I have been working on indexing obits from the early years of the Omaha World Herald. If the Argus was anything like the World Herald, you can sometimes find out approximate death dates by reading the gossip columns ("Mr. & Mrs. Joe Blow left yesterday from being in town for their grandson Michael Harrison's funeral.") and by looking for Cards of Thanks where someone expresses appreciation for all the food, flowers, etc brought in for the funeral of our husband and father, our wife and mother, our son, etc. They may mention several of the survivors at that time, and may actually give the name of the one who died. I have also seen Lodge & Fraternal Order announcements asking members to be at "Brother Henry Smith's funeral today being held at...." None of these are as good as modern obits (which sometimes don't give the information we would like them to), but it may at least give a ball park guesstimate as to date of death. Frankly big city newspapers don't have the obit information that smaller newspapers do. Look for weekly local papers, ethnic newspapers and religious newspapers for the best obits for the average citizen, if your relative lived in a small town. Big city newspapers often make people pay for space, so poorer people have smaller obits, if any at all, even today. Karen