might be something I want to obtain if I want to write more about this family. I also need to create GenealogyBank alerts so that I can keep current on newspaper articles about this family as they are uploaded to the website. This automates my search and helps me keep on top of new additions.
Obituaries vary. While some uncover information not found elsewhere, others are sparse. There’s no doubt as researchers we need to search for obituaries for the person we are researching as well as their siblings. But this exercise shows that they may not contain all the information we would hope for, so we need to search for records beyond the obituaries. Obituaries are a good starting point, but be sure to search other records such as death certificates, census listings, additional newspaper articles, etc., to get as complete a picture of your ancestor’s life as possible.
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Note on the header image: Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island. Credit: Matt H. Wade.; Wikimedia Commons.
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