Johnston County, North Carolina’s Heritage Center has free, online Newspaper Obituaries from 1801 to present.

“As part of the Johnston County Heritage Center’s Research Databases Project, we’re pleased to provide you with a searchable collection of information from obituary notices published in selected regional newspapers since 1801. Unless noted otherwise, notices since 1885 are from The Smithfield Herald. Prior to that, most notices appeared in one of three newspapers (indicated by abbreviations): Raleigh Register (RR), Farmers & Mechanic (F & M) of Raleigh, and the Clayton Bud (CB). Starting in January 2008, we’re also including selected obituaries from Johnston County newspapers in addition to the Herald: Clayton News-Star (NS), Cleveland Post (P), Four Oaks-Benson News In Review (NR), Kenly News (N), Princeton News-Leader (NL), Selma News (N), and Dunn Daily Record (DR).”

“You can search by last name, age, or date range. Please note that not all database records are complete. This means that some records do not have the individual’s first name, date of publication date, or age at time of death. If you do not find what you are looking for with one type of search, try another.”