Finding a specific tribute in the Kittanning Leader Times obituaries shouldn't feel like a chore, but honestly, if you’ve spent more than five minutes clicking around a broken "Search" bar, you know it often does. Armstrong County is a tight-knit place. When someone passes, the news travels through the fire halls, the churches, and the local diners before the ink is even dry on the paper.
But what happens when you need that record for a legal matter? Or maybe you're just deep in a 2:00 AM genealogy rabbit hole trying to figure out if your great-uncle really did own that taxi company in Ford City?
The truth is that accessing these records has changed a lot. You’ve got the old-school microfilm in the basement of a library on one hand and the high-tech, paywalled digital archives on the other. Navigating the gap between the two is where most people get stuck.
The Digital Shift in Armstrong County Death Notices
Back in the day, you just picked up the physical paper at the Sunoco. Today, the Kittanning Leader Times obituaries are primarily hosted through partnerships with platforms like Legacy.com. It’s convenient, sure. You can search by a last name and get a result in seconds.
But here is the kicker: the digital record isn't always the full story.
Online listings often prioritize the "paid" obituary—the one where the family wrote a beautiful, long narrative about the deceased’s love for gardening and the Steelers. The shorter "death notices," which are often just the bare-bones facts provided by the funeral home, sometimes slip through the digital cracks or don't show up in basic Google searches.
If you’re looking for someone who passed away recently, like Paul Richard "Putty" Swast or Jack McGregor, the online portals are great. They give you the service times and a place to leave a digital candle. But for historical research? That's a different beast entirely.
Where the Archives Actually Live
If you are looking for an obituary from 1974, clicking "Search" on a modern news website is going to lead you to a dead end. Seriously. Most local newspaper websites only keep a "live" archive going back about 10 to 20 years.
For anything older, you have to go where the dust is.
- The Mildred Lankerd Thomas Genealogy Library: Located right on North McKean Street in Kittanning, this place is a goldmine. They have Leader Times records on microfilm and hard copies dating back to the 1960s. Some of their other newspaper transcripts go all the way back to the 1820s.
- GenealogyBank and Ancestry: These are the heavy hitters. They’ve digitized a massive chunk of the Leader Times archives. If you have a subscription, you can see the actual scan of the newspaper page. It’s kinda cool to see the grocery ads and the local high school sports scores right next to the obituary you're looking for.
- The Library of Congress: They track the "Leader-Times" (with the hyphen, if we're being pedantic) from 1964 to the present. While you can't always read the full text online through them, their Chronicling America project helps you locate which physical libraries hold the specific dates you need.
Why the "Common Name" Problem Ruins Your Search
Searching for a "Smith" or a "Miller" in Armstrong County is a nightmare. You’ll get 400 results, and half of them will be from the wrong decade.
To actually find what you need in the Kittanning Leader Times obituaries, you have to use "Boolean" logic, even if that sounds like something for computer nerds. Basically, put the name in quotes. Instead of typing John Miller Kittanning, type "John Miller" Kittanning.
Also, don't forget the "maiden name" trick. In older Pennsylvania obituaries, women were often listed primarily by their husband's name. You might find a listing for "Mrs. Howard Bowser" rather than "Alice Bowser." It’s frustrating and a bit dated, but that’s how the records were kept for a century. If you aren't finding your grandmother, try searching for your grandfather’s name with the word "obituary" or "survived by."
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The Cost of Saying Goodbye
Let's talk money for a second because it’s something nobody likes to bring up during a time of grief. Placing an obituary in the Leader Times isn't free.
Usually, a basic death notice is relatively inexpensive or included with funeral home packages, but a full-color obituary with a photo and a long story can run a few hundred dollars. This is why some families choose to only post on social media or the funeral home's website.
If you can't find a record in the newspaper, check the websites of local staples like Snyder-Crissman Funeral Home or Bauer Funeral Home. They often host the full text of the obituary for free on their own sites, sometimes even before it hits the paper.
Getting the Most Out of Your Search
When you finally track down that clipping from the Kittanning Leader Times obituaries, don't just look at the dates. These records are small windows into a life lived in Western PA.
- Check the pallbearers: Often, these are nephews or close family friends whose names might help you link different branches of a family tree.
- Look at the "preceded in death by" section: This is a shortcut to finding the names of parents or siblings who died years earlier.
- Note the church or organization: If they were a member of the Kittanning Elks or the local VFW, those organizations might have their own records or memorial plaques.
Honestly, the best way to handle this is to be systematic. Start with the free Legacy.com or funeral home search. If that fails, move to the paid databases like Ancestry. And if you’re still stuck, nothing beats a phone call to the Armstrong County Historical Society. Those folks know where the bodies are buried—literally.
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Real-World Action Steps
If you need a record right now, do this:
- Check the Funeral Home First: Search the website of the specific home (like Snyder-Crissman) that handled the service. It’s the fastest way to get current info.
- Use Exact Phrases: Put the full name in quotes when using Google or archive search bars.
- Verify the Date: If you have a death date from a gravestone, look for the obituary in the Leader Times issue published 2 to 4 days after that date. Newspapers didn't print on Sundays, so keep that gap in mind.
- Visit the Library: If you are local, the North McKean Street library is your best bet for records that aren't on the "public" internet yet.
Finding these records is about patience. Whether you're settling an estate or just honoring a memory, the information is out there; you just have to know which drawer to pull open.