Finding a specific notice in the lancaster new era obits used to mean getting ink on your fingers. You’d sit in a quiet library, cranking a microfilm reader until your eyes blurred. It was a ritual. Today? It’s a digital scavenger hunt that’s somehow both easier and way more confusing because of how the local papers merged.
Honestly, most people get lost because they don't realize the Lancaster New Era isn't technically its own standalone paper anymore. Since 2014, it’s been part of LNP. If you’re looking for a relative who passed away in the 1980s, you need one archive. If it happened last Tuesday, you need another. It's a mess if you don't know the roadmap.
The Weird History of the Lancaster New Era Obits
Lancaster has a newspaper history that's older than most states. The Lancaster New Era itself kicked off back in 1877. For over a century, it was the afternoon staple of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. While the Intelligencer Journal (the "Intell") handled the mornings, the New Era took the evening shift.
They were rivals. Then they weren't.
By 2009, they merged their newsrooms. By 2014, they stopped using the individual names altogether, rebranding as LNP. Why does this matter for your search? Because if you’re looking for "Lancaster New Era obits" from 2020, you’re actually looking for LNP records. If you search the wrong database, you'll find nothing and assume the record doesn't exist. It does. You're just knocking on the wrong digital door.
Where the Records Actually Live
You've basically got three main "buckets" for these obituaries:
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- The Modern Era (Post-2000): Most of these are hosted on LancasterOnline or via Legacy.com. It's the easiest to search, but usually requires a subscription or a per-view fee if you want the full text.
- The Middle Years (1990s - early 2000s): This is a bit of a "dark age." Some are digitized, some aren't. You might find snippets on Ancestry.com, but for the full scan, you often need the library.
- The Deep History (1877 - 1980s): This is the microfilm zone. The LancasterHistory (formerly the Lancaster County Historical Society) is your best friend here. They have physical and digital records that cover the era when the New Era was the dominant evening paper.
How to Actually Find an Old Obituary
Don't just type a name into Google and hope for the best. You'll get ten million results for people with the same name in different states.
Narrow it down.
First, use GenealogyBank or Newspapers.com. These are paid services, yeah, but they have the actual high-resolution scans of the Lancaster New Era pages. Seeing the actual page is better than a transcription. You get to see the local ads, the weather from that day, and the other people who passed away. It gives the memory some context.
Second, if you're local, go to the Lancaster County Archives or the LancasterHistory library on President Avenue. They have indexes. An index is basically a cheat sheet that tells you exactly which page of which microfilm reel contains the notice you're looking for. It saves hours of manual cranking.
The Cost of Saying Goodbye
Submitting an obituary to the current version of the paper isn't cheap. It's not like the old days where a small notice was a courtesy.
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Now, you're looking at a starting price of around $60 to $100 for the most basic, bare-bones text. If you want a photo? That’s extra. If you want it to run for three days? That's a lot extra. Most families end up paying between $200 and $500 for a standard, meaningful obituary in the LNP/New Era lineage.
It’s a business. It’s also a public record.
One thing people forget is that you can often post a "Death Notice" for much less than a full "Obituary." A death notice is basically just the facts: name, date, service time. An obituary is the story. If money is tight, the death notice gets the word out, and you can post the full life story on a free site or social media.
Common Mistakes in Searching the Archives
People misspell names. It sounds obvious, but back in the day, editors made typos too. If you can’t find "Smith," try "Smyth." If the person had a middle name they hated, they might have used it in the paper.
Also, check the Sunday News.
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For a long time, the Sunday News was the only paper on Sundays in Lancaster. Many families waited to publish the obituary until Sunday because that’s when everyone was home reading the paper. If a person died on a Tuesday, the obituary might not show up in the Lancaster New Era on Wednesday; it might wait until the Sunday edition.
The "Legacy" Problem
When you search for lancaster new era obits online, you’ll likely end up on a Legacy.com page.
It’s a great service, but it’s a "walled garden." Sometimes the comments or "Guest Book" entries are only visible for a year unless someone pays to keep the guestbook active forever. If you’re trying to find a message a distant cousin left ten years ago, you might be out of luck unless the family opted for the permanent package.
Always screenshot what you find. Digital records feel permanent, but websites change, links break, and companies go bankrupt.
Actionable Steps for Your Search
If you are stuck right now trying to find a specific person, do this:
- Identify the Date: You need a death date. Even a year helps. If you don't have it, check the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) first.
- Check the Public Library: The Lancaster County Public Library has access to certain databases for free if you have a library card. You might not even have to leave your couch.
- Use Search Operators: When using Google, type
site:lancasteronline.com "John Doe"to force the search engine to only look at the local paper's records. - Visit the Historical Society: If the person was prominent in Lancaster, they might be mentioned in more than just the obits. The archives on President Avenue have files on local families that go way deeper than a standard death notice.
The lancaster new era obits are more than just a list of the deceased; they are the narrative of the county. From the farmers in Strasburg to the watchmakers at Hamilton, these records capture a version of Pennsylvania that is slowly fading into the digital ether. Finding them takes a little bit of patience and the right set of links, but the information is there. You just have to know which name the paper was using that decade.