what is an obituary?

       An obituary is a brief news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries were not only written for people considered significant, but also for those family members who wished to write longer memorials dedicated to people they loved and respected. 

       Some people still practice the archiving of obituaries in the parish, church or synagogue attended by their former members. These kinds of archives are becoming increasingly important records, given the current lack death notices in newspapers and the modern practice of listing deaths online. Without the parish records and newspaper notices, many deaths go increasingly unrecorded every year.

      Remember, when families choose to list obituaries on free websites hosted by funeral directors, the information about their loved one's death is not usually maintained beyond one year, unless a small fee is paid annually to keep it online. This is why it is paramount to keep death records/obituaries archived in your community library or church archives through a paper trail. 

       Below is the minimum information one should include in a local archive for death notices and/or obituaries:

1. Name and date of person's death and birth
2. Names of person's children
3. A listing of spouse(s) dead or alive
4. Location of person's death
5. A listing of person's siblings is very helpful
6. Surviving family members
7. Professional information
8. Funeral service details, if there is a funeral or wake

       If possible, it is important to appoint a reliable member of your family, to keep family records, documents, photographs etc...  With today's technology, this type of detailed record keeping is made increasingly possible. However, it is important to keep birth dates and social security information private and offline! Also, do not include current photographs of young children accessible to the public. Include this information at much later date; after they have aged considerably.

more quotes and verse about death

When the pure soul is from the body flown,

No more shall night's alternate reign be known;

The sun no more shall rolling light bestow,

But from th' Almights streams of glory flow.

Oh, may some nobler thought my soul employ

Than empty, transient, sublunary joy!

The stars shall drop, the sun shall lose his flame,

But Thou, O, God! for ever shine the same.

                                                     John Gray.

It is not death at all; it is life. Some one said to a person dying:

"Well, you are in the land of the living yet." "No," said he, "I am

in the land of the dying yet, but I am going to the land of the living;

they live there and never die." This is the land of sin and death and

tears, but up yonder they never die. It is perpetual life; it is unceasing.

                                                                                             D. L. Moody.

"When life's close knot, by writ from Destiny,

Disease shall cut, or age untie;

When, after some delays--some dying strife--

The soul stands shiv'ring on the ridge of life;

With what a dreadful curiosity

Doth she launch out into the sea of vast eternity."

                                John Norris, 1690.

" 'Tis immortality,--'tis that alone,

Amidst life's pains, abasements, emptiness,

The soul can comfort, elevate, and fill."

                                          Young

"Ah, yes! the hour has come

When thou must hasten home

Pure soul, to Him who calls;

The God who gave the breath

Walks by the side of death,

And naught that step appals."

                            Landor.

This illustrious Englishman wrote to his wife from the tower of London, just before his execution. "Time and death call me away. The everlasting God, powerful, infinate, and inscrutable God Almighty, who is goodness itself, the true light and life, keep you and yours, and have mercy on me, and forgive my persecutors and false accusers, and send us to meet in his glorious kingdom! My dear wife, farewell! bless my boy; pray for me; and may my true God hold you both in his arms! "Yours that was, but not now mine own."

                                                                                                          Walter Raleigh.

"His spirit, with a bound,

Burst its encumb'ring clay;

His tent, at sunrise, on the ground,

A blaken'd ruin lay."

                       Montgomery.

"An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave.

Legions of angels can't confine me there!"

                                                   Young.

"Why should we dwell on that which lies beneath,

When living light hath touch'd the brow of death?

                                                            Hemans.

"The eternal flow of things,

Like a bright river of the fields of heaven,

Shall journey onward in eternal peace."

                                                Bryant.

John, is but gone an hour or two sooner to bed, as children are used to do, and we are undressing to follow. And the more we put off the love of the present world, and all things superfluous beforehand, we shall have the less to do when we lie down.

                                                                                                            Archbishop Leighton.

Babes thither caught from womb and breast,

Claim right to sing above the rest;

Because they found the happy shore,

They neither saw nor sought before.

                                  Erskine.

"Death is an equal doom

To good and bad, the common inn of rest;

But after death the trial is to come,

When best shall be to them who lived best."

                                         Spenser.

"If yonder stars be fill'd with forms of breathing clay like ours,

Perchance the space which spreads between is for a spirit's powers."

                                                                                  Longfellow.

"These birds of paradise but long to flee

Back to their native mansion."

                          Prophecy of Dante.

"We miss them when the board is spread,

We miss them when the prayer is said;

Upon our dreams their dying eyes

In still and mournful fondness lies.

                               Newman.

May he find a Savior's breast

That when life's weary journey's o'er,

He may--to wake in sin no more--

Sleep there,

Free from care,

As on his mother's breast.

                    John S. B. Monsell.

quotes and verse about death

When the pure soul is from the body flown,

No more shall night's alternate reign be known;

The sun no more shall rolling light bestow,

But from th' Almights streams of glory flow.

Oh, may some nobler thought my soul employ

Than empty, transient, sublunary joy!

The stars shall drop, the sun shall lose his flame,

But Thou, O, God! for ever shine the same.

                                                     John Gray.

It is not death at all; it is life. Some one said to a person dying:

"Well, you are in the land of the living yet." "No," said he, "I am

in the land of the dying yet, but I am going to the land of the living;

they live there and never die." This is the land of sin and death and

tears, but up yonder they never die. It is perpetual life; it is unceasing.

                                                                                             D. L. Moody.

"When life's close knot, by writ from Destiny,

Disease shall cut, or age untie;

When, after some delays--some dying strife--

The soul stands shiv'ring on the ridge of life;

With what a dreadful curiosity

Doth she launch out into the sea of vast eternity."

                                John Norris, 1690.

" 'Tis immortality,--'tis that alone,

Amidst life's pains, abasements, emptiness,

The soul can comfort, elevate, and fill."

                                          Young

"Ah, yes! the hour has come

When thou must hasten home

Pure soul, to Him who calls;

The God who gave the breath

Walks by the side of death,

And naught that step appals."

                            Landor.

This illustrious Englishman wrote to his wife from the tower of London, just before his execution. "Time and death call me away. The everlasting God, powerful, infinate, and inscrutable God Almighty, who is goodness itself, the true light and life, keep you and yours, and have mercy on me, and forgive my persecutors and false accusers, and send us to meet in his glorious kingdom! My dear wife, farewell! bless my boy; pray for me; and may my true God hold you both in his arms! "Yours that was, but not now mine own."

                                                                                                          Walter Raleigh.

"His spirit, with a bound,

Burst its encumb'ring clay;

His tent, at sunrise, on the ground,

A blaken'd ruin lay."

                       Montgomery.

"An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave.

Legions of angels can't confine me there!"

                                                   Young.

"Why should we dwell on that which lies beneath,

When living light hath touch'd the brow of death?

                                                            Hemans.

"The eternal flow of things,

Like a bright river of the fields of heaven,

Shall journey onward in eternal peace."

                                                Bryant.

John, is but gone an hour or two sooner to bed, as children are used to do, and we are undressing to follow. And the more we put off the love of the present world, and all things superfluous beforehand, we shall have the less to do when we lie down.

                                                                                                            Archbishop Leighton.

Babes thither caught from womb and breast,

Claim right to sing above the rest;

Because they found the happy shore,

They neither saw nor sought before.

                                  Erskine.

"Death is an equal doom

To good and bad, the common inn of rest;

But after death the trial is to come,

When best shall be to them who lived best."

                                         Spenser.

"If yonder stars be fill'd with forms of breathing clay like ours,

Perchance the space which spreads between is for a spirit's powers."

                                                                                  Longfellow.

"These birds of paradise but long to flee

Back to their native mansion."

                          Prophecy of Dante.

"We miss them when the board is spread,

We miss them when the prayer is said;

Upon our dreams their dying eyes

In still and mournful fondness lies.

                               Newman.

May he find a Savior's breast

That when life's weary journey's o'er,

He may--to wake in sin no more--

Sleep there,

Free from care,

As on his mother's breast.

                    John S. B. Monsell.