Search Obituary, Death and Burial Records by Name
Enter the person’s first name, last name and last known state to prepare an obituary, death, burial, cemetery, memorial and related public-record search.
Find Recent Obituaries in NH, Funeral Notices & Official Death Records
Looking for recent obituaries in New Hampshire? Start with a statewide obituary search, then narrow by town, newspaper or funeral home. Use the funeral-home memorial for current service details and New Hampshire Vital Records when you need a certified death certificate rather than a public obituary.
Quick Answer: Best Place to Start
Recent notice
Use the statewide New Hampshire obituary page and filter by city, county, newspaper or funeral home.
Service details
Open the handling funeral home’s memorial before travelling to confirm date, time, address and cemetery.
Legal proof
Use New Hampshire Vital Records or an appropriate city/town clerk for a certified death certificate.
Older death
Use the State Archives, Genealogical Research Center, State Library or local historical collections.
How to Find Recent New Hampshire Obituaries by Name
New Hampshire Newspapers and Obituary Pages
New Hampshire does not have one newspaper that captures every death notice. Search the newspaper serving the person’s home area, then check the funeral home.
| Publication / route | Useful area | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Union Leader Obituaries | Manchester and statewide NH coverage | Recent newspaper notices, publish-date browsing, funeral-home filters. |
| Concord Monitor Obituaries | Concord, Merrimack County and central NH | Central New Hampshire notices and local family announcements. |
| Valley News Obituaries | Lebanon, Hanover, Claremont and Upper Valley | Upper Valley New Hampshire and Vermont-border communities. |
| Seacoast Obituary Alerts | Portsmouth and Seacoast region | Daily Seacoastonline obituary email alerts. |
| Foster’s Daily Democrat | Dover, Rochester and Strafford County | Search current Dover-area notices and use Dover Public Library for many older Foster’s notices. |
| The Telegraph | Nashua and southern Hillsborough County | Search Nashua-area names, then confirm details with the funeral home. |
| Keene Sentinel | Keene and Cheshire County | Current local notices; historical indexes are available through Keene-area research resources. |
Search by New Hampshire Region
Manchester & southern NH
Search Manchester, Bedford, Goffstown, Hooksett, Derry, Londonderry and nearby Hillsborough/Rockingham County communities.
Nashua area
Search Nashua, Hudson, Merrimack, Hollis, Amherst, Milford and southern Hillsborough County.
Concord & central NH
Search Concord, Bow, Pembroke, Boscawen, Franklin, Hopkinton and Merrimack County.
Seacoast
Search Portsmouth, Dover, Rochester, Exeter, Hampton and surrounding Rockingham/Strafford County communities.
Monadnock region
Search Keene, Swanzey, Chesterfield, Jaffrey, Peterborough and Cheshire County.
Upper Valley & North Country
Search Lebanon, Hanover, Claremont, Littleton, Berlin, Lancaster and surrounding Grafton/Coos/Sullivan County communities.
Verify the Correct Person Before Sharing a Notice
| Check | Why it matters | Pause when… |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Similar names can appear in different NH towns. | Middle name, nickname or surname conflicts. |
| Age / dates | Separates a current death from an older notice. | Age or date is clearly wrong. |
| Relatives | Family names are strong identity clues. | No close relatives match. |
| Town | New Hampshire has many small towns with overlapping surname histories. | The person has no known connection to the listed town. |
| Funeral home | Usually provides the strongest current service information. | The funeral home is in an unrelated region. |
| Publish date | A memorial or anniversary notice may appear long after the death. | You are treating publication date as death date without confirmation. |
Verify Funeral Details Before Travelling
Date & time
Calling hours, funeral, memorial, Mass and graveside service may be separate events.
Address
The funeral home, church, cemetery and reception may be in different towns.
Public or private
Do not assume every service is open to the public.
Livestream
Use only a livestream linked by the funeral home, church or family-authorized memorial.
Flowers & donations
Follow the family’s stated preference and verify a charity through its official website.
Last-minute change
Call when weather, winter travel or conflicting pages could affect arrangements.
New Hampshire Death Certificate Cost & Request Steps
New Hampshire’s Division of Vital Records Administration issues certified death certificates. Qualified requesters can also use participating local city and town clerks where the record is available.
| NH vital-record item | Current amount | Important detail |
|---|---|---|
| First record search / certified copy | $15 | The search fee applies whether or not the record is located; when found, it includes one certified copy. |
| Additional same record | $10 each | Must be issued at the same time for the same record. |
| Recent death record access | Restricted | Requester generally must show a direct and tangible interest. |
| Death record more than 50 years old | Public-domain access | Older death records are exempt from the normal access restriction. |
State Vital Records office
Division of Vital Records Administration
New Hampshire Department of State
9 Ratification Way
Concord, NH 03301-2455
Phone: 603-271-4650
The current state page lists appointment-based lobby access Monday–Friday, generally 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
Request microsteps
Who Can Access a New Hampshire Death Record?
Recent records
New Hampshire treats recent vital records as private. The applicant generally needs an immediate-family relationship, legal authority or another documented “direct and tangible interest.”
Older records
Death, marriage and divorce records more than 50 years old are treated as public-domain records for research purposes.
How to Find Older New Hampshire Obituaries
For an older death, use newspaper archives together with official historical records. A short 19th- or early 20th-century death notice may not contain the word “obituary.”
NH Genealogical Research Center
Use older vital records and historical research resources at the Department of State in Concord.
NH State Archives
Search probate records, military material, town records, court records, Civil War death rolls and other family-history sources.
NH State Library
The State Library maintains New Hampshire newspaper and microfilm collections plus genealogy material such as town histories, directories and vital-record resources.
Better historical search method
- Start with surname + town + approximate year.
- Search “died,” “death,” “funeral,” “burial” and “services,” not only “obituary.”
- Try spouse, parent, occupation, church or cemetery.
- Check probate records when the newspaper search fails.
- Use a town history or city directory to confirm residence.
- Search nearby newspapers if the person lived near a county or state border.
Useful Local New Hampshire Obituary Archives
Keene Sentinel research
Keene Public Library says the Historical Society of Cheshire County maintains a Keene Sentinel obituary index from 1985 to the present. The Library also has Sentinel microfilm back to 1799 and digitized historic Keene newspapers.
Foster’s Daily Democrat index
Dover Public Library provides a local obituary index covering many Foster’s Daily Democrat obituaries printed during the 20th century.
How to Verify a New Hampshire Funeral Director or Funeral Home
New Hampshire regulates funeral directors, embalmers and funeral homes. State rules require funeral-service businesses preparing or handling human remains for final disposition to hold the applicable funeral-home license.
Burial or Cremation Assistance in New Hampshire
New Hampshire law places some burial and cremation responsibilities with local cities and towns when an assisted person dies and lacks sufficient resources.
Municipal welfare route
For an assisted person, New Hampshire law provides that the city or town welfare authority may arrange burial or cremation at municipal expense under qualifying circumstances.
Action: contact the welfare office in the appropriate municipality before assuming a funeral invoice will be reimbursed.
Existing liquid assets
For a town/city assisted person, state law can assign available liquid assets toward funeral, burial or cremation costs up to $2,000 in qualifying circumstances.
Action: ask the funeral director or municipal welfare office how the statute applies to the specific estate.
Indigent Veteran
New Hampshire law provides a municipal burial route for certain qualifying Veterans who die without enough estate resources to pay funeral expenses.
Work-related death
New Hampshire workers’ compensation law currently provides burial expenses up to $10,000 when the death falls within the workers’ compensation statute.
Action: do not treat this as general funeral assistance; it applies to qualifying work-related deaths.
New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery
The New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery provides a final resting place for eligible Veterans and dependents. The cemetery is in Boscawen and currently has open burial space.
Location & contact
New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery
110 Daniel Webster Highway
Boscawen, NH 03303
Phone: 603-796-2026
Current access
The cemetery office currently lists weekday office hours, while cemetery grounds are open from dawn to dusk seven days a week.
What to do first
- Locate the Veteran’s discharge documents.
- Use the cemetery’s eligibility pre-certification application when planning ahead.
- Call the cemetery when dependent eligibility is unclear.
- Ask about current dependent interment fees before making financial assumptions.
- Review separate VA burial allowance, marker, flag and memorial benefits.
Funeral Price Rights Before You Pay
The federal FTC Funeral Rule applies in New Hampshire. It gives families important rights when comparing funeral goods and services.
Ask for prices by phone
A funeral provider must give price information over the phone when you ask.
Get a General Price List
When arranging services in person, ask for the itemized General Price List and keep it.
Choose individual services
You generally have the right to buy only the goods and services you want instead of an unwanted package.
Separate third-party charges
Ask which charges come from the funeral home and which come from the cemetery, crematory, newspaper, clergy or other provider.
Flowers, Donations, Guestbooks & Livestream Safety
Flowers
Use the family-authorized obituary or funeral-home page and verify the correct person before ordering.
Donations
Open the named charity’s own website instead of paying through an unfamiliar copied obituary page.
Guestbook
Assume messages are public. Do not post account numbers, private addresses, medical details or family disputes.
Livestream
Use only a link supplied by the funeral home, church or authorized memorial page.
After You Find the Obituary
- Save the obituary URL and funeral-home memorial separately.
- Write down service and cemetery addresses separately.
- Ask the funeral home whether the death was reported to Social Security.
- Order certified death certificates only when an organization requires them.
- Check Veteran, municipal welfare or work-related burial benefits when applicable.
- Keep receipts, confirmation numbers and benefit correspondence together.
- Protect certificates and personal information from public guestbooks or social media.
Common New Hampshire Obituary Search Mistakes
Searching only the state
Add town, county, funeral home or newspaper to narrow thousands of NH results.
Using only one newspaper
Families may publish in a local newspaper, funeral-home website, regional paper or no newspaper at all.
Treating publication date as death date
An obituary may appear days or weeks later. Confirm the actual death date in the notice.
Ordering the wrong state record
Use the jurisdiction where the death occurred, not simply the person’s home state.
Assuming no obituary means no death
Families may choose a private service, delayed notice or no public obituary.
Skipping historical libraries
For older deaths, local library indexes and newspaper microfilm can outperform general web searches.
Related RecentObituaries.info Guides
Obituary Search & Recent Notices Guide
Search by name, location, newspaper, funeral home, cemetery and date.
Death Certificate & Vital Records Guide
Know when a public obituary is not enough for legal use.
Funeral Costs & Consumer Rights
Understand price lists, itemized choices and funeral payment protections.
Veterans Burial & Memorial Benefits
VA cemetery, burial allowance, marker, flag and memorial benefit guidance.
After-Death Notification Checklist
Organize Social Security, banks, insurance, records, mail and benefit notifications.
Official & Primary Sources
New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration State death records, access rules, applications and genealogy information. New Hampshire Certificate Requests Current certificate application and state mailing route. New Hampshire Vital Record Access Rules Direct-and-tangible-interest rule and public-domain age limits. New Hampshire Genealogy Resources Probate, military, town, census and other historical research collections. New Hampshire State Archives Historical state and local records for deeper family-history research. New Hampshire OPLC License Lookup Professional-license verification, including regulated funeral professionals. New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery Eligibility, burial application, archive and Boscawen cemetery information. New Hampshire Obituary Directory Statewide city, county, newspaper and funeral-home obituary search.Recent Obituaries in NH FAQs
Where can I find recent obituaries in New Hampshire?
Start with a statewide New Hampshire obituary directory, then narrow by city, county, newspaper or funeral home. Use the funeral-home memorial to confirm current service information.
What newspapers publish New Hampshire obituaries?
Major routes include the Union Leader, Concord Monitor, Valley News, Portsmouth Herald/Seacoastonline, Foster’s Daily Democrat, The Telegraph and Keene Sentinel, along with many local and regional funeral-home sites.
How do I find an NH obituary by name?
Search the full name plus NH or New Hampshire. If needed, add the town, county, newspaper, funeral home, spouse, maiden name, school or cemetery.
Why can’t I find a recent New Hampshire obituary?
The family may not have published one, the notice may be delayed, it may appear only on a funeral-home site, or it may use a nickname, maiden name or different town.
How much is a New Hampshire death certificate?
The current New Hampshire vital-record search fee is $15. If the record is found, that includes one certified copy. Additional copies of the same record issued at the same time are $10 each.
Are New Hampshire death records public?
Recent death records are restricted to people with a direct and tangible interest. Death records more than 50 years old are considered public-domain records under New Hampshire law.
Where do I order a New Hampshire death certificate?
Use the New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration or the appropriate city/town clerk when that office can issue the record.
What ID is needed for an NH death certificate?
New Hampshire requires positive identification for certified vital-record requests. Check the current application for accepted identification and alternatives when photo ID is unavailable.
How can I find old New Hampshire obituaries?
Use the NH Genealogical Research Center, State Archives, State Library newspaper collections and local library/historical-society newspaper indexes.
Where can I find old Keene Sentinel obituaries?
Keene Public Library says the Historical Society of Cheshire County maintains an obituary index for Keene Sentinel notices from 1985 to the present, while the Library holds older Sentinel microfilm and digitized historical newspapers.
Where can I search old Foster’s Daily Democrat obituaries?
Dover Public Library provides a local obituary index containing many Foster’s Daily Democrat obituaries printed during the 20th century.
How do I verify a New Hampshire funeral director?
Use the New Hampshire Office of Professional Licensure and Certification license lookup and search the funeral director, embalmer or applicable funeral business.
Does New Hampshire provide burial assistance?
New Hampshire law provides municipal burial or cremation responsibilities in certain cases involving assisted persons. Contact the appropriate city or town welfare office because eligibility is case-specific.
Does New Hampshire have a Veterans cemetery?
Yes. The New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery is at 110 Daniel Webster Highway in Boscawen. It currently has open burial space for eligible Veterans and dependents.
What should I check before attending a funeral?
Confirm the correct person, date, time, exact address, public/private status, cemetery, parking, accessibility and livestream through the handling funeral home.
Is an obituary the same as a certified death certificate?
No. An obituary is a public notice or memorial. A certified death certificate is an official government record used for estate, insurance, banking, benefit and legal purposes.
Before You Share, Travel or Pay
- Match the correct person using name, age, relatives, town and funeral home.
- Use the funeral-home memorial for final service details.
- Use NH Vital Records or the correct local clerk for certified records.
- Use State Archives and local libraries for historical obituary research.
- Verify unfamiliar funeral professionals through New Hampshire OPLC.
- Check municipal, Veteran or work-related burial assistance when applicable.
- Use official cemetery contacts rather than relying only on third-party grave pages.
- Keep private medical, financial and family information out of public guestbooks.
RecentObituaries.info is an independent source-navigation guide. It is not a newspaper, funeral home, cemetery, New Hampshire government office, library or Veterans agency. Verify final service details, certificate fees, record access, eligibility and benefit information with the organization responsible for them.