You’re looking for a name. Maybe it’s an old friend from Oil City, a distant relative from Franklin, or perhaps you’re deep in a genealogy rabbit hole trying to trace a branch of the family tree through Clarion County. Whatever the reason, you’ve landed on the hunt for the derrick newspaper obituaries.
Honestly, finding these records should be simpler than it is. We live in an age where everything is supposed to be a click away, yet local Pennsylvania history often feels like it's locked behind a digital iron curtain. If you’ve spent any time clicking through broken links or landing on those generic "find anyone" sites that ask for $29.99 before showing you a single date, you know the frustration.
The Derrick isn't just some random flyer; it’s been the heartbeat of the Venango County area since 1880. When someone passes away in this slice of the Rust Belt, their story ends up here. But there's a trick to finding these records without losing your mind, and most people go about it the wrong way by searching only the current website.
Why The Derrick is Different
First off, you have to understand the geography. This isn't just an Oil City paper. It covers a "tri-county" area—Venango, Clarion, and Forest counties. Because it’s been around for over 140 years, the archives are split across different platforms depending on whether you're looking for someone who passed away last Tuesday or someone who worked the oil rigs in 1920.
Kinda weirdly, the paper changed its name from The Oil City Derrick to just The Derrick in 1954. If you're searching Ancestry or Newspapers.com, that tiny distinction matters. If you type in the wrong version, you might miss decades of records.
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Finding Recent Obituaries (Post-2000)
If the passing was recent, your best bet isn't actually the newspaper's own homepage search bar, which can be clunky. Most modern the derrick newspaper obituaries are syndicated through Legacy. It sounds corporate, but it’s the most reliable way to find guest books and service times.
For example, looking at the most recent entries from January 2026, you'll see names like Janet E. Wice and Dora M. Nageli from Oil City, or Philip E. McNellie from Cherrytree. These listings usually include the full text of the obituary, funeral home details (like Reinsel Funeral Home or Morrison Funeral Home), and a place to leave digital condolences.
- Go to a major obituary aggregator.
- Filter by "Pennsylvania" and then "Oil City" or "The Derrick."
- Don't just search by the first name; try maiden names if you're hitting a wall.
The Deep Dive: Records from the 1800s to 1950s
Now, if you're doing the "ancestor hunt," things get a bit more interesting. You aren't going to find 19th-century records on a basic Google search. You've got to go where the microchips meet the microfilm.
Ancestry.com has a massive database for The Oil City Derrick covering 1885 through 1954. It’s fully searchable, but a word of warning: the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on those old scans is sometimes wonky. If your ancestor’s name was "Miller," the computer might read it as "Miler" or "Hiller."
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If you don't want to pay for a subscription, the Oil City Library is a goldmine. They keep physical microfilm of the derrick newspaper obituaries that go back to the beginning. Sometimes, a quick phone call to a local librarian can save you five hours of squinting at a screen. They know these records better than any algorithm.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
People often assume that if an obituary isn't online, it doesn't exist. That’s just not true for Venango County.
Sometimes a family chooses not to publish a full "narrative" obituary because of the cost—and let’s be real, newspaper inches are expensive these days. In those cases, there might only be a "Death Notice." This is a tiny, three-line blurb that just lists the name, age, and funeral date. If you're searching for "Obituaries," you might miss the "Death Notices" section entirely. Always check both.
Also, remember that The Derrick and The News-Herald (Franklin’s paper) are sister publications. Often, an obituary will run in both, but occasionally it only appears in one depending on where the deceased lived. If you can't find it in one, pivot to the other.
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How to Actually Get the Info You Need
If you're trying to write an obituary for a loved one to be placed in the paper, you generally have to go through the funeral home. They have the direct portal to the newsroom. If you're doing it yourself, you’ll be calling the Derrick Publishing Company on West First Street in Oil City.
- For Genealogy: Use the Library of Congress "Chronicling America" site or Ancestry's specific Derrick collection (1854-1977).
- For Recent Passings: Stick to the Legacy-partnered search pages.
- For Local Feel: Check the "Tri-County Area" Facebook groups. Sometimes the community posts the clipping before the digital version even goes live.
Basically, searching for the derrick newspaper obituaries is about knowing which era you're looking at. For the old stuff, hit the libraries and Ancestry. For the new stuff, the aggregators are your friend.
One final tip: search for the funeral home's name directly. Most families in the Oil City and Franklin area use the same three or four funeral directors. Their websites often host the full, unedited obituary for free, even if the newspaper version was shortened to save money.
Actionable Next Steps
- Identify the date range: If the death occurred before 1977, head to Ancestry or the Oil City Library's digital archives.
- Check the Funeral Home first: For anything within the last 10 years, search the website of the funeral home in Venango County (e.g., Reinsel, Morrison, Gardinier-Warren) to see the full text for free.
- Use Wildcards: When searching digital archives, use a "" if you're unsure of the spelling (e.g., "Smit") to catch variations like Smith or Smyth.
- Contact the Library: If you're stuck, email the Venango County Historical Society. They have volunteers who live for this kind of detective work.