The EGS through the volunteer efforts of its members has built this Index of Escondido Obituraries. The index now contains over 24,300 obituaries. See below for additional information on the extracts and on how to order an obituary look up.


Click on the letter below for the first letter of the surname you are interested in.

Obituaries are available for the following years:
    1950 Jan to Dec
    1951 Jan to Dec
    1952 Jan to Dec
    1953 Jan to Dec
    1954 Jan to Dec
    1955 Jan to Dec
    1980 Jan, May, Aug to Dec
    1998 Jan to Dec
    1999 Jan to Dec
    2008 Jan to Dec
    2009 Jan to Dec
    2010 Jan to Dec
    2011 Jan to Dec

We are currently working on the following years so check back soon.
    1995 - 1997

The Escondido Library's has microfilm copies of newspapers published in Escondido.
    Escondido Times, 1887-1908    (missing March 1, 1897 - June 30, 1905)
    Weekly Times Advocate, 1909-March 1948
    Times Advocate, 1948-1995;
    North County Times 1996 to present.

Additional Information

These extracts are from the North County Times (published in Escondido, California), the Californian (a sister paper to the North County Times, published in Riverside, California), and the San Diego Union-Tribune (published in San Diego, California).The databases also contains people from the surrounding areas of Escondido which is referred to as "North County". The names of these places are Cardiff, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Fallbrook, Lake San Marcos, Leucadia, Oceanside, Pala, Pauma Valley, Poway, Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos, San Marcos, Scripps Ranch, Solana Beach, Valley Center, Vista.

The North County Times obituaries are from the newspaper and the online edition. The Californian is an online publication only, carried by the North County Times on its website. The San Diego Union-Tribune obituaries are from the newspaper and the online edition.

Format

Surname, given name (maiden) [other spouse/s], age, place of birth, place of death, date obituary was in the paper, newspaper that carried the obituary if other than the North County Times.

Note: if the deceased is a female and there are only parentheses after her first name that means her maiden name is unknown or she may have been divorced and reverted to using her birth name which will then appear as her last name. If she was never married the word "miss" will follow her first name.

It is to be assumed that the birth/death state is California (CA) unless otherwise indicated. Births and deaths occurring elsewhere are recorded with the state abbreviation as used by the U.S. Postal Service and that of Canada. If a birth/death place name is not shown, it is to be assumed that the place is unknown. Foreign countries are spelled out in full.

Source column abbreviations (this column included beginning 1999):

bur	Same as svc
burial	Same as svc
C	correction of previous obit
DN	Same as N
fnl	Same as svc
IM	In Memoriam - something about the person without any dates, etc.
item	an item in the paper of a death (not a death notice)
M	Memorial - most often includes dates, spouses and other family members
N	funeral notice; usually followed a day or so later with the obit
NIP	Not In Paper - from the online edition of the Californian
obit	Obituary
SD-UT	obit from the San Diego Union-Tribune
story	a feature obituary or biography
Svc	funeral service; sometimes there is no obituary or notice but an item labeled service stating where funeral was held, where buried, who were pallbearers, who preached, etc.

How to Order

The Pioneer Room of the Escondido City Library will do Obituary Research Requests to look up the actual obituary. If they can't help, you may want to look up the person in one of the databases in the Databases for Escondido section of our Links page.