Find Bristol County Obituary Records
Bristol County obituary records are held by city and town clerk offices across the county, not at the county level. New Bedford, Fall River, and Taunton are the three largest cities, and each clerk keeps its own death records going back well over a century. You can search for obituary records in person at any of these offices, by phone, or by mail. The Fall River Public Library also runs a genealogy room with newspaper obituary indexes and microfilm collections. Historical obituary records from Bristol County date back to the late 1700s in some towns. This page covers every way to find and request obituary records from Bristol County sources.
Bristol County Overview
Fall River Clerk Office for Bristol County Obituary Records
The Fall River City Clerk handles all death records for Fall River residents. The office sits at 1 Government Center. Staff can look up death records and issue certified copies on the spot during business hours. Fall River is the second largest city in Bristol County, so a big share of the county's obituary records are filed here. You can call 508-324-2220 to check if a record is on file before you visit.
Fall River death records go back to the early 1800s. The clerk keeps the original filings for all deaths that took place in the city. If someone died in Fall River but lived somewhere else, the record is still filed with the Fall River clerk. That is how Massachusetts works. The death gets filed where it happened, not where the person had their home address.
The Fall River City Clerk website shows the office hours and contact details for requesting Bristol County obituary records from Fall River.
The clerk office is inside the main government building in downtown Fall River.
| Office | Fall River City Clerk |
|---|---|
| Address |
1 Government Center Fall River, MA 02722 |
| Phone | 508-324-2220 |
| Website | fallriverma.gov |
Fall River Library Genealogy for Obituary Research
The Fall River Public Library Genealogy Room is one of the best spots in Bristol County for obituary research. They hold newspapers on microfilm going back to the 1800s. The Herald News runs from 1929 to the present. The Daily Evening News covers 1862 to 1929. The Daily Globe has issues from 1885 to 1929. These papers carried death notices and full obituaries for Fall River and the surrounding Bristol County towns.
You can request obituary lookups by mail or email through the library. Staff will search their index and microfilm for you. They also have digitized Fall River newspapers from three time periods: 1859 to 1923, 1924 to 1979, and 1999 to current. City directories on microfilm go from 1853 to 1967, which help you confirm addresses and family connections when tracking down Bristol County obituary records. Vital records on microfilm cover 1803 to 1889, and census records for 1850, 1880, 1900, 1920, and 1930 are on site too.
The Fall River Public Library genealogy page lists available obituary research tools and how to submit a lookup request for Bristol County records.
The genealogy room has microfilm readers and staff who can help with obituary searches.
Church records transcribed by the American-French Genealogical Society are also at the library. These include baptism, marriage, and death records from Fall River's many Catholic parishes. For Portuguese-American families in Bristol County, these church records sometimes hold obituary details that never made it into the newspapers. WWI Draft Registration Cards round out the collection for early 1900s research.
Note: The Fall River Library genealogy staff can search obituary indexes by mail or email if you cannot visit Bristol County in person.
New Bedford and Taunton Obituary Records
New Bedford is the largest city in Bristol County. The City Clerk at 133 William Street keeps all death records for New Bedford. Call 508-979-1420 to ask about a specific record. The office issues certified copies of death certificates, which serve as the official proof of death for legal and genealogy purposes. New Bedford has a large Portuguese-American community, and many obituary records from the early 1900s are in Portuguese or bilingual.
The New Bedford Obituary Index covers 1900 to 1968 and is held at the Boston Public Library. This is a key resource for anyone searching Bristol County obituary records from that era. It indexes death notices from New Bedford newspapers and gives you the date and page number so you can pull the full obituary from microfilm. The New Bedford Free Public Library Special Collections also has local history materials and newspaper archives that help with obituary research.
You can also search for Bristol County death records through the New Bedford city website, which lists clerk office hours and contact information for vital records requests.
The city site has details on how to reach the New Bedford clerk for obituary and death record requests.
Taunton is the county seat of Bristol County. The Taunton City Clerk at 15 Summer Street handles death records for the city. Phone is 508-821-1024. Taunton also has the Old Colony Historical Society, which keeps archives useful for historical obituary research. The Taunton Public Library has a genealogy section with local newspapers and other records. The Taunton Daily Gazette is the main newspaper for obituary listings in the Taunton area.
| New Bedford City Clerk | 133 William St, New Bedford, MA 02740 | 508-979-1420 |
|---|---|
| Taunton City Clerk | 15 Summer St, Taunton, MA 02780 | 508-821-1024 |
Search Bristol County Death Records Online
The Massachusetts Archives Vital Records Search covers 1841 to 1910 and is free to use. Enter a name, pick the Bristol County town, select "Death" as the record type, and set your year range. Results show volume and page numbers that point to the original record books. Digital images of many records from 1841 to 1925 are available at no charge.
For more recent Bristol County obituary records, the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics holds death records from 1936 to the present. You can order copies online through VitalChek for $54, by mail for $32, or in person at their Dorchester office for $20. The state archives has records from 1841 to 1930, and staff will email free scans of up to five records if you write to archives@sec.state.ma.us.
The Bristol County death records page provides another way to look up obituary and death record information for the county.
This resource covers death record lookups for all Bristol County towns and cities.
Bristol County Obituary Newspapers
Newspapers are a primary source for obituary records in Bristol County. The New Bedford Standard-Times covers all of Greater New Bedford and runs daily obituary listings. The Fall River Herald News serves Fall River and the surrounding towns. The Taunton Daily Gazette covers the Taunton area. The Sun Chronicle handles Attleboro and North Attleborough. Each of these papers prints death notices and longer obituary write-ups that include details you won't find on a death certificate.
O Jornal is a Portuguese-language newspaper that serves Bristol County's large Portuguese-American community. It carries obituary notices that may not appear in the English-language papers. For historical research, Portuguese-American obituary collections exist for both New Bedford and Fall River. These are especially useful for tracing families who came from the Azores, Cape Verde, and mainland Portugal in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Bristol County obituary records from newspapers often contain more personal information than official death certificates. You get the person's full name, age, surviving family members, funeral home, burial location, and sometimes a short life story. For genealogy work, newspaper obituaries are often the single best record to find.
Historical Bristol County Obituary Records
Bristol County was formed in 1685, making it one of the four original Massachusetts counties. Death records in some towns go back to the 1700s, though consistent record keeping did not start until 1841 when the state began collecting vital records. The New Bedford Abstracts of Local News cover 1792 to 1871 and include death notices from that period.
Several groups maintain historical obituary records for Bristol County:
- Fall River Historical Society holds local obituary collections and death records
- Old Colony Historical Society in Taunton keeps archives with death and burial records
- New Bedford Free Public Library Special Collections has newspaper and obituary indexes
- Taunton Public Library genealogy section maintains local death record resources
- Fall River Public Library Local History Room has obituary files and clippings
Note: Bristol County vital records before 1841 are only available from the city or town clerk where the death was recorded.
Massachusetts Laws on Bristol County Death Records
Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 46, Section 11, the funeral director must file a death certificate with the city or town clerk where the death took place. Section 9 says a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant can sign the declaration of death. Section 17B gives the state registrar control over original records and certified copies. These laws apply to all Bristol County towns and cities the same way.
Death certificates in Massachusetts are public records. Anyone can request a copy. The one catch is that cause of death is restricted. Only the surviving spouse, parent, child, sibling, legal guardian, or someone with a documented legal interest can see the cause of death on a Bristol County death certificate. For most obituary research, this does not matter because the cause of death is not what people are looking for.
The Massachusetts Public Records Law under MGL c.66, Section 10 gives everyone the right to request government records. Agencies must respond within 10 business days. Copy fees are $0.05 per page for black and white. The first two hours of search time are free for towns over 20,000 people, and after that the rate caps at $25 per hour.
Cities in Bristol County
Bristol County has 20 cities and towns. Each one keeps its own obituary and death records at the local clerk office. The three largest cities all have dedicated pages with more details on their clerk offices and local resources.
Attleboro, Dartmouth, Mansfield, North Attleborough, Easton, Norton, Somerset, Swansea, Westport, Fairhaven, Acushnet, Freetown, Berkley, Dighton, Rehoboth, Seekonk, and Raynham also have town clerk offices that handle obituary record requests.
Nearby Counties
These counties border Bristol County. If you are not sure which county holds the obituary record you need, check where the death took place. The clerk in that city or town keeps the original record on file.