Death is quiet in the hills of southern Indiana. It’s a place where everyone knows everyone—or at least their grandfather’s cousin—so when you start looking for Perry County Indiana obituaries, you aren't just looking for dates. You’re looking for a connection. Maybe you're trying to track down a branch of the family tree that ended up in Tell City, or maybe you just need to know when the service is at Huber Funeral Home because you missed the local radio announcement.
It’s personal.
Finding this information used to mean a trip to the Cannelton library or waiting for the weekly paper to hit the stands. Now? It’s a mess of paywalls, digital archives, and local funeral home websites that don’t always talk to each other. If you’ve been clicking through endless "Legacy" pages and getting nowhere, you’re not alone. The process is kinda clunky. Honestly, it’s frustrating when you just want to pay your respects and Google keeps throwing generic ad-filled sites at you.
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Where the Real Records Actually Live
The biggest mistake people make is assuming there’s one "master list" for Perry County. There isn’t. Because the county is anchored by Tell City, Cannelton, and Leopold, the records are spread out based on where the family lived and which paper they subscribed to.
The Tell City News (often merged in name with the Cannelton News or Enquirer) has been the primary record-keeper for decades. If someone passed away in Perry County in the last eighty years, they are almost certainly in those archives. But here’s the kicker: not all of it is digitized. You’ve got to know which "bucket" to look in.
The Funeral Home Loophole
Most folks go straight to the newspapers, but that’s actually the slow way. The local funeral homes are the primary sources. They post the full text before the newspaper even goes to print. In Perry County, you’re usually looking at three or four main players:
- Zoercher-Gillick Funeral Home: These guys handle a huge portion of the services in Tell City. Their online obituary wall is usually the most up-to-date spot for recent deaths.
- Huber Funeral Home: They have locations in both Tell City and Cannelton. If the deceased lived "down the river," check here first.
- Boling-Dortch Memorials: While they focus a lot on the monuments, they are deeply entwined with the local record-keeping.
Checking these sites directly saves you from the "obituary aggregator" sites that try to sell you flowers before they even show you the service times. It’s just cleaner.
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Digging Into the Archives (The Hard Stuff)
What if you're looking for someone from 1942? Or 1890? That’s where things get interesting. The Perry County Public Library in Tell City is basically the "Holy Grail" for this stuff. They have microfilm—yeah, the old-school stuff—that covers the Tell City News going way back.
You can't just Google a name from the 19th century and expect a clean PDF to pop up. Often, you’ll find "Death Notices" instead of full obituaries. Back then, people didn't always pay for a long write-up. It might just be a single line: "John Doe passed at his home near Derby on Tuesday."
If you aren't local, you can actually call the library. The staff there are used to genealogy buffs asking for help. They might charge a small fee for copies or scans, but it’s better than driving five hours only to find out the microfilm machine is being repaired.
The Cannelton Factor
Don't overlook Cannelton. It was the original powerhouse of the county. The Cannelton Enquirer archives are separate from the Tell City records in many older databases. If your ancestor worked at the cotton mill, their life story is likely buried in the Enquirer’s back issues.
Why the Information Varies So Much
Ever notice how one obituary has a life story and the next is just a list of names? Money. Historically, Perry County Indiana obituaries were charged by the word or the inch.
This means poorer families or those with fewer surviving relatives often have very sparse records. If you hit a brick wall, stop looking for an "obituary" and start looking for "Probate Records" at the Perry County Courthouse in Cannelton. If there was land involved, there’s a paper trail, even if the newspaper didn’t run a story.
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Also, consider the "Border Effect." Perry County sits right on the Ohio River. People in Cannelton or Tell City often went across the bridge to Hawesville or Lewisport, Kentucky, for medical care. Sometimes, if someone died in a Kentucky hospital, the obituary might actually be in a Hancock County paper instead of a Perry County one. It’s a common trap for researchers.
Dealing with Modern Digital Paywalls
It sucks, but the Tell City News website (part of the Perry County News group) often puts recent obituaries behind a paywall after a certain number of days. If you’re looking for someone who passed away three months ago, you might hit a "Subscribe to Read More" button.
Pro-tip: Use the "Find A Grave" website. It’s volunteer-run and surprisingly robust for southern Indiana. Local volunteers often walk the cemeteries like St. Mary’s or Greenwood and transcribe the headstones. Frequently, they’ll copy the newspaper obituary into the "Notes" section of the memorial page for free. It’s a great way to bypass the paywalls legally.
Practical Steps for Your Search
If you are starting a search right now, follow this sequence. It works.
- Start with the Funeral Home: Check Zoercher-Gillick or Huber first. This is for anything in the last 5-10 years.
- Check the Perry County Public Library Website: They have a genealogy section that lists what they have on microfilm.
- Use the Indiana State Library Digital Collection: They’ve been digitizing old newspapers. Search for "Tell City" or "Cannelton" specifically.
- Facebook Groups: "You know you're from Tell City when..." or similar local history groups are goldmines. Post a name. Someone's aunt probably has the clipping in a scrapbook.
- Contact the Perry County Museum: Located in the old courthouse in Cannelton. They have files that the library doesn't, specifically focused on the river families.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Don't trust the automated "Social Security Death Index" (SSDI) as your only source. It’s great for dates, but it won't tell you who the person’s parents were or where they worked.
Also, watch out for the spelling of town names. Leopold, Magnet, Derby, and Branchville are all in Perry County. Sometimes an obituary will say "passed away at his home in Magnet," and if you’re only searching for "Tell City," you’ll miss it.
The geography matters. The county is rugged. Back in the day, a death in the northern part of the county (near Bristow) might have been reported in a Dubois County paper (like the Jasper Herald) if that was the closer town for shopping and news.
Summary of Actionable Insights
To get the best results when hunting for Perry County Indiana obituaries, you need to think like a local.
First, verify the date of death through the Indiana State Department of Health or a site like Find A Grave to narrow your search window. Second, if the death was recent, skip the aggregators and go directly to the funeral home websites—they hold the most detail without the cost. Third, for historical research, lean on the Perry County Public Library’s microfilm collection rather than general search engines.
Finally, if you’re looking for a veteran, check the records at the American Legion posts in Tell City or Cannelton. They often keep their own records of members who have passed, which can provide military details that a standard obituary might omit. Focusing on these localized sources will save you hours of circular searching and get you the specific names and dates you need.