This post is part of a series for the April Blogging from A to Z April 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.
Long, detailed obituaries about ancestors are always nice to find. Sometimes only a one-sentence death notice is all that is printed in the newspaper. Even though this one doesn't seem to say much about my Fourth Great Grandmother, Esther Simmons, it tells me that the family had moved from Pennsylvania to Illinois by 1839. Earlier than any other record I have of them.
 Commercial Advertisor, [New York, NY] October 19, 1839, pg 1 |
Microfilmed newspapers of the DeWitt Times-News are missing issues just after the death of my Third Great Grandfather, David A Roscoe. This is all that I've been able to find and probably all that I ever will about his death. At least it tells me something about his cause of death.
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| The Opposition, [Saline Co., NE] May 22, 1884 |
Through the Kentucky Digital Library's Historic Newspapers, I was able to find this sentence about my Third Great Grandmother from Wayne County. The Wayne Count Outlook is available online, but it seems to be missing a couple of issues immediately following her death on April 11 and I haven't found anything later.
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| Interior Journal, Stanford, [KY] April 23, 1907 |
This old clipping was among a list of death notices in Lisbon, Connecticut. Austin Bliss is my Fourth Great Grandfather. No full obituary appeared in the Norwich Aurora that I've ever found. Maybe someday a Lisbon paper will be made available online.
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| Norwich Aurora, [CT] January 11, 1871 |
A little longer paragraph was allowed for my Third Great Grandfather Henry Knapp within the social column for Powellsville, Ohio news. His wife did actually survive him another three and a half years, but to my knowledge her death was not in the news.
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| Portsmouth [OH] Daily Times, January 23, 1892 |
A librarian in Worcester, Massachusetts send me this clipping of my Third Great Grandfather's death. This was where I learned his middle name. Nothing more was found about him in the paper.
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| Worcester [MA] Daily Spy, December 23, 1903 |
Obituaries can be very expensive to have printed in newspapers. Possibly the reason some of these are all I've been able to find. Today many obituaries can be found and copied for your records from the funeral home's website. Most likely they are longer than one sentence.
Dances are always advertised in newspapers. If I knew more about the dance where my Grandparents met, I could likely find it advertised in the local paper. And then there are Divorces. I have some of those, too. Diamonds are valuable gems, but articles from old newspapers about ancestors are priceless. It's worth a look. Good luck with your search!
In working on a woman's application for DAR, I found a death notice of sorts for her 2X great-grandmother. It seems her brother was attending their sister's funeral when he got word that she had just died too, so he left after one funeral to travel to the other one. That's the only record of this woman's death!
ReplyDeleteThat's rough, 2 funerals so close. Good luck to your applicant. The one-liner of Esther Simmons went on my 4th (keeping my fingers crossed yet) Patriot supplemental.
DeleteIt's amazing the family history you can find if know where to look
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Sometimes you just get lucky! That first clipping was a woman who died in Illinois and her notice was in a New York online paper. I never would have looked there.
DeleteOh, this is a good reminder to check those local newspapers.
ReplyDeleteYes! Great stuff!
Deletewhat does relict mean?
ReplyDeleteJoy at The Joyous Living
A relict is a widow. If I remember correctly, a "consort" is a woman who predeceased her husband and a "relict" is a woman whose husband died first. Thanks for reading.
DeleteI love working with old newspapers, especially on microfilm. There is something organic about scrolling through each page and experiencing the paper like our ancestors would have. This is a great example of the variety of death notices we see in our research!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah. I don't mind looking at microfilm either, although after too long my eyes definitely feel it. Old newspapers are treasures.
DeleteWhat a great idea, using newspapers for the A-Z challenge.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I could get through the alphabet better with the subject of these clippings than names or places.
DeleteDeath notices would be valuable in a search.
ReplyDeleteIt's always great to find anything about an ancestor. Even if it's just one sentence.
DeleteLove old newspapers. You did get some good info out of these - that middle name, for instance. My 'worst' obit is the one where it said he had died at his daughter's and was a 'nice old gent'. Could be worse but I was so hoping it would say where he was born or something about his birth family!
ReplyDeleteI totally understand your disappointment. We take what we can get. Thanks
DeleteI have found a divorce clipping. Also I have found deaths. One of a shooting that resulted in the death of my great-grandfather and confirmed oral history.
ReplyDeleteThat's great that you confirmed an oral story, but I'm sorry it wasn't a better one.
Delete"Diamonds are valuable gems, but articles from old newspapers about ancestors are priceless." So fitting a quote from your post.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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