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.

If you'd like a photocopy of a particular obituary, we can make it and mail it to you. You may order online by clicking the "ADD TO CART" icon at the bottom of each entry and following instructions from there. Or, you may simply send us a written request along with a check ($5.00 per article) made payable to the Johnston County Heritage Center, PO Box 2709, Smithfield NC 27577.