Newspaper Clippings ~ O

This post is part of a series for the April Blogging from A to Z Blogging Challenge. My theme is Newspaper Clippings in relation to my family history. These have come from both microfilmed and digitized newspapers I've searched over the past 25 years. Click to enlarge any clipping.

Occupations

I bet you thought I was going to say Obituaries! That would be too obvious, and I have far too many. While a lot of my ancestors were farmers, there are those who were teachers, preachers and did other types of jobs.

El Paso [TX] Herald, July 18, 1918

One of the most exciting things I found happened when trying to find out how "Mrs. Anna Loucks" was a cousin to my Second Great Grandmother Lena Roscoe. Starting with a Google search for her, I quickly learned that she was one of the first female police officers in Chicago, back in 1913. I've found several articles about the formation of this group of ten women in papers from all over the country. Stories about the work of this task force made editions of many newspapers outside of Chicago. I found several at Chronicling America, this one is from El Paso, Texas. I've written about Anna before here. 



Cleve Roscoe was a police officer in Kansas City in the 1920's,'30's and maybe into the 1940's. In this listing of the payroll of the Park Department he is listed under "East Park Districe, Division No. 4" as a skilled laborer. It includes his address, daily rate and amount paid on April 15th. 

Kansas City [MO] Star, May 7, 1939

Rock Springs [WY] Miner, June 1906

One of the teachers in my family tree grew up in Illinois and moved around during her life. From M. Belle (Jorgenson) McKee's obituary I learned Rock Springs High School in Wyoming was one of the schools where she taught before she married. Through Wyoming online digital newspapers I found her name in the local paper several times, first searching for Jorgen"son" and then Jorgen"sen". She left public school teaching and taught at a private tutoring school in Los Angeles and I find very little about that school in newspapers.

Aurelia [IA] Sentinel,  June 11,1909

Preachers are also in the newspaper a lot. Whenever a change is made in the ministry of the local churches, there's at least a mention in the society pages. Local newspapers in the right time-frames for me to find Rev. Henry Menke, Jr are available in both Carter County, Missouri and Cherokee County, Iowa, two of the areas he served. 

One more small clipping I've been able to find from the Illinois Digital newspapers site tells me Charles Lee was the first postmaster in Macon. He died in 1861, so he wasn't postmaster for long. I had hoped to find his obituary, but it's not in an online digitized newspaper, nor one local paper I've searched on microfilm.

Ottawa [IL] Free Trader, June 14, 1856

Obituaries often mention a person's occupation, which can help you find more about them in newspapers. Online newspapers are common now and when one of my family members has an article or a mention in the paper, I sometimes save a copy for myself as a pdf file. Can you think of any other "O" words you might find? Good luck with your search!