Obituaries in Erie, PA | Erie Times-News (2024)

FAQs

How do I find a local obituary? ›

You can typically find current obituaries through a simple online search (if one was written). Most funeral homes and cremation providers publish obituaries on their websites. Older obituaries are becoming increasingly easier to find online. Search old newspapers or genealogy sites.

Find an Obituary. The Cremation Society of Pennsylvania ® online obituary search tool gives you access to obituaries from thousands of locations across North America. You can search by first or last name, state and publication date.

The Web site hosts obituaries and memorials for more than 70 percent of all U.S. deaths. Legacy.com hosts obituaries for more than three-quarters of the 100 largest newspapers in the U.S., by circulation.

Obituaries are not required by law , so the deceased's family might have chosen to forego publishing one. Publishing an obituary can be expensive , and the funds may be unavailable. The deceased has few family members or friends , so there might have, unfortunately, been no need for an obituary.

All you need to navigate an online obituary finder is the full name of the deceased (although other criteria, like birth date and location, can help narrow down your search.) If the person you're searching for passed away in your same city, it can also be helpful to visit your local mortuary's website.

As funeral homes across America post obituaries to their respective funeral home website, The Obituary App organizes them all into particular cities. Now, a user can look at all the obituaries posted by multiple funeral homes in one place.

​County Courthouses in ​​Pennsylvania

Courthouses are important places to look for birth, marriage and death records. These are usually found in the Register of Wills office in each county. Records in the Recorder of Deeds offices can also be useful.

Copyright and Obituaries. To be clear, obituaries are protected by copyright. They are creative works of expression that are fixed into a tangible medium of expression. Both the text and the images that make up an obituary are protected by copyright (even if the facts and information are not).

However, in the state of Pennsylvania, it IS law that (per McAndrews Law Offices) "the personal representative must advertise the decedent's death in two newspapers (one of general circulation and one legal periodical) in the decedent's county of residence for three consecutive weeks."

What is the shortest obituary ever? ›

North Dakota newspaper The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead ran what is certainly one of the shortest obituaries ever published. Accompanying a photograph and name of local resident Douglas Legler, the obit, which ran Wednesday, had just two simple words: “Doug died.”

An obituary is written to tell the story of your loved one. These will often be in the funeral program. There will even be a part of the funeral where the obituary will be silently read by everyone in attendance at the funeral.

Posting an obituary is not a legal requirement and is a sentimental action. Families don't have to publish one if they don't want it or do not have the funds to do so. While you do not have to share a death note or obituary, you must file a death certificate with your state's office.

Why does it cost so much to post an obituary? Publishing an obituary in the newspaper is expensive because of the limited space papers have. Newspapers value every inch of each page, so they must charge to use that limited space for an obituary.

Obituaries and death notices are not required—but notices to creditors may be. You are under no legal obligation to take out a death notice or obituary.

Two state-level California Death Indexes can be found at Ancestry.com (a database anyone can access from any library branch and Central Library) or FamilySearch.org (a free internet database).

Many funeral homes publish obituaries on their websites. These can usually be located with a Google search on the person's name. Local genealogical and historical societies, public libraries, and some newspaper publishers maintain clipping files of obituaries.

However, many of the county libraries in South Carolina have special indexes for obituaries from local newspapers and may have the newspapers on microfilm. See the LibGuide at statelibrary.sc.libguides.com/sc-obituary-resources for information on how libraries help users with information in this field.

New York Public Library subscribes to many databases that can help researchers locate obituaries and death notices. The most useful are our newspaper databases. Oftentimes obituaries can be located by entering a person's name and week of death into the newspapers databases.