Find Worcester County Obituary Records
Worcester County obituary records are held by city and town clerks across the county's 60 communities. There is no single county-level vital records office here. Each town keeps its own death records. The Worcester City Clerk has the largest set, with death certificates from 1848 to the present. You can search for records online, by mail, or in person at any local clerk office. This guide walks through how to get obituary records in Worcester County, which offices to call, and where to look for historical death notices and newspaper obituaries from the region.
Worcester County Overview
Worcester City Clerk for Obituary Records
The Worcester City Clerk at 455 Main Street is the primary office for death records in the county seat. This office has death certificates for deaths that took place in Worcester or for Worcester residents who died elsewhere, going back to 1848. Earlier town records date to 1686. Staff can help with both recent and old requests. Walk-in hours run Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. You can also send a written request by mail or email CC_Amendments@worcesterma.gov for more details on how to order copies.
The Worcester City Clerk handles a large volume of obituary record requests each year. The city is the second-largest in New England with over 200,000 residents. That means a big share of Worcester County death records pass through this one office. If you are not sure where to start, call 508-799-1126. The staff can tell you if the record you need is on file or point you to the right town clerk if it happened somewhere else in the county.
The Worcester County public records portal lets you look up Worcester County obituary records and related public documents from local offices.
This site covers a range of Worcester County records and can help you find the right clerk office for your request.
| Office | Worcester City Clerk |
|---|---|
| Address |
455 Main Street Worcester, MA 01608 |
| Phone | 508-799-1126 |
| CC_Amendments@worcesterma.gov | |
| Hours | Monday - Friday, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM |
Worcester County Death Records Online
Worcester has a city death certificates search that covers 1976 to the present. This tool lets you check if a death record is on file before you pay for a certified copy. It's free to search. You type in a name and get back matching results with the year of death. From there, you can request the full certificate from the clerk office.
The Massachusetts Official Records page for Worcester County has details on how to find death certificates and obituary records across the county.
This resource breaks down the steps for requesting Worcester County death records by mail, online, or in person at a local clerk office.
For older Worcester County obituary records, the Massachusetts Archives Vital Records Search is a free database that covers 1841 to 1910. Pick "Death" as the record type, enter a name, and choose the town. Results give you volume and page numbers that match the original record books. Digital scans of many records from 1841 to 1925 are available at no cost. Staff at the State Archives will also email up to five free record scans if you write to archives@sec.state.ma.us.
Note: Worcester County does not keep vital records at the county level, so always contact the town clerk where the death took place for the fastest results.
Other Worcester County Town Clerk Offices
Worcester County has 60 cities and towns, each with its own clerk office that holds death and obituary records. If someone died in Fitchburg, you go to the Fitchburg City Clerk. If they died in Shrewsbury, you call the Shrewsbury Town Clerk. The system is decentralized. There is no county clerk that collects all records in one spot. Below are some of the larger communities and their contact information for obituary record requests.
| Fitchburg City Clerk | 718 Main St, Fitchburg, MA | 978-829-1800 |
|---|---|
| Leominster City Clerk | 25 West St, Leominster, MA | 978-534-7592 |
| Shrewsbury Town Clerk | 100 Maple Ave, Shrewsbury, MA | 508-841-8507 |
| Milford Town Clerk | 52 Main St, Room 12, Milford, MA | 508-473-6150 |
| Gardner City Clerk | 95 Pleasant St, Gardner, MA | 978-630-4005 |
| Southbridge Town Clerk | 41 Elm St, Southbridge, MA | 508-764-5408 |
| Webster Town Clerk | 350 Main St, Webster, MA | 508-949-3800 |
Many smaller towns in Worcester County also hold records going back well over a hundred years. Places like Rutland have death records to 1849 in their town records. Bolton, Berlin, Sterling, and Paxton all keep their own clerk offices with local obituary records. Call the town clerk first to ask what years they have on file and what the fee is for a copy. Most charge $10 for a certified death certificate, but fees can vary by town.
Historical Worcester County Obituary Records
Worcester County has a rich set of historical obituary records spread across multiple archives and collections. Town death records in the Worcester area go back to 1686. The city of Worcester itself has records from 1848 forward, with some earlier entries in the town books. The Worcester Evening Post Deaths Index covers 1897 to 1898 and is a useful source for that narrow time frame. Cemetery records round out the picture. Charlton Cemeteries Records, the West Street Cemetery Inscriptions in Fitchburg from 1798 to 1879, Evergreen Cemetery Burials in Leominster, Worcester County Memorial Park Cemetery Burials in Paxton, and the Southborough Rural Cemetery Burials are all available for genealogy research.
The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester is one of the top research libraries in the country for historical records. Their collection has early New England newspapers, town records, and manuscript collections that cover Worcester County obituary records going back centuries. The society sits at 185 Salisbury Street and is open to researchers by appointment. If you are tracing a family line through Worcester County, this is a place worth visiting in person.
The Worcester County Genealogy Trails obituary page has a free collection of historical obituaries pulled from old newspapers and public records across the county. These entries often have details you won't find on a death certificate, like the names of surviving family, burial locations, and short life summaries. It is a good first stop for anyone doing genealogy work in Worcester County.
Worcester County Obituary Genealogy Sources
Several libraries and museums in Worcester County have strong genealogy collections for obituary research. The Worcester Public Library holds a Local History Collection with city directories, vital record indexes, and newspaper clippings. The Fitchburg Public Library runs a Genealogy Room with materials focused on north-central Worcester County communities. The Leominster Public Library also keeps local history files that can help with death and obituary lookups in that part of the county.
The Worcester Historical Museum at 30 Elm Street has archives that include personal papers, photographs, and records tied to families in the Worcester area. For broader New England research, the New England Historic Genealogical Society runs AmericanAncestors.org, which holds the Massachusetts Vital Records Index from 1841 to 1920. That index covers death records from every town in Worcester County. NEHGS also has the Boston Jewish Advocate Obituary Index with over 24,500 notices from 1905 to 2007, which may include Worcester County residents who had ties to the Boston area.
Newspaper Obituaries in Worcester County
Newspapers are still one of the best ways to find obituary records in Worcester County. The Worcester Telegram and Gazette is the main daily paper and has run obituaries for over a century. It covers all of Worcester County and parts of central Massachusetts. Most funeral homes in the area place death notices in the Telegram and Gazette as a matter of routine. Back issues are on microfilm at the Worcester Public Library and through online newspaper archives.
The Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise serves the northern half of Worcester County. The Leominster Champion and Gardner News cover their own communities with local obituary listings that may not appear in the Telegram and Gazette. The Milford Daily News handles the southern part of the county. If you can't find an obituary in the main Worcester paper, try one of these smaller outlets. Local papers sometimes run longer death notices with more family details than what shows up in the regional paper.
Note: Many Worcester County newspaper obituaries from the 1800s and early 1900s have been digitized and are searchable through library databases and genealogy sites.
Massachusetts Laws on Worcester County Death Records
Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 46, Section 11, the funeral director must file the death certificate with the city or town clerk where the death happened. The clerk then sends a copy to the state registrar. Section 17B gives the state registrar control over original records and the right to issue certified copies. These rules apply to every town clerk in Worcester County.
Death certificates in Massachusetts are public records. Anyone can request a copy. The one catch is that the cause of death field is restricted. Only close family members, legal guardians, and people with a documented legal interest can see that part. General public copies come with the cause of death section left blank. For most obituary research purposes, this does not matter much. 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.
Cities in Worcester County
Worcester County has 60 cities and towns. Each maintains its own obituary and death records at the local clerk level.
Fitchburg, Leominster, Shrewsbury, Gardner, Milford, and other Worcester County communities also have city and town clerk offices that handle obituary record requests for their area.
Nearby Counties
These counties border Worcester 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 will have the original record on file.