Looking for Ancestors?

If you're searching for relatives who lived or died in Fall River, here are some places to start and tips for searching.

Newspapers - Our collection of newspapers on microfilm includes the Herald News (1929-present), the Daily Evening News (1868-1926), the Daily Globe (1889-1929), the Daily Herald (1877-1904) and the Evening Herald (1905-1928). There are also reels of microfilm with other early Fall River newspapers, a few dating from before the Civil War. Recent issues of the Herald News are available in print.

Old newspapers can be a valuable source of information as well as providing a portrait of daily life in different time periods; unfortunately, they are not indexed and often lack a table of contents, so researchers should be prepared to spend some time, especially with 19th century materials. Also note that newspaper obituaries were not standard until around the 1920s; ancestors who died in the 19th or early 20th century may not have had a printed obituary.

Obituary Index - Our staff is in the process of compiling an index to local obituaries from the Fall River Herald News. (No index is provided by the newspaper itself.) Some years are currently available in an Excel database format and can be accessed online; others are available in the library. Please ask a reference librarian for assistance.

City Directories - Available on microfilm (1853-1967) and in print (1967-present). Older directories can be a valuable source of family information. Not only do they provide a list of people living in Fall River, they also list home addresses and sometimes business addresses and occupations. They may also include dates of death if someone died in the preceding year. These do have limitations, however: they list heads of household rather than complete families, and they cover the city of Fall River only, not outlying areas.