newspapers
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Historical Tie-ins to Your Ancestors
Jun 13
None of your ancestors may have been famous or renown but they may of knowledge of locally famous people in their community. It could be the town's mayor, a war hero, a decorated police officer or a local community singer. A good method to uncover such individuals is to locate newspapers for the family hometown or county. Many such newspapers that ...
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Locating Obituaries for Female Relatives
Apr 7
Because of maiden names, and what could be numerous married names, it can be difficult to locate an obituary on a female relative. The following are some suggestions to help in the search. A common practice in more recent years is for families to place a free obituary write-up with the funeral home online rather than a paid newspaper obituary. So ...
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Finding Ancestors in Newspapers
Mar 1
To locate any print newspaper articles relating to your ancestors, start where they lived is number ONE. Look back over birth and marriage certificates, check a death certificate and census records for where a person lived over their life. Keep a list with dates. Add surrounding cities or towns or if near the border with another state be sure to in...
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Finding the Good and Bad in Newspapers
Feb 5
Using hometown or neighboring town's newspapers can provide a treasure chest of information which you might or otherwise wish you never knew. There are several newspaper subscription databases, just make sure they have the hometown, home county or at least neighboring towns and counties where your ancestors lived. Here is a library guide to many of...
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Ideas to Assist in Finding Ancestors
Jan 29
1. Ancestors may have used middle names. Check all various forms of given names and see if there were nicknames such 'Dick' for Richard in your search. 2. Check the mother’s maiden name, not everyone was born in wedlock. An ancestor may have used their mother's name only. 3. Perhaps your ancestor simply moved. Always try searching in a neighb...
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Family’s Hometown Christmas
Dec 23
Have you wondered (especially if you had no first knowledge) what Christmas in the family hometown or home county was like? One of the best resources for learning about the town traditions and happenings at the holiday time is to check their local newspapers. Cover the time frame your ancestors lived in the town, say 1900 to 1930. This was done fo...
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How to Start Searching Newspapers on Findmypast
Sep 11
Findmypast has a large collection of historic newspapers. They point out that newspapers are essential genealogy resources that are often overlooked by researchers. Here is how to start searching newspapers on Findmypast. It is a good skill to have, because Findmypast frequently adds to their newspaper collections. Start by clicking on “S...
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Google Newspaper Archives
Sep 3
Newspapers are a wonderful resource to learn more about families, individuals or businesses in a family hometown. The are several fee subscription databases for newspapers available, but there is also the Free Google Newspaper Archives. If you have not attempted to use it, give it a try for sure. Even if it has been awhile since you did a search u...
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Newspaper Details
Jul 3
It was so common in medium size and especially small towns with a newspaper to print all types of details about businesses, events, churches, social items, recording of land deeds, and just ordinary citizens. Newspapers did not do just the wedding news and obituaries, but rather everyday life. An excellent source is to spend time and look for the ...
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Japanese Internment Newspapers
Jun 1
One of the more interesting new additions to the National Library of Congress are the digital copies of newspapers done in the early 1940s by Japanese-Americans held at Federal internment camps for the Japanese. With some 120,000 Japanese-American just from the west coast of the United States placed in numerous camps, they needed to new life. Their...