Finding a specific piece of information in the mountains of Western Maryland isn't always as easy as a quick Google search. Honestly, when it comes to Garrett County Maryland obituaries, you're often looking for more than just a date of death. You're looking for a connection to a community that spans from the docks of Deep Creek Lake to the quiet farms of Accident and the historic streets of Oakland.
People here know each other. They remember who owned the local hardware store in the 70s and who baked the best pies for the county fair. Because of that tight-knit vibe, the way we record and find our history is a mix of high-tech databases and old-school newspaper ink. If you’ve ever tried to dig through records only to hit a wall, you're not alone.
It’s frustrating. But the good news is that the records are out there—you just have to know which digital or physical door to knock on.
The Go-To Sources for Garrett County Maryland Obituaries
Most folks start with the big names, and for good reason. If someone passed away recently, the first place you should look is The Republican. It’s the paper of record for the county and has been since 1877. Even though the media landscape is changing, the "Republicans" (as locals often call the paper) still carries the weight of official local history.
Local Funeral Homes: The Front Line of News
For the most current notices, you basically have to go straight to the source. The funeral homes in Garrett County are the ones writing these tributes alongside the families. They often post the full text before it even hits the papers.
💡 You might also like: Brian Walshe Trial Date: What Really Happened with the Verdict
- Newman Funeral Homes, P.A.: They have locations in Oakland and Grantsville. They handle a huge portion of the services in the county. Their online "Obituary Listing" is updated almost daily. You’ll find people from Swanton, McHenry, and even across the line in West Virginia listed there.
- C & S Fredlock Funeral Home, P.A.: Based in Oakland, they’ve been a staple for generations. Their website is a goldmine if you’re looking for someone who lived in the southern end of the county.
- Eichhorn-McKenzie Funeral Home: If the person lived closer to the Lonaconing or northern border areas, this is another spot to check.
Kinda amazing how much detail these local sites keep. They don’t just list the service times; they often include photos, guestbooks where you can see who else is mourning, and those tiny biographical details that make a person real—like their favorite fishing spot or their 50-year membership in a local bowling league.
Digging Into the Archives: For the History Buffs
Maybe you aren't looking for someone who passed away last week. Maybe you're doing genealogy and trying to find a great-great-uncle who lived in Kitzmiller in 1910. That's when things get interesting.
The Ruth Enlow Library is the holy grail for this. They have a specific Obituary Database that is searchable by name. It’s hosted by the library’s Oakland branch, and they have been painstakingly scanning records from The Republican microfilm.
As of early 2026, they have a massive chunk of records indexed. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a scan of the original newsprint. Seeing the old typography and the way deaths were reported in the late 1800s is a trip. Back then, they didn't just list survivors; they often told the whole story of the "passing," sometimes with more drama than a modern soap opera.
📖 Related: How Old is CHRR? What People Get Wrong About the Ohio State Research Giant
The Power of the MDGenWeb Project
Don't overlook the volunteers. The Garrett County MDGenWeb and the USGenWeb Archives are maintained by people who just love history. It’s not a fancy interface. It looks like the internet from 1998, but the data is solid. They have folders filled with "handwritten dates" of obituaries contributed by family researchers.
Why Finding These Records is Kinda Different Here
Garrett County is Maryland’s geographic outlier. We’re high up in the Alleghenies. Because we border West Virginia and Pennsylvania, a "Garrett County" resident might actually have their obituary published in the Cumberland Times-News or even a paper in Morgantown.
If you can't find a record in Oakland, try searching the WV News portal. They often syndicate content from The Republican, and since many families have ties across the state line, the information might be sitting in a West Virginia database even if the person lived in Friendsville their whole life.
What Most People Get Wrong
A common mistake is assuming every death results in a published obituary. It doesn't. Sometimes families choose not to publish for privacy reasons, or they only do a "death notice"—which is just the bare-bones facts without the life story.
👉 See also: The Yogurt Shop Murders Location: What Actually Stands There Today
If you’re hitting a dead end with Garrett County Maryland obituaries, you might need to pivot to:
- Cemetery Records: The Youghiogheny Glades Chapter of the DAR compiled a two-volume work called Garrett County Graves. It’s a literal map of where people are buried.
- The Glades Star: This is the publication of the Garrett County Historical Society. They don't just do obituaries; they do deep-dive features on families. If your ancestor was a "somebody" in the county, they are probably in The Glades Star archives.
Actionable Steps for Your Search
If you're starting a search right now, here is exactly how I would handle it to save time:
- Start with the Funeral Home websites if the death was in the last 5-10 years. It's the fastest way to get a full narrative.
- Use the Ruth Enlow Library's online database for anything older than that. It’s free and specifically built for this county.
- Check the Garrett County Historical Society if you want context. Sometimes an obituary is just the start, and their "Family Files" in Oakland have the photos and letters the obituary missed.
- Search by maiden names. In a place with as much history as Garrett County, families are interconnected. Searching for a spouse’s name or a maiden name often unlocks a record that was "hidden" under a typo or a different spelling.
Death records and obituaries are the threads that hold a community's story together. Whether you're settling an estate, grieving a friend, or tracing your roots back to the original mountain settlers, these resources are your best bet.
The information is there. You just have to be willing to look through a few different portals to find the full story.
To get the most accurate results, begin by browsing the digital archives at the Ruth Enlow Library website or visiting the Oakland branch in person to access their full microfilm collection. If you are looking for a recent passing, check the official websites of Newman or Fredlock funeral homes directly for the most up-to-date service information.