Losing someone in a tight-knit place like Lawrence County isn't just a private family matter. It’s a community event. For decades, the primary way everyone found out about a neighbor’s passing was by cracking open the local paper. If you are looking for an ellwood city ledger obit, you might have noticed things have changed a bit recently. The way we track down these records in 2026 isn't exactly the same as it was ten or twenty years ago when you could just pick up a physical copy at the corner store and be done with it.
Honestly, it’s kinda frustrating when you’re just trying to find service times or send flowers and you hit a digital paywall or a broken link.
The Ellwood City Ledger has long served as the paper of record for the area, but the shift toward digital-first media means those death notices are scattered across a few different platforms now. Whether you are doing genealogy research or looking for a recent service at Samuel Teolis Funeral Home or Marshall’s, you’ve gotta know where to click.
Where the Records Actually Live Now
If you are searching for a recent death notice from this week or last month, your first stop shouldn't actually be the old newspaper website. Most local families now use the digital hub at EllwoodCity.org. It’s basically the go-to spot for Lawrence County news these days. They have a dedicated obituary section that updates almost daily.
For the "official" newspaper records—the stuff that actually appeared in the print edition of the Ledger—you have to look at the Gannett network. The Ellwood City Ledger is part of a larger media group that includes the Beaver County Times. Because of this, many obituaries are cross-posted. If you can’t find a name on the Ledger site, check the Beaver County Times obituary page. They share a lot of the same database.
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Legacy.com is the other big player here. Most funeral directors in Ellwood City, like those at Turner-Hyde Funeral & Cremation Services, automatically upload notices there. It’s usually the most reliable way to find guestbooks where you can leave a note for the family.
Digging Into the Archives (2007–2022)
Maybe you aren't looking for someone who passed away yesterday. Maybe you’re doing the family tree thing. If you need an ellwood city ledger obit from the mid-2000s, things get a little more technical.
- NewsBank: This is the heavy hitter for researchers. They have a searchable archive of the Ellwood City Ledger specifically covering 2007 through 2022. It isn't free, but many local libraries in Pennsylvania provide access if you have a library card.
- ObitsArchive.com: This site has a massive index—we’re talking over 9,500 records just for the Ledger.
- Ancestry.com: If you have a subscription, their Pennsylvania obituary collection includes the Ledger. It's great because it links the death notice directly to a person's profile, which saves a ton of time if you're trying to figure out how a "Cousin Verna" fits into the tree.
The Local Funeral Home Shortcut
Sometimes the newspaper is the slowest way to get info. If you know which funeral home is handling the arrangements, go straight to the source. It’s much faster.
In the Ellwood City area, most services go through a handful of long-standing family businesses. Samuel Teolis Funeral Home on Spring Avenue and Marshall Funeral Home on Main Street in Wampum are two of the biggest. They keep their own digital archives. These sites are often better than the newspaper because they include the full, unedited life story, plus a gallery of photos that the paper might have cut for space.
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Plus, they usually have the most accurate GPS directions for the church or cemetery. You’d be surprised how often a typo in a printed obituary sends people to the wrong cemetery across town.
How to Submit a Notice Yourself
If you’re the one tasked with writing the notice, don’t just wing it. It's expensive. Most papers charge by the line or the word, and those costs add up fast.
To get a notice into the Ellwood City Ledger today, you typically have to go through the Beaver County Times submission portal. They use a system called Obituaries.com (powered by Gannett). You can upload a photo—which I highly recommend, it makes the tribute feel so much more personal—and choose which dates you want it to run.
Pro tip: Ask the funeral director to handle the submission for you. They usually have a direct line to the "Obit Desk" and can sometimes get better pricing or formatting than a private citizen calling in.
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Common Misconceptions About Local Obits
A lot of people think that if a death happens in Ellwood City, it has to be in the Ledger. That’s not always true anymore. Because we are right on the border of Lawrence and Beaver Counties, families often choose to publish in the New Castle News or the Sharon Herald instead, depending on where the person lived the longest.
Also, the "official" archive at the Ellwood City Area Public Library is a goldmine that people forget about. If you are looking for something from the 1950s or 60s, you aren't going to find it on Google. You’re going to find it on microfilm. The librarians there are incredibly helpful and can show you how to use the reader. There’s something kinda special about seeing the original layout of the page from fifty years ago—seeing the old grocery store ads right next to a great-grandfather's passing.
Actionable Steps for Your Search
If you’re currently looking for a specific record, here is exactly how to find it without wasting three hours:
- Check EllwoodCity.org first. If the death was in the last 14 days, it’s almost certainly there.
- Search Legacy.com. Use the name and "Ellwood City, PA" as the location. This catches the stuff from both the Ledger and the Beaver County Times.
- Visit the Funeral Home website. If you know they are at Teolis, Marshall’s, or Tomon’s, go directly to their "Obituaries" tab.
- Use the Library for 20th-century records. Don't bother with Google for anything before 1990; the physical microfilm at the Lawrence Avenue library is your best bet.
- Check NewsBank for 2007-2022. If you need a digital copy of a notice from ten years ago, this is the most reliable database.
Finding an ellwood city ledger obit is really about knowing which "era" of the paper you’re looking for. The digital age has made things more accessible, but it’s also spread the information across a dozen different sites. Start with the local funeral homes and work your way out to the larger databases. It'll save you a lot of clicking.