Newspaper Clippings ~ P

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.

Photographs

Finding photographs of ancestors in old newspapers is so cool!  Especially if you've never seen a picture of that person before. The quality of the photo is much better from a digitized paper, they don't copy well from microfilm. 

Leon [IA] Reporter, November 30, 1916

David F. Negley is my Second Great Grandfather's brother. I found this photo of him searching online at Chronicling America and I had not ever seen him a picture of him before. He looks a lot like his brother Josiah. This is an advertisement for Dr Weber's services, I assume David approved this message. I know very little about him, but it looks like he was blind - or so it says here. Was it "blind" or just poor eyesight? 

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, March 1, 1945

My Grandpa's brother Clarence had his photo in the paper while he was serving in WWII for receiving the Purple Heart. He looks so young. 



















Property Transfers and Deeds

Listings of changes in property ownership are often in local newspapers. These give legal description information and name both buyer and seller which can help in finding the actual deeds.  

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, June 8, 1950

People post photos to social media all the time, but remember that due to copyright restrictions you should not post someone else's photo to any online family tree without permission. 

I also have clippings of family members listed as Pallbearers in obituaries of both family members and friends. You can probably think of other newspaper clippings you could possibly file under "P". Good luck with your search! 

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! 

Newspaper Clippings ~ N

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.

Neighbors

Those juicy gossip columns of social news are great for learning more about an ancestors neighbors! If you read many of these, over time you can learn the relationships between a lot of them. Remember that most likely your ancestor knew and were friends with most of the people in their own neighborhoods back then. 

Hamilton County [NE] Advocate, April 23, 1912

I've posted this clipping before with the transcription if you want to see it. Here you can learn that Ray Galetly has a cousin named Stull Swearengen. It tells you that Mrs. R. Bilslaugh and son came from Iowa and you see more than once a woman is mentioned visiting her mother or vice versa. It's a great way to learn a woman's maiden name, but keep in mind if a mother was a young widow, she may have gotten remarried. 

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, April 23, 1932

In this clipping you see groups of people who celebrated events together. Reading these columns over a period of time, you can eventually learn more about the relationships between the people as they are mentioned in different ways.  The last paragraph here says Fred Fielder was visiting his parents, but doesn't mention them by name.  In the issue below, you get the name of his father anyway, and some hints to the little Camp boy's relation. It can take a lot of time if you're only access is microfilmed papers, but with digitized papers you can more easily find these.

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, April 6, 1932

Nowadays newspapers don't print this type of column. Nevertheless, neighbors and friends I've known for years have occasionally had nice articles written about them in the local newspaper. Necrologies are something else to look for, usually at the end or beginning of a year, listing deaths and major events from the current or previous year. And remember that Nuptials is a word often used for weddings. What news stories that name your ancestors can you find? Good luck with your search! 

Newspaper Clippings ~ M

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.

Marriage 

Both marriage licenses and announcements are printed in newspapers occasionally. Locally, it's getting more expensive to have an announcement printed and most couples are just using free social media sites like Facebook and Instagram to make their marriage known. 

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, December 2, 1938

Both sets of my Grandparents were married in either the courthouse or church parsonage. I've found this announcement for my paternal Grandparents. They went across the border (into Kansas) because of Grandpa's age - he was 20 and underage in Nebraska. Grandma was 18.






Art & Sadie McGrath's marriage was mentioned in the Lincoln State Journal. It completely surprised me to find it there, they were married in York. Only by searching in an online digitized newspaper would I ever have found this one. Here's another couple who were married without the expense of a big wedding. 

Lincoln [NE] State Journal, October 10, 1908

Bureau County [IL] Republican, April 6, 1871

I found this list of marriages performed in March of 1871 in Bureau County, Illinois while searching the microfilmed newspaper at the Princeton Public Library. My Second Great Grandparents are listed - "Josiah Negley, Macon to Sarah M. Lee, Macon". I posted this list a few years ago. It was all I was able to find regarding their marriage.

Bedford [PA] Gazette, October 14, 1936

John Negley and Ruth Foster's marriage was announced in the Bedford Gazette in 1836. After finding the date and the name of the paper for this on a message board, I emailed a request for a copy from the local library. They kindly sent me two paper copies, one full page and one close-up. 

Married couples very often use social media to make the big announcement. Make a note of their date and location in your family tree software.  

More clippings I have from recent newspapers include memorials of family members no longer with us. Maybe you can think of other mentions to look for about your own family members. Good luck with your search!

Newspaper Clippings ~ L

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.

Letters

A pretty standard feature in newspapers are the Letters to the Editor.  I found a couple of letters in digitized newspapers that my relatives sent in that were printed. Not the complaint type of Letter to the Editor, but both of them just saying hello to their former homes. 

Wayne County [KY] Outlook,
July 7, 1955

Grand Island, Nebr
June 24, 1955
Mr. Simpson
Editor of The Wayne County Outlook
Dear Mr. Simpson:
Could you spare a little space in your paper for a word or two from a friends or subscriber of your paper? My wife and I always look forward to the time our postman brings your Wayne County Outlook. Each week we see so many items from friends we knew when we lived in Kentucky. I was born and raised in Wayne County near Parnell. I left there October 7, 1909 for Kansas. We lived there until 1923 and then we moved to Nebraska and have lived in Grand Island, Nebr. since 1944. My wife was the former Miss Laura Bell. We were married in 1902 and will soon celebrate our 53rd wedding anniversary health permitting.
We had the pleasure of having Mrs. Mary L. Gholson, from Monticello, Ky visit us on June 20th. She is here in Nebr. visiting her aunt Mrs. Cicero Bell, of Aurora, Nebr. It had been 30 years since we had seen each other so it was a real treat visiting with her once again.
Grand Island, Nebr is a town of about 30,000 located in the beautiful Platte-River Valley. It is a fine farming territory, most all the farms here have irrigation wells. We raise most all kinds of crops.
I and the Mrs. were back in good old Ky in 1949. Just 40 years from the time we left there. We saw many great changes and would like to come back now and see the big lake.
We enjoyed our Kentucky visitor very much and also enjoy your weekly visits by way of your paper. Hope you can spare a wee space for my "hello" to all of our old friends.
Mr. C. A. Alcorn,
822 So. Sycamore,
Grand Island, Nebr.

"From An Old Time Resident

Eldorado, Neb., Feb. 4, 1920

The Leon Reporter - 

Leon [IA] Reporter, 
February 19, 1920

Dear Sir (Who ever you be): Enclosed please find post office order for $2.00 for which send The Reporter to J. F. Negley, Eldorado, Neb. for one year or $2.00 worth anyway. Although I left Decatur county nearly 33 years ago, there are quite a number of old acquaintances, besides my relatives living there and I take this plan to hear from them occasionally. This has been a severe winter and although I have seen lots more snow other winters, the east and west roads have been worse longer than I have seen them for a number of years as there was no frost in the ground when it snowed and now as it melts off it leaves the ground soft. There is lots of flu and pneumonia in the neighborhood. Four deaths from this township in a week. Ben Kaufman was buried today, leaves wife and 5 children. The weather has been foggy and frosty since Sunday and about three inches of sleet and snow has fallen and the indications are still threatening. There are public sales nearly every day and stuff sells high - the hog market is about 14 cents, cattle 6 cents to 12 cents according to conditions; wheat about $2.25; corn $1.25; eggs 45; cream 56; butter 60 cents; sugar getting to be pretty near quits 20 cents per pound and up; flour 48 pound sacks $4.00

J. F. Negley

Eldora, Nebraska

From older newspapers, I've found printed "List of Letters" which show that a letter is waiting at the Post Office for an individual. There isn't anything more than names listed and it may not be very helpful information, but I was trying to find a death place of Mrs Mary R Davee and this helps narrow that down. She died about a year later so possibly still lived in Canton when she died.

Canton [IL] Weekly Register, December 21, 1863

Who writes letters anymore? Email is my preferred form of correspondence and when I receive an email with important genealogy information that I want to keep, I save the email as a pdf file. 

Look for letters from servicemen and women, especially during wartime. They were often printed in the local paper. Let me hear from you about the articles you find about your ancestors that you file under "L". Good luck with your search!

Newspaper Clippings ~ K

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.

Kidnapped 

Kansas City [MO] Star, August 19, 1928

I'm not kidding! I found an article about an ancestor who had been kidnapped. I knew my Great Grandmother's brother, Cleve Roscoe, had been a police officer in Kansas City.  Through a subscription site, I could access the Kansas City Star for the right time period so I did a quick search. I was very surprised to find this article about a young man on a robbery spree. I knew it ended well for Cleve, but  I was surprised no one in my family seemed to have heard about this before. "C. C. Roscoe"  was a "special officer for the Wabash railroad" and wasn't injured in this incident. It may not have been one of his proudest moments, though. Cleve wasn't involved in the capture ("as bullets fly") of this young man. 



Kittenball

My Grandma and her sisters played Kittenball for their hometown of Ellis in the 1930's. I haven't found an article that mentions their names, but I know that she might have been on the team in these articles that I have found. These might also be about the boys team, though, it doesn't say. 

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, June 28, 1934

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, May 20, 1936

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, November 3, 1936

Current Local, [Van Buren, MO] June 6, 1902

Knights of Pythias

This is only part of an article about a Decoration Day ceremony in 1902. The entire article is very long so I cropped it. It sounds like Prof. Henry Menke and Honorable A S J Lehr had a debate going on. What I like best in this article is where it states "Menke read an original poem". I want to know who wrote that "original" poem.  Rev. Henry Menke, my Great Grandfather's brother, was the pastor of the Congregational church in Grandin, Missouri. His name was in the Current Local of Van Buren a few times in just a few years, both with his church and with the Knights of Pythias. 
















Around here they hold Kindergarten graduations and I have articles from the local paper mentioning my family members who had ceremonies. Knowledge of the local area will help you find your ancestors in papers you might not expect. You can keep your ancestors' memories alive if you eke their stories from the caverns of old newspapers. Good luck with your search!

Newspaper Clippings ~ J

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.

Judicial proceedings

Judicial hearings and other court proceedings are typically published in the local newspaper. During the judicial process of settling the estate of a deceased person, there are several different types of probate notices that are published. From what I've seen in most cases, they may be published at least three times. I've seen "Notice of Appointment Administrator", "Notice to Creditors" and "Notice of Hearing" as a small sample. Besides Probate Notices, I've seen other notices for legal actions like unpaid taxes and Sheriff's Sales. What I have here are all for probate cases. 

This is the oldest probate notice I've found, from 1825 in Norwich, Connecticut. I'm still trying to prove a connection from Mr Potter Smith to my Third Great Grandfather John Potter Smith. 

Norwich [CT] Courier, February 2, 1825

DeWitt [NE] Times-News, June 19, 1884

I found this while searching microfilm for David Roscoe's obituary, which I didn't find (he had one of those one sentence death notices in the paper). This probate notice is nice to have for further documentation of his death. 

Josiah F Negley died on April 15, 1922 and his estate was finalized on October 6, 1922. There were a few different Notices posted between these two.

Clay County [NE] Sun, April 20, 1922

Clay County [NE] Sun, September 28, 1922

From these two notices for the estate of Henrietta Gaisford, I learn the Estate Number which will probably help locate the file quickly when I get the chance to go to the Courthouse. I also learn the Administrator of her estate, Frank G. Amos, who was her son-in-law. This is one place that a woman's first name is always used.

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, June 14, 1932

Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, June 28, 1932

I might also have an article about an ancestor who went to Jail, but I might post that at some other time. Jury members are often listed in the paper, but in papers that I can access easily, I haven't found a listing of one of my ancestors on any jury.  Or maybe one of your ancestors played Junior league baseball. Digitized newspapers are so nice for finding mentions when you don't have an exact date of an event. See what you can find. Good luck with your search!