Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Using Newspapers in Your Genealogy Research









Newspapers can be a gold mine of information about your ancestors!

The earliest US newspapers focused on national news and politics. Starting in the mid 1800's the focus shifted to more local news reporting, but it wasn't until the 20th century that objective non-biased reporting appeared.

So what can you learn about your family in the newspaper?  A LOT!

Newspapers were the social media of their day and they covered everything. Here is a partial list of the types of information that can be found in newspapers:

From the Cleveland Plain
Dealer,  6 Nov, 1929, p. 7.
Clara Tagg Brewer
My first cousin 3 X removed.




  • Details about life's major events, such as the wedding announcement that describes the bride's gown and menu in great detail.
  • Can provide a woman's maiden, or previous married names.
  • Military Service
  • Scholastic achievements
  • Photos - see photo of my 1st cousin 3 X removed at right
  • Gossip, personal notices, and social columns. Who had Thanksgiving at your great grandparents house?
  • Business ads - Did you ancestor have a business? Did they advertise? 
Portage Sentinel, 24 Feb., 1847 page 4.
Ad for the painting business of my 3X great uncle,
William TAGG.

  • Unclaimed mail - in the earlier papers this could serve as an indicator of just how early your ancestor moved into an area.
  • Help distinguish people of the same name. (Three Thomas BARRYs lived in the same rural Ohio county.)
  • Family reunions, with lists of all those who attended from out-of-town.
  • Legal occurrences, property transfers, estate records, arrests & convictions, and civil suits.
  • Give clues to your ancestor's personality for richer, more fleshed out portrayals of their lives. My one ancestor was described as a jovial storyteller. 
Jackson Standard 29 Sep 1887, p. 2, article describing
a reunion of Civil War army veterans in Jackson, OH.
My 3 X great grandfather was a member of the
91st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Found on the
Chronicling America web site.

  • Provide a social & historical context for the community your ancestors lived in. Did the bars outnumber the churches (as I have seen in some villages.)? 
Cleveland Plain Dealer, 7 Feb 1911 page 14,
dramatic heading for the obituary for my
3 X great grandfather, Rev. J.H. TAGG.

  • Newspapers can serve people of different religious, ethnic, racial or political groups:
    • A German newspaper was the first foreign language newspaper in the US and that nationality dominated the field until about 1900.
    • After 1900, Eastern European immigrants from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia predominated.
    • Foreign language newspapers helped immigrants stay connected to the old country while helping them integrate into their new  homeland.
    • Gradually, foreign language newspapers lost their influence and today, only a few survive. 
    • Shipping News tracks the travels across the oceans of our ancestors and their ships.
"Value of a dog" Niles Weekly Register, 1 Oct. 1836, No.5 Vol. 1.
This snippet from a shipping newspaper recounts an incident on
the trip that brought my 4 X great grandparents, James and Rebecca
TAGG and family to America. If the dog hadn't alerted the crew,
would I even be here?
SEARCHING GUIDELINES:
  • Newspapers sometimes are biased and can be untrustworthy.
  • Newspapers often used initials or abbreviations instead of printing the full name. Remember to search using initials also!
  • Prior to 1980's women are more likely to be listed under their husband's name.
  • Small weekly newspapers can have more detail than a large daily paper. 
  • Don't limit your search to just one newspaper. Newspapers often picked up stories and obituaries in former hometowns and in places where other family members lived. 
  • If your family lived in a small town, look for a larger nearby city newspaper which might have included local news. 
  • Don't limit your search to your direct ancestors. Search for the names of siblings, cousins, in-laws, and other family members who lived in the same area.
  • Except for the New York Times, newspapers do not index themselves and rely on libraries and historical societies to do the indexing.
IDENTIFYING WHAT NEWSPAPERS ARE AVAILABLE:
The quickest way to discover what newspapers are published currently is to google "location name newspapers". But what if you want to know what newspapers were published in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1770?  Consult these directories of published newspapers:
Some of these directories also describe where copies of the newspaper can be found.

Newspapers can also be found in local, regional, state, & college libraries or  historical societies, archives and repositories.

The Ohio History Connection has an extensive collection of Ohio newspapers that can be ordered though your local library for a fee. For other states, check for newspaper holdings at WorldCat.org.

HOW DO YOU ACCESS NEWSPAPERS?
There are only three choices for accessing newspapers:
  • Paper copies - this is usually only an option for recent newspapers. Newsprint degrades quickly and takes a lot of room for storage. And they are flammable. Paper copies are usually only available at the newspaper office and at local libraries. Very limited or non-existent indexing.
  • Microfilm copies - Starting in the mid-20th century, microfilming became the preferred method for preserving newspapers. Theoretically, under optimal conditions,  microfilm can survive for hundreds of years. It can be very tedious to wind though miles of film. Nearby libraries, archives, state libraries, historical societies and colleges are the most likely repositories of newspaper microfilm. Very limited or non-existent indexing. Who owns the microfilm can be searched on Worldcat.org/
  • Digitized copies - only a small percentage of newspapers have been digitized. It is an expensive and labor intensive project. Most digitization projects use the microfilm copies of the paper. The number of digitized papers keeps growing. 
    • Most use OCR character recognition for indexing.Problems can occur with OCR indexing. The OCR software has trouble interpreting the sometimes small or smudged newsprint from the original paper.
NEWSPAPER DATABASES:
  • Ancestry.com $$ or Ancestry Library Edition (ALE) 
    • Access though subscription or from inside a public library 
    • Limited publication coverage 
    • Easy to search, view and print 
    • ALE is available within all of the branches of Medina County District Library - www.mcdl.info 
Screen shot from Ancestry LE that indicates they have 159 "Newspapers & Publications" in their holdings.

  • British Newspaper Archive - www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk from FindMyPast.com
  • Chronicling America -http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ 
    • Has a directory of all US newspapers that includes listing (incomplete) where to find copies of the paper – does not include MCDL or Ohio History Connection 
    • Provides access to information about historic newspapers & select digitized newspaper pages 
    • Represents less than 2% of US newspapers 
    • Easy to save and print 
Launching page for the directory portion of the Chronicling America site.

  • FindMyPast $$ or ££ https://www.findmypast.com/
  • Genealogy Bank - $$ - https://www.genealogybank.com/explore/newspapers/all
    • They claim that 95% of their newspapers are exclusive to GenealogyBank (doubtful)
    • Can browse by location to see if they  have the paper you are looking for. 
    • 14 day free trial
    • Parent company is Newsbank. Includes papers covered by
      Chronicling America and Newspaper Archives
  • Google News Archive - https://news.google.com/newspapers - a discontinued project by Google to digitize the world's newspapers. Although they are no longer adding new content, the old content is there.
  • Newspapers.com $$ 
    • From Ancestry.com 
    • 5,800+ newspaper titles 
    • 336+ million pages 
    • Coverage from 1700s to 2000s 
    • Different subscription levels 
  • Newspaper Archives 
    • Subscription Database 
    • Some libraries subscribe - Akron Summit County Public Library
    • Does the smaller, local papers 
    • Map guide to which newspapers digitized 
    • Easy to search, save and print 
    • Search Limiters: 
      • Date - Exact, Range of dates, Between two years 
      • Location - Country, State, City 
      • Name of Publication 
Newspaper Archive is available from many libraries, including the Akron Summit County Public Library.
It has digitized many smaller town newspapers. Clipping, printing and saving the articles is possible




















AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWSPAPER RESEARCH - here are some unique sources for African American Genealogy:
  • Finding and Using African American Newspapers by Timothy Pinnick 
  • Runaway slave advertisements  
  • Reunion with lost family post-Civil War generally 1865-1885  
  • Freedom on the Move www.freedomonthemove.org - ads for runaway slaves 
  • Last Seen: Finding Family after Slavery http://informationwanted.org/about digitization of the Christian Recorder about trying to find lost family 
  • Chronicling America has 20+ African American Newspapers 
  • African American/Black columns in large newspapers, such as: 
    • Pittsburgh Courier 
    • Chicago Defender 
    • The Freeman 
    • Norfolk Journal and Guide 
    • Cleveland Gazette
    • Call and Post

NEWSPAPER DATABASES FROM LOCAL LIBRARIES

MEDINA COUNTY DISTRICT LIBRARY
  • Newsbank, providing access to:
    • Cleveland Plain Dealer 1991-present 
    • The (Toledo) Blade Oct 1996-Present (4 week lag)
    • The Cincinnati Post 1990-2007 
    • The Columbus Dispatch 1882-2019 
    • Dayton Daily News 1889-2019
CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY - for holders of CPL Library cards ONLY (can’t have MCDL & CCPL Cards):
  • Akron Beacon Journal 1997-2016 (not death notices)
  • Call and Post (African American) 1934-1991
  • Cleveland News Index
  • Ethnic Watch 200 ethnic newspapers 1985-present
  • New York Times Historical 1851-2013
  • Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
  • Plain Dealer 1991- present
  • Plain Dealer Historical 1845-1991
  • The Times (London) 1785-2010
  • USA Today 2002-present
  • Wall Street Journal 1984-present
CUYAHOGA COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY- for holders of CCPL library cards (Can have MCDL & CCPL cards at same time)       
  • America’s Obituaries & Death Notices 1800s-present
  • Cleveland Jewish News
  • Cleveland Jewish News Archive 1964-present
  • Cleveland Call & Post 1934-1991
  • Newspaper Source - (see above)
  • New York Times Historical 1851-2014
  • Plain Dealer 1991-present
  • Plain Dealer Historical 1845-1991
  • Press Reader - Newspapers from all over the world
AKRON SUMMIT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
  • Akron Beacon Jounral 1984- present
  • akron Reporter - for Akron's African American Communitye, 1969-1999, 2003-2017
  • New York Times - access from within the library 
  • NewspaperArchive
  • Newspaper Source - 25 national & international newspapers
  • Regional Business News - 75 regional, metropolitan and rural business newspapers
  • Wall Street Journal - 2008 to present
LIBRARY SUBSCRIPTIONS - Not available locally:
  • Proquest Historical Newspapers- seen at academic and a few public libraries
  • READEX- Provider of subsets like “Early American Newspapers”
  • Gale - Nineteenth Century Newspapers, etc
  • Ebscohost - provider of current newspaper articles
SOURCES:
  • Biedler, James, Family Tree Historical Newspapers Guide, 2018.
  • Greenwood, Val D., Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 2017 pp. 273-276. 
  • Kahn, Miriam, PhD, "Newspapers: Easy Ways to Find and Use Current & Historical Content", webinar for OHIONET presented February 18, 2016. webinar on newspapers from 2016 
  • Morgan, George G., How to Do Everything Genealogy, 2015, pp. 44-46.
WEBSITES:

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1 comment:

Lisa said...

This was an awesome blog! You filled it with great information and links! I will definitely be using this to aid in my research!

August 9, 2019 at 9:22 AM

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