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Find Defiance Obituaries, Funeral Services and Death Records
Looking for recent obituaries in Defiance, Ohio? Start with local funeral-home obituary pages or The Crescent-News. Confirm the person and funeral details on the original memorial before visiting, sharing information or sending flowers.
This guide also explains how to find older notices, request Ohio death certificates, check local cemetery information and locate assistance for qualifying families.
Source review: October 15, 2026. This is an independent guide, not a live obituary database.
Where to Look First
Recent obituary
Search the Schaffer Funeral Home obituary listings or the Defiance-area notices on Legacy.
Newspaper notice
Search The Crescent-News, then confirm visitation or burial arrangements through the handling funeral home.
Official death record
Contact Defiance County General Health District for a death certificate when the death occurred in Defiance County.
How to Find Recent Defiance, Ohio Obituaries
There is no need to check every obituary website. Start with an original funeral-home listing, use newspaper coverage when necessary, and confirm that you have found the correct person.
- Search the full name. Start with the first and last name. If no result appears, try the surname alone.
- Use Defiance as the location. Add “Defiance OH” or “Defiance County” to avoid other same-name results.
- Check the publication date. An obituary may appear several days after the death. Search a wider period if needed.
- Try other names. Maiden names, nicknames, middle initials and former surnames can change the results.
- Open the original memorial. Compare the person’s age, family members, hometown and funeral home.
- Confirm the service. Check the exact date, venue, address and whether the funeral is open to the public.
Defiance Funeral Homes and Official Memorial Pages
Funeral-home websites are especially useful for confirming current service arrangements and finding family-approved flowers, donations or guestbook instructions.
Schaffer Funeral Home
Main location: 529 Jefferson Avenue, Defiance, OH 43512.
South / Lawson-Roessner Chapel: 1753 S. Clinton Street, Defiance, OH 43512.
Phone: 419-784-2441
Its website offers obituary search, recent notices, email obituary updates, funeral planning and grief resources.
Oberlin-Turnbull Funeral Home & Crematory
A useful source for notices involving nearby northwest Ohio communities, including Sherwood and Bryan.
Its obituary search supports searching names, obituary text and date ranges, with a separate veteran-obituary filter.
Search Other Defiance County Communities
Try the town where the person lived, where the funeral took place or where relatives live. Nearby newspaper and funeral-home coverage may cross county and state lines.
Defiance area
Defiance, Ayersville, Noble Township and surrounding communities.
Eastern county
Sherwood, Hicksville, Mark Center and Farmer.
Western and southern area
Ney, Evansport and nearby rural communities.
For residents with connections to Bryan, Napoleon, Archbold, Paulding or Fort Wayne, search the original funeral home as well as the Defiance-area newspaper.
What to Check Before Attending a Funeral
Visitation
Check the time separately from the funeral service and confirm the building address.
Funeral or memorial
Confirm the day, start time, church or chapel, and whether attendance is public or private.
Burial
Check the cemetery name and whether there is a separate graveside service.
Flowers or donations
Use the family’s memorial instructions. Verify any charity on its own website.
Livestream
Only use links from the funeral home, church or family-authorized memorial.
Accessibility
Call ahead if you need accessible parking, seating, entrances or other assistance.
Defiance County Death Certificates: Office, Fees and Steps
The Defiance County General Health District maintains local death records for deaths occurring in the county from late 1908 onward. Ohio death records are generally public, although information such as a recently deceased person’s Social Security number has special access restrictions.
Defiance County General Health District
Vital Statistics
1300 East Second Street, Suite 100
Defiance, OH 43512
Phone: 419-784-3818
Website: Defiance County Health District
Death certificate pricing and availability
| Item | What to know |
|---|---|
| Local certified copy | The county’s published application lists $25 per copy, but that form is dated 2016. Call the office to confirm the current 2026 amount before ordering. |
| Recent death | A newly filed record may not yet be registered. The county’s published instructions warn that registration can take four weeks or longer in some situations. |
| Older local records | The health district’s historic materials identify local death records beginning in December 1908. |
| Statewide record option | Ohio Bureau of Vital Statistics provides a separate statewide record-ordering route. Verify the relevant record years and fees there. |
How to request a certified copy
- Confirm the place of death. A person may have lived in Defiance but died in another Ohio county or in Indiana.
- Prepare the full legal name and death date. Add approximate date or other identifying information if the exact date is uncertain.
- Contact Vital Statistics. Confirm the current fee, acceptable payment methods, office hours and whether mail or in-person service suits your request.
- Ask about SSN access if necessary. Recent Ohio certificates normally omit the decedent’s Social Security number for requesters who do not qualify for that information.
- Submit through the official office or authorized ordering channel. Keep your receipt and request details.
Older Defiance Obituaries and Newspaper Archives
Defiance Public Library System has useful resources for researching people who died years or decades ago, including the Ohio Obituary Index, NewspaperArchive, genealogy databases and military-history collections.
Defiance Public Library
320 Fort Street
Defiance, OH 43512
Phone: 419-782-1456
The library offers a genealogy-question service. Staff ask for specific names, dates and Defiance County locations, and state that research is limited to 20 minutes per request.
Useful free service: The library says it can mail up to five photocopies at no charge as part of its genealogy-question service.
How to research an older notice
- Write the person’s full name, known nicknames, spouse and approximate death year.
- Search the Ohio Obituary Index through the Defiance Public Library digital resources page.
- Try The Crescent-News in NewspaperArchive or another available newspaper collection.
- Search terms such as “died,” “funeral,” “interment” and the person’s surname.
- If the source identifies a date or newspaper but not a full article, request a targeted lookup from the library.
Riverside Cemetery in Defiance: Burial Records, Contact and Costs
Riverside Cemetery is a city-managed cemetery in Defiance. Its official webpage includes cemetery contact details, posted burial charges, grave-lot pricing and rules documents.
Riverside Cemetery Office
1417 S. Clinton Street
Defiance, OH 43512
Cemetery Sexton: 419-784-2253
Office hours: Monday–Friday, 7 a.m.–3 p.m.
After-hours contact listed for weekday afternoons: 419-784-2745
Finding a burial location
Have the deceased person’s name, approximate burial year and any known family plot information ready.
Ask the cemetery office whether it can identify the section, lot or grave before travelling.
Published Riverside Cemetery prices
The city’s public cemetery page provides the following schedule. Because an additional city fee document discusses updates, confirm the latest adopted charges with the cemetery before making any payment.
| Service | Published amount |
|---|---|
| Adult weekday interment | $425 on the cemetery webpage schedule |
| Adult Saturday interment | $525 on the webpage schedule |
| Adult Sunday / holiday interment | $575 on the webpage schedule |
| Weekday burial of ashes | $225 on the webpage schedule |
| One grave lot, city resident | $400 on the webpage schedule |
| One grave lot, nonresident | $475 on the webpage schedule |
| Mausoleum opening/closing | $525 on the webpage schedule |
The official cemetery page also includes rules and regulations, veterans memorial documents and seasonal decoration/cleanup information.
Defiance Local Benefits and Financial Assistance
Some families may qualify for support, but eligibility must be checked before assuming expenses will be paid.
Indigent burial or cremation
Ohio Revised Code 9.15 establishes certain local-government responsibilities for burial or cremation when a deceased person is indigent and the statutory conditions apply.
Ohio’s current indigent burial support program reimburses eligible local governments—not individual family members or funeral homes.
For fiscal year 2027, the board lists maximum local-government reimbursements of $1,000 for an adult and $750 for a child under 12, subject to funding and program rules.
Defiance County Veterans Service Commission
The county’s accredited service officers help eligible veterans and dependents with VA survivor benefits, burial and memorial benefits, headstones, markers, DD-214 records and emergency relief.
Phone: 419-782-6861
What to do if funeral costs cannot be covered
- Tell the funeral director that available funds are limited before agreeing to a package.
- Ask for an itemized General Price List and a basic burial/cremation comparison.
- Contact the appropriate city or township office to ask whether Ohio’s indigent-disposition provisions may apply.
- If the deceased was a veteran, contact Defiance County Veterans Service Commission and check available VA benefits.
- Keep invoices, estimates and payment records.
Funeral Price Rights and Provider Verification in Ohio
The Federal Trade Commission Funeral Rule gives families the right to ask for price information by telephone and to receive an itemized General Price List when discussing arrangements in person. Consumers can generally select individual services instead of unwanted packages.
Before signing
- Request the General Price List.
- Ask whether transportation, crematory, cemetery or newspaper fees are separate.
- Check flower and donation instructions with the family-authorized memorial.
- Ask for a written total before payment.
Check an Ohio provider
Use the Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors or the state’s license-verification service to check a funeral director or establishment when necessary.
What If You Cannot Find a Defiance Obituary?
Different name
Try maiden names, married names, nicknames and common spelling variations.
Different community
Search the person’s hometown, nearby county, church or funeral-home location.
Delayed or private notice
The family may choose a later announcement or no public obituary.
Older newspaper
Use Defiance Public Library and the Ohio Obituary Index.
Funeral-home-only memorial
A notice may appear on the funeral home’s site without a newspaper publication.
Need legal proof
Contact Vital Statistics rather than relying on a missing obituary search result.
After Finding the Obituary: Next Steps
- Save the original obituary and funeral-home memorial links.
- Confirm service and cemetery addresses separately.
- Keep the family-approved donation or flowers information.
- Ask the funeral director whether the death was reported to Social Security.
- Check which institutions require certified death certificates.
- If military service applies, ask about burial flags, markers and VA benefits.
- Keep financial documents, passwords and account information out of public guestbooks.
Defiance, Ohio Obituary FAQs
Where can I find recent obituaries in Defiance, Ohio?
Start with Schaffer Funeral Home’s official obituary listings, Defiance-area notices on Legacy and The Crescent-News obituary archive. Confirm current service details on the handling funeral home’s website.
How do I find Defiance obituaries published today?
Check the latest funeral-home listings and the Defiance-area obituary page, then review the actual publication date. Not every recent death has an obituary published the same day.
Does The Crescent-News publish Defiance obituaries?
Yes. The Crescent-News is a local obituary source associated with Defiance. Archived newspaper notices can also be searched through obituary archive services.
How can I search Schaffer Funeral Home obituaries?
Open its official obituary page, enter the person’s name, select the matching memorial and confirm identity and service information.
Where do I request a Defiance County death certificate?
Contact Defiance County General Health District Vital Statistics at 1300 East Second Street, Suite 100, Defiance, Ohio, or call 419-784-3818.
How much does a Defiance County death certificate cost?
The county’s older published application lists $25 per certified copy. Because that form dates to 2016, confirm the current fee directly with the health district before ordering.
Can anyone request an Ohio death certificate?
Ohio death records are generally public. However, the deceased person’s Social Security number is restricted on recently issued certificates except for qualifying requesters.
How do I find older Defiance County obituaries?
Use Defiance Public Library’s Ohio Obituary Index, NewspaperArchive and genealogy-question service. Include names, dates and locations in your request.
Where is Riverside Cemetery in Defiance?
Riverside Cemetery is at 1417 South Clinton Street, Defiance, Ohio 43512. The cemetery office telephone number is 419-784-2253.
Does Defiance County offer veterans burial help?
Defiance County Veterans Service Commission helps eligible veterans and dependents with VA survivor, burial, memorial, headstone and marker benefits. Call 419-782-6861.
Can Ohio help when a family cannot afford burial or cremation?
Ohio law provides certain local-government responsibilities for indigent burial or cremation. Local officials decide eligibility; the state reimbursement program is not a direct family payment program.
What if a funeral notice has the wrong date or spelling?
Contact the funeral home or publisher responsible for that notice. A correction to public obituary text does not automatically amend a certified death certificate.