Newspaper Clippings ~ D

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.

 Death notices 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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!

Newspaper Clippings ~ C

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.

Card of Thanks

Tyler [TX} Daily Courier-Times, Monday, August 2, 1920 pg 2

Often with or after an obituary the family will run a "Card of Thanks" as a way to show their appreciation to the general public who they felt helped and supported them. In this case, this is the only record of the death of Rebecca Bell, wife of Elijah, that's been found. I have no access to this local paper and didn't look myself, but a helpful librarian in Tyler, Texas found this and tried but didn't find an obituary. 

DeWitt [NE] Times-News, March 30, 1923

Mary C Roscoe had remarried in 1891, but that fact seemed to be ignored by the Roscoe family. This Card of Thanks is one example of that. I think her second husband was bad news. As I do sometimes, this is a photo of the microfilm screen that I took with my phone to keep this. Saves time moving the reel of film from one reader to an open reader that will print a copy. 

Church activities and other church news is one way that female ancestors make the papers, although sometimes still with only their husband's first name. This is from 1947, "Mrs. C Bell" is my great grandma.  

Aurora [NE] News-Register, August 8, 1947

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, October 11, 1944

Grandma, aka "Mrs Kenneth Menke", was always active in her church, as well as her sisters both Mrs. Bartlett's here. 

Hamilton County [NE] Republican Register, June 3, 1930

My other Grandma at age 13, Violet McGrath and her Sunday School class literally took a hike. Some of these other girls named here may be in some old photos we have - a clue for helping identify them. 







Many funeral homes now have an option for people to electronically send notes to the family which are sometimes made public. It's been my experience that the funeral home shares a printed copy for the immediate family. For family history, copies of these can also be added to that deceased person's notes with your research. 

My collection of clippings also include articles covering college students news, club activities and family celebrations of all kinds. Can you think of anything that start with "C" that would relate to your ancestors? Good luck with your search!

Newspaper Clippings ~ B

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.

Births 

Birth announcements are common in newspapers now and sometimes can be found in old papers. I really expected to find one for my Grandma and her twin brother in 1920, but it didn't make the local paper. I do have recent birth announcements, but I won't post those of my living family members here. 

Tobias [NE] Times, May 16, 1941

Birthday parties I've got! My own first birthday got a couple of paragraphs in my hometown paper. When my Second Great Grandmother had her 100th birthday it made three different newspapers.  This one from the Tobias Times was copied in the Lincoln Journal Star and the Beatrice Daily Sun in May of 1941. There were also mentions of her 95th and 98th birthdays in the Clatonia news columns of the Beatrice Daily Sun.  ,

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, September 9, 1922

Another Second Great Grandmother Henrietta Gaisford had more than one birthday party written up in the paper over time. Her 74th here is from the Beatrice Daily Sun, September 9, 1922. It might come close to mentioning her entire family - even those who didn't make it. 

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, January 29, 1948

Henrietta's daughter Maime was honored on her 78th birthday. Maime never married and always lived with her parents or other family. I have not been able to learn much about her yet. For her 78th birthday, she was surprised by many female members of her family and friends. She lived to be 89 years old. 

Business 

News about my ancestors business affairs that I find in newspapers is always interesting. I  found this in online newspapers at the Illinois Digital Newspapers site. James Gaisford was a weaver, so he and his son opening a factory to make rugs makes sense. 

Weekly Pantagraph, [McLean Co., IL] November 11, 1904

My Great Grandfather Cicero Bell started mercantile businesses a couple different times, and then would quit and return to farming. Here in 1906 he buys a Blue Grass farm in a different county from where I ever knew him to live. I wish the article mentioned the name of the store he left. The second clipping below doesn't mention him, but he also had an interest in the Conoco Service Station that my Grandpa and his brother ran in 1934.

Aurora [NE] News-Register, October 12, 1934

Birth announcements are very common on social media like Facebook and Instagram, often with photos. First photos of new babies are so sweet. These announcements can be saved by taking a screenshot or copying/pasting them into your personal family history records. Remember copyright issues and don't repost them to online trees.

I have other articles about Bible study groups and Baptisms among my relatives. With many of my ancestors being farmers, I might someday find an article about an ancestors barn raising or a barn dance. You can build your knowledge of your ancestors by burrowing through old newspapers. What other "B" words come to mind? Good luck with your search! 

Newspaper Clippings ~ A

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.

Advertisements


Newspapers are all about Advertising. It's interesting to find advertisements that mention family members and their businesses. They are a great way to learn about the way your ancestors earned money, as well as where they may have spent it. Most of my ancestors were farmers, but I've been surprised to learn of some of the businesses owned or managed by my family members through ads. 


Searching through the DeWitt Times-News on microfilm, I found that my Second Great Grandfather William Roscoe was a windmill dealer in 1884. Another ancestor who worked in the windmill industry was my Great Grandfather Clarence Mann, who worked for Dempster Mills in Beatrice later in the 1940's. 

DeWitt [NE] Times-News, April, 1884

Aurora [NE] Republican, January 8, 1909

The library in Aurora, Nebraska has old Aurora newspapers digitized (but available only at the library), which was how I found that my Great Grandfather Art McGrath advertised his poultry business in 1909. With enough time someday, I want to try to find how long this business was in operation. 

Something else I learned in Aurora was that my Grandpa owned a service station with his brother in Aurora in 1934. I have written more about this here. 

Aurora [NE] News-Register, October 26, 1934

Accidents are news and often written about in newspapers. Art McGrath had a little mishap in 1931 that was kinda costly.  Everyone was all right after this one. I had never heard about this. 

Hamilton County [NE] Republican Register, September 25,1931

Aurora [NE] News-Register,
December 21, 1967

Art's son, Virg, had a close call too. This happened shortly before Christmas in December, 1967. Had he just come from the Stockham Cemetery? Uncle Virg was always at our Christmas dinners (and Thanksgiving, and Easter, etc.), but this story didn't make dinner conversation at any one I remember.

Crete News is a recently added online and searchable paper.  I found this little clipping in the issue dated April 6, 1944, but it was under a column of news from ten years earlier. My Grandpa would have been 17 years old when this happened. 

Best of all, newspapers provide Answers to questions about ancestors. Like this clipping about how my Second Great Grandmother's brother ended up in Oklahoma when none of the rest of the family did. 

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, February 4, 1903

In doing family history research, these old newspaper clippings that mention ancestors gives detail and insight into what their life was like. Today, social media is free advertising. The descendants of current living people may or may not be able to find old social media posts in the future, we don't know at this point. "Clippings" of social media posts can be added to offline genealogy software to help preserve those things for future generations.

Agriculture is a big part of my family and I have some articles from recent newspapers about their agricultural achievements. What other "A" words associated with your ancestors can you think of to look for in old newspapers? Good luck with your search! 

Ancestors In Newspaper Clippings

This weeks 52 Ancestors prompt "In the paper" is perfectly timed for me. Last week I revealed that I'm also taking part in the A to Z April Blogging Challenge and my theme for this is Newspaper Clippings in my family history research. It will include in an alphabetical format, clippings I've found through the past 25 years searching both microfilm and digitized newspapers. Can you guess how I'll use each letter? Some might surprise you.

Every so often here at The Old Trunk in the Attic, I feature a portion of a local social column from a paper I copied from microfilm while looking for mentions of my ancestors. The goal in doing this is that it potentially could be of help to someone some day. Realistically, I know that it won't happen often. What I post is just a drop in the bucket of news that is not available through online digitized newspapers. Just in case, take a look at them by using the "Newspaper Clippings" Label to the right.

In searchable, digitized newspapers I've found a variety of mentions of my ancestors. So much more than just obituaries and the local gossip columns. For just one example, I've used newspapers to follow the careers of preachers and teachers:

Tracing the Career Path of Rev. G. O. Bell

Ord Quiz, January 14, 1926

My Search for a Photo of Belle

Chicago Daily Tribune, August 4, 1911

My series on the grave's I've been to will be suspended until May. For the month of April, I will be posting not four, but 26 ancestor posts. Maybe I can still count one per week for #52Ancestors. I hope you'll check out my Newspaper Clippings from A to Z. 

Old Trunk in the Attic's #AtoZChallenge Theme Reveal

Every April rolls around and I enjoy reading blog posts other bloggers write for the A to Z April Blogging Challenge and get the idea to try it myself. This challenge is open not only to genealogy bloggers, but all bloggers of any topic. Each participant can choose their own theme related to their blog topic to write about. Every year April is suddenly here and I'm not prepared to do 26 posts in 26 days. I don't write daily. For those who aren't familiar with my blog, I should point out that I know writing is not my strong point. I just write to share the things I've learned about my family history.

Last April I decided to pre-plan for 2019. After debating between a couple of ideas, I decided for my theme to write about the Newspaper Clippings I've found in relation to my family history research.  I stashed clippings in a folder to include and have spent the last few months writing about them. So this year I am ready for 26 days of blogging. 

Most tombstones have a year, then a dash, then a year. I love to use newspapers to help change that dash to a documentary on my ancestors. Digitized, searchable newspapers are fantastic for adding insight and character to a person. It's even better when they are available online. I use as many free sites as possible and I find them through The Ancestor Hunt. I've been making trips to the Nebraska State Historical Society Library in Lincoln for several years collecting clippings of articles from microfilmed newspapers where my ancestors were mentioned. When searching for articles on microfilm, it is almost necessary to know a date of an event. Occasionally, I've gotten lucky finding interesting mentions just by browsing the papers, but I don't have much opportunity for that. The newspaper clippings I post in this series will come from both microfilmed and digitized newspapers.

I hope you will follow along and maybe try searching for your own ancestors in the 

Friday's Faces from the Past - Not Alice's Style

Alice May Negley was my Great Grandmother Sadie's sister. Elmer Negley was her nephew, her brother George's son. Elmer served in WWII, spent some time in Mexio and brought his Aunt this apron. 

I'm not sure who Alice is writing to here, but her parents were deceased.  It could have possibly been my Grandma, but I think she would have said "your mother" instead of "Sadie". Virgil is Grandma's brother. She might have been writing to her brother Bill.  I think "here" might be North Platte, Nebraska.

Alice May Negley, July, 1946

"Yours Truly 'Allie May'
Taken by Elmer Negley July - 1946 - The apron I have on is one he brot me from Mexico. He is now in Yokohama, Japan, we had a letter from him week ago yesterday. He likes it over there, but, does get lonesome for home. 10,000 miles away is a long ways from home. You did not get out to visit us this summer, did you? I have been wanting to come & see you, but don't get any place. Virgil was here this evening, everybody is OK far as we know, we are here. Hope you are too. Wish you could come over, sure would enjoy a visit with you. Sadie was here week ago tonite said she had been to see you. With love Alice"

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