Find Obituary Records in Chelan County

Chelan County obituary and death records are available through the Chelan-Douglas Health District, the Washington State Digital Archives, and a set of local genealogy collections that cover deaths from the county's earliest days to the present. Whether you are looking for a recent death certificate, searching for a family member who passed away in Wenatchee decades ago, or tracing a pioneer line, this guide lays out where the records are, how to search them, and what fees apply. Most historical indexes are free and searchable online.

Chelan-Douglas Health District Vital Records

The Chelan-Douglas Health District is the local office that issues death certificates for deaths that took place in Chelan County. The district serves both Chelan and Douglas counties. You can order in person, by mail, or online through VitalChek. The office is located in East Wenatchee. Same-day expedited service is available Monday through Thursday for a $10 additional fee, but not on Fridays.

The Chelan-Douglas Health District birth and death certificates page explains ordering requirements, lists the acceptable identity documents you will need, and provides downloadable application forms. Certificates can be mailed to you in one to three weeks if you choose that delivery option. No expedited same-day service is available on Fridays. If you need a certificate from another state, the office can point you to the CDC's interstate ordering resource.

The Chelan-Douglas Health District death certificate ordering page shown here covers the requirements and options for getting Chelan County vital records.

This page is a free resource that lists the current ordering process, fees, and contact information for Chelan County death certificate requests.

Washington State Digital Archives Death Index

The Washington State Digital Archives Death Certificate Index is one of the most useful free tools for Chelan County obituary research. It covers deaths statewide from 1907 through 1960 and from 1965 through 2017, with more than 2.3 million total entries. Chelan County deaths fall within that range. Searches are free and open to the public.

The pre-1960 index entries are more detailed because they were transcribed by volunteers from the original paper certificates. They often show cause of death, surviving relatives, and burial place. The 1965 to 2017 extract from the Department of Health is less detailed but still shows the name, death date, county of death, and certificate number. For older Chelan County families, this is often the fastest free starting point. Death certificate images for records more than 25 years old can also be viewed through the state digital archives system.

Note: The death index covering 1961 through 1964 is not in the online system and must be searched on microfilm at the State Archives in Olympia.

Chelan County Historical Death Records

Chelan County was created in 1899 from parts of Kittitas and Okanogan counties. The County Auditor kept death records from 1900 through 1907. Those early county records are now at the Washington State Digital Archives as the Chelan County Auditor, Death Records, 1899-1907, which includes both an index and images. They are open for research at no cost.

One of the most notable local collections is the Jones & Jones Funeral Home records, which merged with Betts Funeral Home of Wenatchee. The combined archive holds approximately 27,000 records covering funerals conducted between 1906 and 2001 in Wenatchee, Cashmere, Waterville, and Leavenworth. These records can include funeral home cards, death certificates, obituary clippings, gift lists, and military discharge papers. The FamilySearch Chelan County Genealogy wiki describes this collection and explains how to access it. For a county the size of Chelan, this kind of funeral home archive is rare and valuable for filling gaps in official records.

The Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society (WAGS) also maintains the Wenatchee Area Cemetery Records online, which covers multiple burial sites in the Chelan County area. Cemetery entries often include full name, birth and death dates, and burial location, and some entries link back to death certificates or newspaper notices.

Chelan County Death Records on WaGenWeb

The WaGenWeb Chelan County deaths page is a free index built from Washington State Archives records, FamilySearch indexes, and submitted genealogy data. Many entries in the index include a link to a PDF of the actual death record from the Digital Archives, which you can view, save, or print at no cost. This is useful when you want to see the original document rather than just the index entry.

The WaGenWeb site also accepts submissions for Chelan County ancestors who died before 1920. If you have a death record or obituary clipping for a pre-1920 Chelan County resident, you can submit it to expand the index. The page explains the submission process and what format entries should follow. For researchers just starting out, this page is a convenient entry point because it links directly to both the free digital archives and the fee-based ordering systems in a single place.

Ordering Chelan County Death Certificates

You can order a certified death certificate for a Chelan County death in person at the Chelan-Douglas Health District, by mail through the Washington State Department of Health, or online through VitalChek. The Department of Health vital records ordering page covers all three methods.

At the local health district, the base fee is $25 per copy. Same-day service costs an extra $10 and is only available Monday through Thursday. Mail delivery costs $3 for regular or $9 for priority. If you choose to receive your certificate by mail, allow one to three weeks. For VitalChek online or phone orders, fees start at $40.50. VitalChek is the only state-contracted vendor, so be cautious of other websites that offer to get records for you as they will add fees without providing faster service.

For mail orders going directly to the state, send your application and payment to the Washington Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics, P.O. Box 9709, Olympia, WA 98507-9709. State mail orders take 8 to 10 weeks. Under RCW 70.58A, certified copies are restricted to qualified applicants with a direct relationship to the deceased. Noncertified informational copies are available more broadly for research purposes and are marked with a watermark stating they cannot be used for legal purposes.

You can also order from the Chelan-Douglas Health District VitalChek page directly.

Genealogy Resources for Chelan County Deaths

The Washington State Library vital records LibGuide covers all Washington counties including Chelan and explains how to use the state's microfilm collection. The library holds the Washington State Death Index for July 1, 1907, through 2004, on microfiche and microfilm. Patrons can request a specific lookup through the Ask-A-Librarian service; include a date range since the index spans many reels. Chelan County Auditor death records from 1899 to 1907 are available on microform at the state library as well.

FamilySearch holds Washington County Death Registers from 1881 through 1979 as an indexed and image collection, and Washington Death Certificates from 1907 through 1960 are also available there as a searchable index. Both collections are free with a FamilySearch account. For recent deaths, the Washington State DOH death records page explains the types of copies available and when to use each one.

Local newspapers in Wenatchee and Leavenworth have carried obituaries for Chelan County residents for more than a century. Many early notices have been clipped and added to genealogy databases. The funeral home archive described above fills additional gaps, especially for families who held services at smaller Chelan County communities like Cashmere or Waterville.

Cities in Chelan County

Chelan County communities include Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, and Chelan. Wenatchee is the county's largest city and its seat. No cities in Chelan County currently meet the population threshold for a dedicated city page on this site.

Nearby Counties

Chelan County borders several other Washington counties, each with its own vital records system.