In today’s world, we mainly get our news from television or online…newspapers seem to be a thing of the past. But since our interest lies in the past, researching in newspapers can be a goldmine of information. In this blog post discover how your genealogy research can soar to new heights in newspapers.
I can remember the first day I signed up for Newspapers.com. Within minutes (no joke) I found the obituaries of my great-grandfather, Samuel Patrick Donahoo, and his father, John Donahoo. As you can see, there were multiple ways to spell that surname.
Samuel’s obituary on the left doesn’t have a lot of information, but there is something to work with. The obituary on the right of my 2x great-grandfather, John Donahoo, is much more informative. Not only is there personal information, but also military details. Keep in mind you still need to verify what’s there. The military information is wonderful, but in this case, some of it is wrong.
What Can Be Found In Newspapers?
Obituaries are probably the first thing we think of when it comes to newspapers, so it’s #1 on my list. Let’s see what else can be found:
- Obituaries: Newspapers frequently have detailed obituaries that include important details like birth and death dates, names of family members, maiden names, where the person was buried, and occasionally even photos.
- Birth Announcements: Birth announcements are useful for tracing family history because they include the names of newborns, parents, and sometimes grandparents, as well as the date and place of birth.
- Marriage Notices: Marriage announcements offer valuable details about the bride, groom, their parents, and sometimes their places of origin. This can be helpful information in tracing a family back in time.
- Local Events: Newspapers cover local events such as reunions, anniversaries, and social gatherings, where family members might be mentioned or photographed. This might also include tragic events that happen in a particular locality.
- Land Transactions and Legal Notices: Legal notices such as land transactions, estate settlements, and court proceedings published in newspapers can highlight family property ownership, disputes, and legal affairs.
- Military Service: Newspapers often feature news about military service, including enlistments, promotions, casualties, and homecomings.
- Community Directories: Some newspapers include community directories, listing residents’ names, occupations, and addresses, which can be useful for identifying family members and their locations.
- Advertisements: Advertisements in newspapers might include family businesses, personal announcements, or notices seeking lost relatives, offering additional avenues for genealogical research.
- Social News Columns: Many newspapers include social news columns reporting on visits, parties, and other social engagements, often mentioning family members’ names and relationships.
- Local Histories and Features: Newspapers often publish articles on local history, featuring prominent families, landmarks, and events, providing context and background information for genealogical research in specific regions.
Examples:
Where Can I Find Newspapers?
Many newspapers have been digitized and are available online. Here is a list of my go-to sites:
- Chronicling America: This is a website by the Library of Congress that provides access to millions of pages of historic newspapers dating from 1789 to 1963 from all U.S. states and territories. This is a great place to see what newspapers existed for the time and place you’re looking for.
- Newspapers.com: This website offers newspapers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries. It requires a subscription but provides access to many historical newspapers. Newspapers.com is part of the family of companies owned by Ancestry.
- GenealogyBank: Another subscription-based website, GenealogyBank, provides access to millions of historical newspapers from the United States. It covers over 330 years of newspaper archives.
- British Newspaper Archive: If you’re researching ancestors in the United Kingdom, this website provides access to millions of pages of historical newspapers dating back to the 1700s. It requires a subscription.
- Trove: Trove is an Australian digital newspaper archive provided by the National Library of Australia. It offers a large, free collection of Australian newspapers, journals, and magazines.
- Google News Archive: Google News Archive provides access to scanned newspapers and links to newspaper archives. While it’s not as comprehensive as some other sources, it can still be useful for finding specific articles.
- Internet Archive: The Internet Archive has a huge collection of digitized newspapers worldwide. It includes both historical and more recent newspapers, and it’s completely free. I wrote a previous blog post about the Internet Archive. You can read that here.
- OldNews.com: This is affiliated with MyHeritage.com and requires a subscription even if you are a member of MyHeritage.
Tips On Searching
- Use advanced search features provided by the databases to narrow down your results. Filters like date range, location, publication title, and keywords can make your search more effective
- Experiment with different keywords and variations of search terms to capture various angles or potential synonyms used in old newspapers. Use synonyms, alternate spellings, and related terms to broaden your search.
- Familiarize yourself with the historical context of the time and region you’re researching. This can help select relevant newspapers and understand the language, events, and issues.
- Browse by date and location. If you’re unsure about specific keywords or topics, try browsing newspapers by date and location. This takes longer, but you’ll get a feel for what that time and place offers.
- Take advantage of OCR technology: Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology is used to digitize newspapers, enabling keyword searches within the text. Be aware that OCR is not perfect and may have errors, so be flexible in your search and try different variations of the same keyword.
- Save and document sources: Keep track of the newspapers you’ve searched, relevant articles, or clippings. Document your findings with proper citations, noting publication dates, titles, and page numbers for future reference.
- Explore related resources: Expand your search beyond newspaper archives by exploring complementary resources such as historical societies, libraries, university archives, and genealogical websites.
- Consider physical archives: In some cases, physical newspaper archives may offer materials not yet digitized or available online. If possible, visit local libraries, historical societies, or newspaper offices to access original or microfilmed copies of old newspapers. This is a good suggestion for any aspect of your genealogy research.
Finally
As you can see newspapers can be the key to finding that piece of information to fill in the gaps in your ancestors’ lives. Whether you’re looking for an obituary, land sale, or marriage announcement, newspapers offer wonderful details for your genealogy research. Some subscription sites offer free trials, so go poke around and see if they are worth your money.
Genealogy tip: Many local libraries and archives may have their own online collections of newspapers, so it’s worth checking with those institutions in the specific area you’re researching.
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