Category Archives: Newspapers

Newspapers

6 Tips for Successful Newspaper Searches

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With the ever-expanding digitization of newspapers, this resource is becoming a genealogical fountain of family history information that might otherwise have been lost to time. Really, what better way to experience the lives of our ancestors than to read about them in the newspaper?

Successful searching depends on several factors, so today, I’d like to share several tips to increase the probability for success.

  1. I know several people who say “I use “X” Company” all the time. That’s great, but it’s important to cast a wider net than just one company because NO single company offers exactly the same newspaper database as any other company. Yes, some companies offer exclusive access to a single newspaper, BUT town inhabitants (particularly towns near larger cities) often had access to two, three or more regional newspapers. I can tell you from personal experience that all newspapers do not print the same stories and some newspapers print a longer article that has been edited and shortened by another newspaper. Cast your research net wide to determine how many newspapers were published in your location of choice in the time frame that meets your research needs.
  2. Chronicling America is an excellent free database of historical newspapers published pre-1930 with some newspapers published as late as 1963. However, there are two handy tabs on the home page that most people don’t notice:

The first tab is All Digitized Newspapers 1770-1963. NOTE: This doesn’t include every newspaper that has been digitized – it ONLY includes digitized newspapers available on Chronicling America. Using this search feature makes it very easy to determine whether or not a newspaper for your location of interest is available on this website.

The second tab enables a researcher to determine what newspapers are extant for which geographical locations that might have been home to our ancestors.

After clicking on that second tab, US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present, I searched for Passaic, New Jersey. Be aware that many/most of these newspapers are NOT in Chronicling America and are much more likely to be found in one of the subscription websites, assuming that they have been digitized:

There are 123 hits that came up! If I limited my search to the Passaic Herald News, I would be missing out on the chance that something about my family members might have been published in a Clifton or Paterson newspaper.

IMPORTANT: This list does not included every known newspaper that was/is published in the United States. Here is an excellent example:

I next searched “Calais, Maine” and thirteen hits came up. However, and this is a big however, the major newspaper published in the Calais area, from the 1830s right up to today, is The Calais Advertiser, which isn’t even listed here. I’ve heard that this newspaper is being digitized this year, but I am still waiting patiently for it to appear somewhere!

3. To repeat myself, casting a wide net is important. Use general search engines to determine local resources that might house digitized newspapers.

Here are several examples of what might be found:

Some of the newspapers in these collections will also be found on subscription websites, but others can only be accessed online through the website. It’s well worth the time to seek out smaller databases.

4. Now, let’s say you’ve found a newspaper of interest, perhaps on Newspapers.com. First, before jumping down the rabbit hole, giddy with excitement, take a moment to click on PAPERS.

Now, enter the name of the newspaper in which you are interested. I know The Herald News has been around “forever” and let’s say I am looking for an obituary notice for my great grandmother who died in Passaic in 1926.

Well, I won’t be finding that obituary in The Herald News because this collection ranges from 1932-2023. It may be that this newspaper began publication in 1932, but it’s also possible that this company doesn’t have a complete run of all issues.

5. Once you are at the newspaper search page, hoping to find that genealogical gold, how do you search? Hint: If you only try a surname by “the way it’s always been spelled,” you might be missing out on many hits. Remember that not only is it possible that the news person receiving the information might have misspelled a name, OCR (the technology used to scan and index newspapers) sometimes scans poorly preserved pages and therefore words are mis-indexed. For example, the surname Sabo is also spelled as Szabo and Sabol. When letters like ct, th, sh and other combinations are OCR scanned, they sometimes scan in a blurry image and ct might be indexed as d. Therefore, keep in mind that you might need to be creative with your search terms.

6. Lastly, in addition to people names, search for addresses, business names and even school names. My grandmother used to rent out the back room upstairs in the 1940s and 1950s and had quite a few tenants. When I searched for our street address, I not only found the classified ads she placed when looking for a new renter, I found a couple of stories naming tenants who were mentioned in a news article.

I hope these tips have given you some new ideas for efficient ancestor searching in newspapers.

Newspapers

Enrich the Life Story of Your 20th Century Ancestor Through Newspapers

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How often do you seek out newspaper articles about your ancestors? If they lived in the 19th century, you might locate a handful of interesting pieces of information, but unless your ancestor was famous, or infamous, there probably won’t be too many mentions found in news articles.

That scenario changes considerably with the start of the 20th century! Reporters actively sought news items of interest to the local townspeople, whether it be of business, criminal or social interest to everyone.

We worry about online privacy today, but not very many years ago, everyone knew everybody’s business because it was printed right there in the newspaper!

However, all of the local gossip printed in the newspaper was not unwanted. The “society editor” took phone calls from those reporting everything from the family pet to birthday parties to engagements and weddings to local young men serving in the military. School graduation lists were published, as were the names of young men and women heading off to college. Illnesses, anniversaries and vacations were also duly noted.

All of these news items provide social context to the lives of family members, providing glimpses into their daily lives.

My family was pretty typical, I’d say, living in New Jersey in the 20th century. My dad’s life is a good example of learning more about him as he was growing up and, by extension, learning about my grandparents, too.

The Passaic Herald News was the daily local paper and everyone I knew had a subscription. My dad was born in 1926 and, while that was a bit early for general birth announcements, it wasn’t long before Nana was busy keeping the newspaper updated on her son.

There were several birthday party announcements, with the first appearing in 1929. Not only did I learn that Dad received “many lovely gifts,” I know who attended, what the entertainment was, where the party was held, that Nana provided a “dainty repast,” and there is a full list of the adults who attended, which gives me an instant FAN club list. I actually recognize most, but not all of the surnames. It’s also interesting that none of the children attending are mentioned and I know that there were cousins at the party.

There were several other birthday articles, but these three give an idea of what was reported.

My grandfather had died of tuberculosis in 1936, so there was a pause in the articles until 1941 when Nana sent in an announcement about Dad’s 15th birthday.

Dad attended Fairleigh Dickinson, a junior college at the time, and is mentioned in the 1944 class of freshmen.

Dad also happened to be chosen to appear in a career counseling ad, too, about the same time:

Dad isn’t identified in the photo, but Nana saved the news clipping.

In 1946, Dad got engaged to a young lady and their engagement was announced in the paper. A few months later, the engagement was over. Although the young lady is also deceased, she did marry and have children, so I’m choosing not to included that article in this post.

However, in July 1947, my dad had a car accident. His friend, John Mastrobuono, was not only injured, but he sued my dad and others involved in the accident. $50,000 was a LOT of money in 1947 and I have no idea what kind of settlement he received, but in 1949, there was an additional article about the accident and the lawsuit against the others.

Ads can even add to the family story. I don’t know if the car involved in the 1947 accident is the same one in this 1949 ad, which I found by searching our home address:

Dad apparently sold the ’42 Chevy and bought another car, perhaps the Ford sedan that I remember, a short time later because he was fined – $3.00 – in East Rutherford for improper parking! I’ve no idea what he was doing in East Rutherford.

$3.00 Parking Fine

Even dog bites made the news. I remember this little girl, who lived next door. I used to play with her older sibling. This article is from 1957 and, while it sounds like the dog was at fault (Mickey, our pet), this child was often running around outside unsupervised. Later that year, Mom had my infant brother napping in the baby carriage on our side porch (on the opposite side from 51 Summer Street). This child came up on the porch (remember, just over 2 years old at the time) and tried to take my brother out of the carriage, dropping him in the process! So. . . it might well be that Mickey was protecting himself from her!

Of course, as you can see, there are many other kinds of articles to be found in newspapers, aside from the obligatory birth, marriage and death announcements.

What new tidbits have you learned about family members from the local newspaper?

Newspapers

My Favorite Newspaper Clippings

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I have to admit, first thing, that I’m very envious of family historians who have access to historical newspapers and find their families in them all the time. Because the two places where my family lived – New Jersey and Maine – haven’t gotten into the digitized newspaper game yet, the clippings I have are those that have been handed down through the family. I am very grateful for the articles that I do have!

Here are a few of my favorites:

My grandmother, Hazel Coleman Adams, cut out her wedding announcement from the Calais newspaper, probably the Calais Advertiser, and saved it. I never thought to ask Grandmother about her wedding day, so this article tells me all that I will ever know. My grandparents married on 19 July 1920.

I do remember that Grandmother said Clara Dwelley was her best friend – she helped serve the refreshments. Pauline Stuart and Helen Tarbox were cousins of my grandfather.

This article, much later (1975), I found hilarious. (It’s safe to say that because no one was hurt.) Dave’s grandmother, Pearl, was 77 years old when this happened. I’m not sure how you drive a car INTO the store, but that is what she did. It happened in Norman, Oklahoma. The clipping is from The Norman Transcript and it looks like it was front page news. How embarrassing!

I had saved this article for many years – it’s about my kitten, Missy, who went up the tree in front of the house and couldn’t get back down. Howard, a childhood friend, saved the day! He also kindly shared this digital image of the article, which he has kept all these years. Mine disappeared decades ago. Missy was the sweetest little cat. The story was published in the Passaic Herald News.

My great grandfather, Hartwell Coleman, passed away on 29 March 1938 in Calais. His title of “Captain” wasn’t an honorific – he was a tug pilot and master mariner who sailed the waters in the Bay of Fundy and in Boston Harbor. This obituary would have been published in the Calais Advertiser, like my grandmother’s wedding announcement.

I don’t recognize the four pall bearers, but Fred McPheters, Phillip Becket and Fred Scott, were all born in 1898. I am guessing that they were classmates of my grandfather and knew the Coleman family. Luther Barnes was born in 1906, younger than the others, but he lived on River Road and perhaps was a neighbor of Hartwell Coleman.

This last article includes my mother-in-law, Ruby Sturgell Stufflebean. She was in the Class of 1937 of Anadarko (Oklahoma) High School, so this article was probably published around May 1937, but I have no idea about the name of the newspaper.

Ruby never did become a stenographer. She married Edward Stufflebean one year later, in June 1938, and was a stay-at-home mom except during World War II.

This brought back memories of my own high school days when we had our own questions and answers published. However, ours didn’t make the local newspaper, they only made it into the school newspaper!

What are your favorite newspaper articles? Are you one of the lucky ones who finds them in paper after paper or did you inherit them like me? Share your stories, please.