One of the most valuable tools genealogists can use is newspaper research. It can fill in gaps and give a more complete picture of an ancestor’s life. Start by gathering the information you know about your ancestor. This will help you narrow down your search and make it more productive.
Researching Your Ancestors
Many online newspaper sites allow you to search their collections. Some are free; others require a subscription. Before you dig into your wallet and pay for a site, ensure it contains the type of newspapers you need to research your family history.
It’s also a good idea to check what kind of coverage the website offers – some, only including obituaries, for example.
Often, you can find much more information about birth records online in a newspaper than what is found on their birth, marriage, or death certificate. You might discover they had other jobs or professions, such as a business or professional license.
You might also find that they were members of clubs or organizations. This information can help you connect the dots in their lives and give you a complete picture of them.
Newspapers also report on things that affect the entire community, like local events and celebrations. You might find articles about your ancestor’s business successes, sports honors, or even the details of scandalous affairs or criminal offenses.
This can provide essential clues to your next steps, especially if they are well-known in the community. These stories can help you break down brick walls or lead you to new paths in your research.
You can search online newspapers to discover details about your ancestors that you can’t get from other sources.
Getting Started
While online newspaper resources have increased, it still takes savvy and careful use to get the most out of them. As with any genealogical search, a researcher should identify the time frame and place where a person lived.
This helps determine whether civil vital records or church documents are better overall sources of information, and it also allows for an assessment of the need to utilize other research tools (newspapers, magazine articles, article indexes, etc.).
Once a researcher knows which resources to use, the next step is assessing the necessary information. A well-rounded research plan includes all sources that might know, but it is essential to consider how to use them in concert – for example, an online newspaper search with an article index will provide the best results.
When researching newspapers, a researcher must also know that many older papers aren’t available digitally or on microfilm at libraries. These can often be found in a library catalog by searching the newspaper’s title, city, state, and year of publication.
Try using the best online site directory to identify markers for your research, or search in a local library catalog by city, state, and “newspapers.”
It is helpful to know how to use wildcard characters when searching newspapers. For example, an asterisk substitute for zero or more letters (Rob*son will find Robinson, Robertson, and Robison) and a question mark substitute for one letter (Bri? tol will find Bristol and Brilloth).
Finding Your Ancestors in the Papers
If you have been looking for an ancestor’s vital record in another source or it has eluded you, consider reading newspapers. Newspapers can fill in the details that other forms cannot – they can provide clues, reveal information, and even lead you to a new line of research.
Obituaries, birth and wedding announcements, news stories, and other events in an ancestor’s life can all be found in local papers. In addition, many times, a simple obituary can disclose important dates, relationships, occupations, and religious affiliations that will help you build a more detailed family history.
When locating an ancestor’s obituary, review the entire notice. Sometimes important details are left out, such as the cause of death or a shortened birth name. It is also a good idea to review other sections of the paper, particularly those that report community news and gossip.
There is often information that will give clues about an ancestor’s whereabouts, such as notices of uncollected letters at the post office or delinquent tax bills, as well as articles on local businesses and social activities that may mention a family member.
Many online newspaper collections include features that make it easy to find your ancestor’s obituary or other vital information in their papers.
Using Online Newspapers
Many online newspaper collections have Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities to search keywords or phrases. Search terms can also be grouped using Boolean searching.
Use wildcard characters, such as an asterisk that substitutes for zero or more letters (Robison finds Robinson, Robison, and Robertson) and a question mark that replaces one letter (Ols’n finds Olson and Olsen).
Be aware of how a word might be spelled, especially in older newspapers. For example, in some 18th-century newspapers, the letters often resembled a for an l.
The premium websites have extensive newspaper archives covering the United States and several other countries. They allow you to search all years available for a newspaper at once or narrow your search by place and year.
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