Losing someone is heavy. It's a weight that doesn't just sit in your chest; it changes how you navigate the world. When you're trying to track down Florida Times Union obituaries, you aren't just looking for data. You're looking for a legacy. Maybe you’re searching for a long-lost cousin from Riverside, or perhaps you need to verify a date for a legal matter in Duval County. Whatever the reason, the process is kind of a mess if you don't know where the digital and physical paper trails actually lead.
Jacksonville is a big city with a small-town memory. The Florida Times-Union has been the "Paper of Record" for the First Coast since the late 1800s. Because of that, their obituary section is basically the definitive history of Northeast Florida's people. But honestly? Finding an old notice isn't as simple as a quick Google search anymore. Paywalls, broken archive links, and the shift to platforms like Legacy.com have made things... complicated.
Where the Records Actually Live Now
If you are looking for a recent death notice—say, within the last couple of years—your first stop is inevitably the official Times-Union portal hosted by Legacy. This is where the modern stuff sits. It’s searchable by name, date range, and keyword. But here is the thing: these are often "paid" notices.
In the old days, every death got a mention. Now? If the family didn't pay for a featured obituary, you might only find a "Death Notice," which is a bare-bones listing of the name, age, and funeral home. It’s a bit frustrating. You might be looking for a life story and find a single sentence instead.
For the deep history—the stuff from the 1920s through the 1990s—you have to get your hands dirty with actual archives. The Jacksonville Public Library (JPL) is the real hero here. They maintain a massive microfilm collection at the Main Library downtown. If you can’t make it to Laura Street, their "Special Collections" department has an online index that covers a massive chunk of the Florida Times-Union history. It’s not always a full-text scan, but it gives you the date and page number. That is the "Golden Ticket" you need to request a copy from a librarian or a research service.
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The Digital Gap and Why It Happens
Ever notice how some years seem missing? You search for Florida Times Union obituaries from 2005 and get a million results, but 1988 is a total ghost town. That's because of the "Digital Gap."
Most newspapers didn't start natively archiving their content for the web until the mid-to-late 90s. Anything before that had to be manually scanned. Companies like Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com have been buying up the rights to these back catalogs, which means the best way to find a 1970s obituary is often behind a subscription. It’s a bit of a pay-to-play system now, which kinda sucks for casual researchers.
How to Search Like a Pro (Because "John Smith" Won't Work)
Jacksonville has a lot of people. If you’re looking for a common name, you’re going to be scrolling for hours. You have to be surgical.
- Use the Funeral Home Name: Often, the funeral home (like Hardage-Giddens or Corey-Kerlin) will post the full obituary on their own site for free. If the Times-Union archive is giving you trouble, search the name plus the funeral home.
- Middle Initials are Life Savers: People in the South love their middle names. If the search isn't hitting, try just the first initial and the full last name.
- Maiden Names: For women, search both. The Times-Union often lists them as "Jane Smith (née Jones)."
Sometimes, the scan quality on old microfilm is terrible. An "e" might look like an "o" to an AI scanner. If you can't find what you're looking for, try searching for the spouse's name or a unique street address. It sounds tedious. It is. But it works when the standard search fails.
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The Impact of the Gannett Era
It’s worth noting that the Florida Times-Union isn't the independent, locally-owned powerhouse it used to be. It’s owned by Gannett now. Why does that matter for obituaries? Because the backend technology changed.
When the paper moved to the "USA Today Network" platform, a lot of old direct links broke. If you find a link on a genealogy forum from 2012, it probably won't work. You’ll just get redirected to a generic homepage. Don't panic. The data is still there; the "door" has just moved. You usually have to go through the main "Obituaries" tab on the current Jacksonville.com site and re-input the name.
Why the Times-Union Archives Matter Beyond Genealogy
These records are more than just a list of who died. They are a snapshot of Jacksonville's social evolution. You see the shift from formal, stiff 1950s prose to the modern "celebration of life" style. You see the history of the city’s major employers—the shipyards, the insurance giants, the Navy base.
I’ve seen researchers use these obituaries to track the migration of families from the North side to the suburbs of Mandarin and St. Johns County. It’s a living map of how we’ve moved and who we’ve become.
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Real Talk: The Cost of a Legacy
Let's address the elephant in the room. Publishing an obituary in the Florida Times-Union is expensive. We are talking hundreds, sometimes over a thousand dollars for a long story with a photo.
Because of this, many families are opting for shorter notices in the paper and putting the "full story" on social media or a dedicated memorial site. This creates a fragmentation of information. If you're doing research 20 years from now, you might find a "stub" in the official archives but miss the beautiful story shared on a private Facebook page. This is why local libraries and historical societies are so vital—they try to bridge that gap.
Actionable Steps for Your Search
If you are currently looking for a specific record, stop aimlessly Googling and follow this sequence. It will save you about three hours of clicking through spammy "people search" sites.
- Check the JPL Digital Index: Start at the Jacksonville Public Library website. Search their "Florida Index." It’s free and covers decades of the Times-Union.
- Use the "Site:" Operator: Go to Google and type
site:jacksonville.com "Person's Name". This forces Google to only show you results from the newspaper's own domain. - Find the Funeral Home: If the death was in the last 15 years, the funeral home's website is almost always the better, more complete source.
- Visit the Main Library: If you are local, go to the 4th floor of the downtown library. The librarians there are wizards with the microfilm machines. They can help you find "hidden" notices that weren't indexed correctly.
- Newspapers.com (The Paid Option): If you are doing deep genealogy and aren't in Jacksonville, a one-month subscription here is usually worth it. They have the high-res scans of the Times-Union going back to the 19th century.
Obituaries are the final draft of a person's story. While the digital age has made them harder to find in some ways, it has also preserved them in ways the old paper bundles never could. Just remember that the "official" record is often just the beginning—the real history is usually hidden in the details between the lines.