Obituaries – Routinely Published in Government Reports & Documents

The annual reports of the Department of the Interior are in GenealogyBank. They were published annually as part of the US Serial Set.

What the Commissioner of Education did was publish the obituaries of teachers and educators at all levels. See this example of the obituary of Jeremiah Root Barnes (1809-1901).

What did we learn from this obituary?
Full Name: Jeremiah Root Barnes
Date/Place of Death: 1 Jan 1901 – Marietta, Ohio
Date/Place of Birth: 9 March 1809 – Southington, CT
Education: Yale College, 1834; Yale Theological Seminary – 2 years; Honorary Degree – Yale (1892).
Career: Pastor: Evansville, IN; Salem, IN; Piqua, OH; young ladies seminary (1850) suburbs of Cincinnati; founder of Carleton College in Northfield, MN; publisher of: Western Magazine
Military: Civil War – in the Freedmen’s Bureau 1861-1865.

Tip: Obituaries were published not only in newspapers but also in government documents and reports.