Pennsylvania Obituaries

Pennsylvania papers have reported deaths since 1719, in English and, for much of the state’s history, in German. The State Library of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania State Archives are the two main free starting points.

Recent Pennsylvania obituaries (2000 to today)

Most obituaries published since about 2000 are online. Daily papers post paid death notices and family-written obituaries in an Obituaries section, usually hosted by Legacy.com, and keep them online with a guest book. The largest daily papers in Pennsylvania are:

• Philadelphia Inquirer
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• PennLive (Harrisburg Patriot-News)
• The Morning Call (Allentown)
• LancasterOnline
• Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre)
• Erie Times-News

Legacy.com’s Pennsylvania page searches the obituaries of most of these papers and many smaller ones at once. Funeral homes also post obituaries on their own websites, often before the newspaper does and sometimes instead of it: search the person’s name with the town and “obituary” or “funeral home.” For obituaries no longer online, ask your public or state library: many offer NewsBank or ProQuest databases with the full text of recent newspapers, free with a library card.

Pennsylvania obituaries in historic newspapers

Andrew Bradford’s American Weekly Mercury began in Philadelphia in 1719, and Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette soon followed. Christopher Sower’s German-language paper, begun in Germantown in 1739, started a German press that lasted into the 1900s across southeastern and central Pennsylvania. For Pennsylvania German families, those papers often carry the only printed record of a death.

Through the 1800s every county seat supported several weekly papers, usually aligned with a political party, and each reported local deaths. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and the coal and steel towns added daily papers and large foreign-language presses serving Slovak, Polish, Italian, Hungarian and other communities.

Statewide death registration began in 1906. The Pennsylvania State Archives offers free online indexes to state death certificates, and records older than 50 years are open to the public, which makes it easier to pair an obituary with its death certificate.

Where to find older Pennsylvania obituaries

Digitized Pennsylvania newspapers

• Pennsylvania Newspapers, State Library of Pennsylvania — Digitized Pennsylvania newspapers and the state library’s newspaper collections.

Obituary and death indexes

• Research Online, Pennsylvania State Archives — Free online indexes to Pennsylvania death certificates and other genealogy records.

Archives and libraries

• Free Library of Philadelphia: newspapers — Research resources, including Philadelphia newspaper microfilm and databases, with help for obituary searches.
• Pennsylvania Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Pennsylvania newspaper archives, indexes and microfilm, with local links.

Also search the nationwide archives: Chronicling America, FamilySearch, Find a Grave, Newspapers.com. See all nationwide obituary resources.

Pennsylvania death records

Pennsylvania death certificates are restricted to family and others with an interest, ordered from the Department of Health. Certificates more than 50 years old are at the Pennsylvania State Archives, with free online indexes.

• Pennsylvania Department of Health, Vital Records — the office that issues Pennsylvania death certificates, with ordering instructions and fees.
• Where to Write for Vital Records: Pennsylvania — the CDC’s summary of where to order, current fees and which years the office holds.
• Pennsylvania Vital Records, FamilySearch Research Wiki — free death indexes and certificate collections, with the years each covers.

Tips for finding an obituary in Pennsylvania

• Use the State Archives indexes. Pennsylvania death certificate indexes from 1906 are free online.
• Order genealogy copies from the Archives. Certificates 50 years old or more come from the State Archives.
• Check German-language papers. Pennsylvania German papers carried notices in many counties.
• Look beyond the word “obituary.” Older papers reported deaths under headings like “Died,” “Deaths,” local news and personals columns, funeral notices and cards of thanks, and often listed married women under the husband’s name (“Mrs. John Smith”). See death notices vs. obituaries.

Common questions