Search Puyallup Obituary Records

Puyallup obituary and death records are maintained through the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and the Washington State Department of Health. This page covers how to order a certified death certificate for a Puyallup resident, where to find historical obituary indexes, and what genealogical resources are available for Pierce County research.

Pierce County Vital Records for Puyallup

Puyallup is in Pierce County, and death certificates for residents go through the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department Vital Records office. The office is at 3629 South D Street, Tacoma, WA 98418. It is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On the last Tuesday of each month, the office opens at 9:30 a.m. The office can be reached by phone at 253-798-6410.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department holds all deaths in Tacoma from 1907 to the present and all deaths in Pierce County from 1926 to the present. It also has most electronically filed statewide deaths from 2005 onward. Short form death certificates are available for all electronically filed deaths since January 1, 2018. For deaths before July 1, 1907, researchers are directed to the Washington State Archives. Pierce County Auditor staff are also stationed in the Vital Records office for passport, marriage license, and pet license services.

Death certificates cost $25 for the first copy and $20 for each additional copy. Eligible requestors under RCW 70.58A include the individual on the record (if 18 or older), parents, spouse, adult children, legal representatives, and others with a documented legal need. Processing time is 1 to 2 weeks for mail requests and same-day for in-person requests if the record is on file. The Pierce County Records Available Online page at piercecountywa.gov provides a directory of where to find birth, death, marriage, and court records for Puyallup.

Washington Digital Archives Death Records

The Washington State Archives Digital Archives Death Index includes Puyallup and Pierce County deaths from 1907 to 1960 and from 1965 to 2017. The 1907 to 1960 entries were transcribed by volunteers, including Sandra Moe from Pasco and Sherry Sinclair from Tacoma, who specifically contributed to Pierce County indexing. That portion generally contains more information than the 1965 to 2017 data. The index is free, open for research without access restrictions, and contains over 2.3 million statewide records.

The Washington State Archives also holds the Pierce County Auditor Marriage Records collection at digitalarchives.wa.gov. That collection includes marriage returns from 1891 to 1916 and marriage certificates from 1883-1884 and 1895-2004. For Puyallup obituary research, these marriage records help establish spousal relationships when tracing a family line. The collection contains 14,056 records and can be searched by name, marriage year, or Soundex.

Images of actual death certificates up to 25 years old are available in the Department of Health Death Certificates collection on the same site. To correct a record in error, contact the Washington Department of Health Center for Health Statistics at (360) 236-4313 or (360) 236-4312.

The LDS Genealogy Puyallup page at ldsgenealogy.com provides a comprehensive list of death record sources for Puyallup, including FamilySearch collections, newspaper obituary clippings, and historical registers from Pierce County going back to the 1880s.

Historical Puyallup Death and Obituary Records

The City of Puyallup kept a Birth and Death Returns register covering 1891 to 1908. This record is available on microfilm at the Washington State Library (GEN MICRO 979.778 BIRTH 1891-1908) and has also been digitized through the Washington State Archives. This is a key source for genealogists researching Puyallup deaths in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Washington State Library's Vital Records LibGuide at washstatelib.libguides.com lists the Register of Deaths in Pierce County, State of Washington (GEN MICRO 979.778 DEATH 1891-1907) covering the Pierce County Auditor register of deaths from 1891 to 1907. Extracted Pierce County death records, 1891-1907, were published in the Tacoma Researcher Magazine and are available at the FamilySearch Library. The Washington State Library holds the Death Index for 1907-2004 on microfilm and accepts specific lookup requests via Ask-A-Librarian. Include a date range when submitting.

For newspaper obituaries, the LDS Genealogy Puyallup page notes that obituaries, special occasions clippings, and vital statistics from the Pierce County Herald, Puyallup, Washington, and the News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, are at the FamilySearch Library. The Puyallup Commerce, Hop Reporter and Fruit Journal from 1887-1888 is also available at Genealogy Bank. These newspapers contain death notices and obituaries not always found in official record collections.

The Washington State Department of Health vital records page at doh.wa.gov is the central source for ordering Puyallup death certificates from 1907 to the present when the local county office no longer has the record on file.

Library and Genealogy Resources in Puyallup

The Heritage Quest Research Library in Puyallup at 2102 E. Main, Suite 105 contains over 16,000 genealogy titles. The library serves Pierce County researchers directly and includes an online catalog. The day fee for non-members is $15. The Washington State Genealogical Society's resource page at wasgs.org lists this library as a key genealogical resource for the Puyallup area.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society explicitly covers Puyallup in its service area. The society maintains an online index to Pierce County records published in the "Researcher" from 1969 to 2013. That index covers bibles, cemeteries, census, churches, courts, funeral homes, land, military, naturalizations, probate abstracts, schools, taxes, vital records, voter registration, and WA pioneers. The society offers lookups, research services, and copies of obituaries for a fee. A list of published local genealogical resources is available for sale on their website.

FamilySearch has the Washington Death Certificates, 1907-1960, for Pierce County as a free indexed collection. Ancestry.com holds the Washington Death Index, 1940-2017. The 1940-2017 Washington Death Index at Ancestry also covers Puyallup. FamilySearch has the Death records of Pierce County, Washington, 1887-1907, and the Register of deaths in Pierce County, State of Washington, also at WorldCat.

Ordering Puyallup Death Certificates

To order a death certificate for a Puyallup resident, contact the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department in person, by mail, or online through VitalChek. For deaths more than three months old that the county no longer carries, apply to the Washington State Department of Health at doh.wa.gov. State mail orders start at $25 per copy. VitalChek online or phone orders start at $40.50. Mail orders take 8 to 10 weeks. VitalChek orders ship in 3 to 7 business days.

Required information for your order:

• Full name of the deceased
• Date or approximate date of death
• City or county of death (Pierce County for Puyallup)
• Your valid government-issued photo ID
• Documentation of qualifying relationship under RCW 70.58A

The long form certificate includes cause of death and the social security number. The short form does not include cause of death and is used for probate and title transfers. Noncertified informational copies are available to anyone for genealogy and cannot be used for legal purposes. All fees are nonrefundable.

Pierce County Obituary Records

Puyallup is in Pierce County, and all death certificate filings for the city are processed through Pierce County systems. For full details on the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, county courthouse resources, and the Pierce County vital records system, see the Pierce County obituary records page.

View Pierce County Obituary Records

Nearby Cities

These cities are near Puyallup. Each has its own obituary records page with local resource details.