Newspaper Clippings ~ U

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.

Unexpected 

I'm not saying that I've expected to find all of the clippings I've presented in this series so far. But these clippings today were some of the most unexpected things I've found to date. At any rate, I needed a "U" and I've had no family members involved in a Union or worked for the Union Pacific, and nobody who Umpired any games on any regular basis. 

Columbus [NE] Journal, March 17, 1886

Doing a random search at the Nebraska Newspaper Project for Henry Menke, this mention of "Henry Menke jr" was in a column of news from around the state in the Columbus Journal. Columbus is over 100 miles from DeWitt. I knew Henry Menke, Jr to be a Minister, so this mention of a patent for a revolving fan didn't sound like him. But Google has Patents online, and with a search I found this patent. I could tell by the witnesses that this was the Henry Menke, Jr in my family. One of them was later his brother-in-law. 

Portsmouth [OH] Daily Times, September 21, 1878

Henry Menke Sr was mentioned in this clipping from the Portsmouth Daily Times which I never would have expected to find. It's cool to see that he came out west to see if for himself first before just uprooting from Ohio and moving here. There are two different subscription sites that offer the Portsmouth Daily Times, but I learned that there is a difference in the years each one covers. 

Portsmouth [OH] Daily Times, September 4, 1912

Just one more surprise from these Menke men. Henry Menke Jr died in 1912, I knew from his tombstone in Clatonia, Nebraska. But I wasn't able to find an obituary with just the year back in the days of microfilm. While searching for more news about his brother J. F. Menke in Portsmouth, Ohio, this article came up. Looking in Michigan for any information about Henry Jr would never have crossed my mind. 




You can't always find exactly what you're looking for in old newspapers. That's why I take the approach that I will see that each individual paper has, or what each different search engine can uncover. Ultimately, finding articles that mention ancestors in newspapers takes a certain amount of luck. Use online digitial newspapers and see if you can unlock the past. Good luck with your search!