Online Iowa Death Indexes, Records and Obituaries

Iowa Death Records Indexes and Death Certificates

Iowa, Death Records, 1880-June 1904 and 1921-1968 at Ancestry/requires payment; includes images of the death certificates from 1921-1968 and images of the death registers from 1880-June 1904. Coverage may vary by county.
Iowa Death Records, 1904-1951 from FamilySearch/free with registration; includes images of the death certificates

Iowa: County Death Records, 1880-1992 from FamilySearch/free with registration; for 98 of Iowa's 99 counties; coverage varies by county
State Historical Society of Iowa Death Indexes, c.1917-c.1939 PDF files for many Iowa counties; coverage varies by county

Iowa Wills and Probate Records, 1758-1997 at Ancestry/requires payment; coverage varies by county
Iowa Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1880 from FamilySearch/free with registration; lists people who died in the year prior to when the census was taken

Iowa Death Indexes, Cemetery Burials and Obituaries by County

Adair County Obituaries and Death Notices various years; also includes cemetery burials
Allamakee County Historical Society Genealogy Indexes includes indexes for wills/probates and coroner's inquests
Ames: see Story County below
Black Hawk County...
- Black Hawk County Cemeteries also has Black Hawk County deaths, 1935-1939; and other items
- Black Hawk County: Cedar Falls Municipal Cemeteries Interactive Map (burials database) for Fairview Cemetery, Greenwood Cemetery and Hillside Cemetery
Boone County Cemeteries also has death indexes and other items
Bremer County...
- Bremer County: Obituary Records from the Waverly Phoenix of Waverly, Iowa, 1892-1924 PDF; German language newspaper
  - Also: Index of German Language Obituaries from the Waverly Phoenix, 1892-1924 name index
- Bremer County: Indexes to Obituaries in the Tripoli Leader, 1905-1999 some years are missing
Buchanan County Obituaries and Cemetery Records, ca.1796-1988 at FamilySearch
Cedar Rapids: see Linn County below
Cerro Gordo County: Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery Burials Search in Mason City, Iowa
Cerro Gordo County: also see the North Central Iowa Genealogy Society Obituary Database listed below
Cherokee County: Oak Hill Cemetery Burials (Cherokee, Iowa)
Council Bluffs: see Pottawattamie County below
Dallas County...
- Dallas County Cemeteries
- Dallas County, Violet Hill Cemetery, Lot Records, 1846-1988 (in Perry, Iowa) from FamilySearch
Davenport: see Scott County below
Davis County...
- Davis County Cemetery Records
- Davis County Death Records Indexes, 1880-1900 also has indexes for marriages and other items
Decatur County Genealogy Indexes includes indexes for deaths 1906-1921, and some cemetery burials
Des Moines City - see Polk County below
Des Moines County...
- Des Moines County, Iowa Cemetery Transcriptions
- Des Moines County: Burlington Public Library Genealogy Index indexes birth and marriage announcements, and obituaries in local newspapers from the 1830s-1897
Dickinson County: Spirit Lake Public Library Cemetery and Columbarium Records
Dubuque County...
- Dubuque Telegraph Herald Obituaries Search you can obtain copies of the obituaries for a fee; covers 1868 to present, but is not yet complete
- Dubuque County, Iowa Cemeteries
Fayette County: Grandview Cemetery Records from the Fayette Community Library
Hancock County Birth, Marriage, and Death Indexes also has burial indexes and more
Harrison County GenWeb Site includes cemeteries, probate records, death index 1880-1910 and obituaries
Iowa County Obituaries Index also has other genealogy indexes
Jasper County Genealogy Indexes includes indexes for burials, probate records and other items
Jasper County: City of Newton - Union Cemetery Burials
Jefferson County Genweb Genealogy Website includes cemetery burials and recent obituaries
Johnson County...
- Johnson County: Oakland Cemetery Burials (in Iowa City)
- Johnson County Local News Index, 1962-recent indexes some obituaries from local newspapers; from the Iowa City Public Library
Jones County Death Register, 1 Sept. 1880 to 11 Nov. 1897 also has some and cemetery and probate records indexes
Lee County: Indexes for Deaths, Obituaries and Cemeteries
Linn County and Cedar Rapids...
- Linn County Obituary Index 1930-1989
Louisa County Cemeteries
Lyon County, Cemetery Records, ca.1800- ca.2000 at Family Search
Madison County Genealogy Indexes includes a death index 1880-1919, obituaries, over 28,000 cemetery burials, indexes for probate records, and more
Mahaska County: Forest Cemetery Burial Records Oskaloosa, Iowa
Marshall County...
- Marshall County, Marshalltown, Riverside Cemetery Burial Records, ca.1800-ca.1975 at FamilySearch
- Marshall County, Iowa Death Register, 1880-1890
Mills County Iowa Death Index 1880-1899, plus Obituaries and Cemeteries
Mitchell County Genealogy Indexes includes burial notices, cemetery burials and other items
Monroe County Genealogy Indexes includes indexes for probate records, wills and cemetery burials
Monroe County: Card Index of Births, Deaths and Marriages from Newspaper Clippings, 1898-2015 from FamilySearch
Muscatine County: Musser Public Library Birth, Marriage and Death Index 1840-present (also has a probate records index)
Page County: Abstracted Newspaper Indexes of Page and Taylor Counties, Iowa includes obituary indexes
Polk County and Des Moines...
- Polk County: Des Moines Obituary Indexes from the Des Moines Public Library
- Polk County Probate Case Files Index, 1846-1925 from the State Historical Society of Iowa
- Des Moines Municipal Cemeteries Interment Search includes Glendale, Woodland and St. Ambrose, Laurel Hill, Oak Grove, Sims, and Elm Grove Cemeteries
- Polk County, Cemetery Gravestone Records at FamilySearch
- Polk County: Highland Memory Gardens Cemetery Burials in Des Moines, Iowa
- Des Moines Funeral Home Indexes and St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Cemetery Burials from the Iowa Genealogical Society
Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society includes death and cemetery listings, probate records and more
Poweshiek County: Drake Community Library Obituary Database from newspapers of Grinnell and surrounding places in Poweshiek County
Poweshiek County: Hazelwood Cemetery Burials Grinnell, Iowa
Scott County and Davenport...
- Davenport Public Library Free Local Genealogy Database Search indexes obituaries, census mortality schedules, probate records, marriage announcements and other items
- Scott County Iowa Cemetery Search index of burials in 39 rural cemeteries; from the Scott County Library System
- Scott County Cemetery Transcriptions from the Scott County Iowa GenWeb
- Pine Hill Cemetery Burials (in Davenport) PDF files
- Fairmount Cemetery Burials (in Davenport) PDF
- Scott County, Oakdale Cemetery, Interment Records, 1856-1989 (in Davenport) at FamilySearch
Sioux County: Grace Hill Cemetery Burials in Hawarden, Iowa
Story County...
- Story County: Iowa State University Cemetery Burial Search in Ames, Iowa
- Story County: Ames Municipal Cemetery and Ontario Cemetery Maps and Records
- Story County: Roland Cemetery Burials
- Story County Death Certificate Index partial index mid 1904-1916 (surnames A-L only); complete index July 1919-June 1922 and 1934-1935; also has indexes for the WPA Tombstones Project and other items
Tama County Cemeteries
Taylor County Tombstone Inscriptions and Cemetery Burials
Taylor County - also see Page County above
Van Buren County GenWeb Genealogy Indexes includes Van Buren County Cemetery Burials Index, 1936 D.A.R. Grave Survey, Van Buren County SSDI, and other items
Waterloo - see Black Hawk County above
Webster County Death Certificate Index, 1925-1933 also has some cemetery burials
Woodbury County...
- Woodbury County Cemeteries

North Central Iowa Genealogy Society Obituary Database

Iowa Cemetery Records Online - including WPA Records

Iowa WPA Graves Survey - 1930s some counties not included - index of over 650,000 burials in Iowa
Iowa Gravestone Photo Project has over 1.3 million entries
Iowa Cemetery Records Index (WPA) at Ancestry (requires payment) includes 76 Iowa counties; most records are prior to the late 1930s; has over 685,000 records
Iowa Armed Forces Grave Registrations, ca. 1835-1998 from FamilySearch
Iowa, Adjutant General's Office, Grave Registration Service, Cemetery Records, 1800-2000 at FamilySearch; for Iowa veterans who were buried out of state, at sea or in foreign countries

Order Iowa Vital Records

Iowa Department of Public Health - Vital Records information on ordering birth, marriage and death certificates by mail (fees and restrictions apply)

Also Helpful...

Ancestry's Iowa Genealogy Records Collection (requires payment)
includes census, military and vital records, plus newspapers and city directories

Online Iowa Death Records and Indexes

A Genealogy Guide for Finding Obituaries, Cemetery Burials & Death Certificates