An 1819 Death in a Newspaper

It is not much, but there is a death notice for Samuel Sargent who died in Marlborough, New Hampshire, in 1819. Typical for early newspapers, there is not much detail on Samuel other than his age and place of death.

Digital image obtained on  Genealogybank.com

A few of the entries on this page did mention the cause of death. It's always possible that a death notice contains some item that, when combined with information from other sources, helps to prove a more significant conclusion.

I've had more luck finding references of this sort for my New England ancestors than for those in the South, but maybe that's just me.

Regardless, don't not look for death notices this early just because you think you won't find them. You may be surprised.

And always make certain you search neighboring states, especially when the state is small or your ancestor lived near the border.