Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Newspaper Archives (1777 - 1890)

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"Reports of My Death ... "
Henry Carter, the mid-19th century representative in the succession of owners of the parcel of property I'll refer to as the 'Norman Wood farm,' must have been just as surprised as his friend George, to discover that he had been declared -- expired. The 'durable' Henry Carter went on to defy expectations for another 14 years, when he "assumed room temperature" at the age of 92. May we all be so fortunate so as to remain viable beyond our "expiration dates."
Lancaster daily intelligencer
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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clngnjjct
Clipped 5 months ago

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Looking for Metzger(s), Found This.
The George Metzgar (sic) who appears elsewhere on this same page, may or may not be related to our Metzger(s), but the guy in this advertisement is. Emanuel Schaeffer was married to Mary Metzger, daughter of 4x Grt. Granddad Johann Philip, "John," and obviously, was our 3x Grt., Philip Gerhart Metzger's sister. The ad is notifying his "friends" & patrons of the change in venue for his business. He & other relatives were listed among the signatories to the resolution "clipped" preceding this one.
Lancaster Journal
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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clngnjjct
Clipped 6 months ago

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Article on the Value of Money (ie., Various, Bank -issued, Notes)
As "Andy" would say, "Back in the day," banks needed to print their own "specie (paper money)," due to the paucity of "hard currency (gold & silver coinage)." The "notes" were necessary to provide a form of exchange for goods & services. Their values weren't stable & fluctuated wildly compared to the standard of precious metals. Here, Lancaster merchants band together to establish an equitable & safe policy regarding the acceptance of various banks' paper.
Lancaster Journal
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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clngnjjct
Clipped 6 months ago

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Benjamin schuet obit 1811
Wahre Amerikaner
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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joeflint
Clipped 11 months ago

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive

The greatest challenge of exploring your family history is uncovering accurate records in Pennsylvania. Before the invention of the Internet, official records were spotty. Genealogy enthusiasts need to get creative when it comes to finding those elusive ancestors and discovering their stories.

Lancaster historical newspapers are an incredibly useful tool for discovering who you are and where you came from.

Our Lancaster, Pennsylvania newspaper archive enables you to explore different newspapers going back decades. Look up every issue of Lancaster historic newspapers to find news stories, obituaries, marriage records, and birth records to fill in the gaps of your knowledge regarding your family surname history.

Some of the reasons to use our Lancaster newspaper database include:

  • Build the branches of your family tree.
  • Discover Members of your extended family.
  • Find stories about the lives of unknown ancestors.

At GenealogyBank, we have access more than 13,000 local and national newspapers traversing 330 years of U.S. history.

Approximately 95% of our Lancaster, Pennsylvania historic online newspapers cannot be found anywhere else, and you can access them in a matter of seconds.

How to Search a Lancaster Newspaper Database

Whether you’re new to genealogy or you’re the resident family historian, finding records in the Lancaster newspaper archive couldn’t be simpler.

All you have to do is choose your desired newspaper collection and enter the last name of your relative. Click “Search,” and you’ll see all records relating to your family name.

Already got more information on a certain relative? Try an advanced Lancaster newspaper database search.

  • Step One - Include the first and last names of a specific relative to narrow down your results.
  • Step Two - Add keywords to further narrow your results, such as a school they went to or the name of the town in and around Lancaster.
  • Step Three - Maybe you keep getting irrelevant results from nearby locations? Exclude certain keywords to eliminate these results from your research.
  • Step Four - Include a year range if you already have a rough idea of when your relative lived.
  • Step Five - Use filters to get the oldest, newest, or best match results first.

Tips for a Successful Lancaster Newspaper Search

Finding a specific person across 330 years of U.S. history can be tough, especially if they had a commonly used name. This is where the challenge of sifting through Lancaster, Pennsylvania historical newspapers comes in.

Many records contain minimal information, or they were recorded via an oral interaction. This could lead to spelling mistakes or outright incorrect statements. Unfortunately, there was extraordinarily little auditing of obituaries, death notices, and news stories in Lancaster historic newspapers.

Here are some useful tips for finding the right ancestors:

  • Try searching by a person’s initials. Older Lancaster newspapers often didn’t include full names. This is more common as you work your way back through history.
  • To find a female relative, search for their husband’s name. The wife’s name wasn’t included in full, especially their pre-marriage family name.
  • Use common misspellings. This is extra helpful if you have a hard-to-spell family name or a name of non-English origin.

These techniques can help track down ancestors you’re having trouble finding. It’s not uncommon for family researchers to hit a brick wall while tracing their family tree. But there’s always more information to uncover! Try searching U.S. Census Records to gather more family details before exploring historical newspapers.

Remember, Lancaster historic online newspaper records provide details of your family that cannot be found in government records. It was once very common for everyday lives of your ancestors to be captured in the newspaper. You’ll be amazed at the family facts and stories you’ll uncover.

How to Find Ancestors in Lancaster Historical Newspapers

There are countless reasons why records for your ancestors may appear in a newspaper. For most people, these could be birth announcements, marriage announcements, or obituaries. All of these records are potentially available via the Lancaster newspaper archive.

The easiest way to begin working on your family history is to work backward. With potentially thousands of Americans sharing your last name across the state, it’s easy to mistakenly add someone unrelated to your family tree.

Steadily moving through extended family members and using other relatives to fill in the gaps of some of the more elusive members of your bloodline can help you gradually build up your family tree.

Remember, before the advent of the Internet, newspapers were the leading way to disseminate information throughout the community.

Here are some additional tips for narrowing down different newspaper records:

  • Include advanced search techniques, such as Boolean operators and proximity searches.
  • Double-check newspaper entries with any official government records.
  • Use other ancestors to confirm the validity of another. Many death notices will mention other ancestors alongside the deceased.

Lancaster historic newspapers are a treasure trove of historical knowledge. And you can access centuries’ worth of issues from the comfort of your own home.