Genealogy Research with Records in Newspapers

Newspapers
Critical Resources to Document Your Family
Tree

Thomas Jay Kemp
Family History Expos
22 February 2013

Newspapers
6,500 & Growing! 1690-Today

◦ Over 6,500 newspapers
 All 50 states
 1690 to today
◦ Over 1.3 Billion Records
◦ 400,000 rare books &
documents
◦ Over 219 million
obituaries & death records

Obituaries

es
Obituari

Boston News-Letter. July 24‐July 31, 1704. page 4

James Edwin Ayres (1817-1893) and his
wife Ann (Ford) Ayres (1817-1901) are
listed in the 1850 census for
Greenburgh, Westchester County, New
York.

Hudson River Chronicle (Sing Sing, NY)
12 December 1848

Obituary notice for Lovina Ayres
born 7 August 1846
died 28November 1848

• Child’s name, date
and place of birth
• Mother’s maiden
name
• Names of both sets
of grand-parents
• Names of the great
• Aberdeen (SD) Daily Herald. 10
December 1999, page 18. grandparents

• “This is their third
daughter”
• “Mr. Monroe left about
three weeks ago for a
southern camp (Army),
where he was called in
the draft.”
• Mrs. Monroe –
formerly Miss Rhea
Holtzberg – a teacher
in the Butler City
schools
Fort Wayne Sentinel. 13 April 1917. page 18

Trenton Evening Times. 4 October 1964. Page 49.

Dallas Morning News
November 19, 1978

Clues
• Names of the bride • Names of the
and groom parents of the bride
• Name and location • Biographical
of the church information
• Date of the • Members of the
wedding wedding party
• Where the couple • Pictures
will live

Independent Inquirer (Brattleboro, Vermont)
28 June 1834, page 3

Eastern Argus
Portland, Maine: 19 August 1828 – Page 3

Philadelphia Inquirer
29 Jan 1895

29 Jan 1895
• Names, ages

29 Jan 1895
• Names, ages
• Residence

29 Jan 1895
• Names, ages
• Residence
• Where married

29 Jan 1895
• Names, ages
• Residence
• Where married
• 1st wife died, 14
months ago

29 Jan 1895
• Names, ages
• Residence
• Where married
months ago
• Married 63 years

29 Jan 1895
• Names, ages
• Residence
• Where married
months ago
• Married 63 years
• Only death in family

29 Jan 1895
 Names, ages
 Residence
 Where married
 1st wife died, 14
months ago
 Married 63 years
 Only death in
family
 # of children,
grandchildren etc.

29 Jan 1895

1880 Census
Garrett County, MD

Dallas Morning News (Texas)
19 January 1948, Section 2, page 13

Boston Post Boy (Massachusetts)
22 July 1751, page 2

Commercial Daily Register (Sandusky, Ohio)
25 January 1862, page 1

Family Reunions
• Held at Oakland Park,
Decatur, Illinois
• Descendents of Jacob Garver
of Switzerland
• The American line of this
family descends from Christian
Garver, Jacob’s son, who
immigrated to America in 1790
• Christian Garver settled in
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
• David Garver came to
Decatur, Illinois, in 1840
• Other family members

Family Reunions

Friend. (Honolulu, Hawaii).
28 February 1878. page 13

Family Reunions

- He was from Hampton, NH
- Left home abt. 25 years ago (around 1853)
- Now abt. 50-60 yrs. old
- He sailed on the ships Montezuma, William Thompson and
Roman
- He had sailed out of New Bedford, MA
- He once sailed under a Master Allen
- Others named:
Rev. Mr. Butler of New Bedford, MA
Mrs. J. C. Hardy of Haverhill, MA

Family Reunions

Friend. (Honolulu, Hawaii).
1 April 1879

Family Reunions

- Sailor looking for his family: Peter Gennett
- His birthplace: Albany, New York
- Lost contact with his family 30 yrs ago (around 1841)
- Father: John W. Gennett; kept a grocery story in Albany,
naturalized Frenchman - long-time sexton of the only Chatholic
Church in Albany
- Mother: Johanna Henny (or Hennie); Scotch by birth, she
was a native of Nova Scotia
- Family: eight children - Cornelia, William, Peter, John,
Edward, Frances, Charles and Henry
- William: a cabinet maker; was deaf and dumb
- Frances: was at the New York Deaf & Dumb Asylum

The Irish World (New York, New York)
3 December 1904, page 8

Family Reunions

Reilly (Leitrim—New York)
- Patrick Reilly left Carrickallen, Ireland, 13 years
ago (about 1891)
- He was last heard from 5 years ago (about 1899)
- He was a motorman on a street car in NYC
- Mother’s maiden name: Hagan
- Sisters: Bridget and Mary
- Brother: Edward, Butte, Montana (he placed the
ad)

Family Reunions

O’Mealy (United States)
- John O’Mealy left New York in May 1873 and
has not been seen or heard from since
- He was supposed to have gone to Texas
- He was five feet nine inches tall, with medium
complexion, brown hair, and blue eyes
- Sister: Maggie, now Mrs. M. Coonan
- Sister’s address: 624 Greenwich Street, NYC

Family Reunions

Murphy (Canada—United States)
- Sarah Ann Murphy left Perth, Lanark County,
Ontario, Canada, in 1872 or 1873
- She would now (1904) be about 46 years old
- She has dark hair and eyes, and is heavy-set
- She might be in Almonte, Ontario
- Sought by: W. E. McGwigan of 305 High Street,
Salem, Oregon

Advertisements

Public Ledger (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
22 June 1842, page 3

Military Records
 Names and rank
 Name of the camp
 Ages
 Information about
other family
members serving in
the military
 Illness
 Names and
localities of next of
kin
 Name of the funeral
home

Military Records

Last Revolutionary War Pension granted in 1887
NH Sentinel 10 Aug 1887

Facts
Mrs. Mary Casey
of Washington,
Fayette County, Ohio

Husband: John Casey
Served Rev War: Virginia Line
Died 1845 – age 75
(Born abt. 1770)

―A few years prior..‖
he married Mary Cox,
then a girl of 16

Last Revolutionary War Pension granted in
1887
NH Sentinel 10 Aug 1887

Military Records

Perry Republican (Perry, Oklahoma)
26 July 1917, page 1

Military Records

Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey)
25 May 1921, page 1

Military Records

Barre Gazette (Barre, Massachusetts)
31 July 1840, page 2:

…see the color of their eyes…

Passenger Lists

The Shamrock – 17 August 1816

Biography & Photo/Image

• Born April 26, 1826, in Lewisburg, Preble
County, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Phebe
(Willis) Freeman
•Moved from Ohio to Illinois - nine years old
•Homestead Act May 20, 1862, to take effect
on January 1, 1863
•“Company H of the Seventeenth Illinois
Volunteers” stationed in Nebraska during the
Civil War
• “ordered to return to St. Louis” not in town
when the land record office opened on
January 2, 1863—but the Recorder of Deeds,
James Bedford, agreed to accommodate
Freeman’s situation and made an exception:
he administered the oath to Freeman at
midnight the morning of January 1st so that
Freeman could leave to report to St. Louis as
ordered
•Married the “girl next door”—Agnes Suiter
(1843-1931)—and they built their lives
together there in Brownsville, Nebraska

Probate Records & Legal Notices

Probate & Legal Notices
• Where: Cheshire County,
NH – Probate Court
• Administrator of case:
Warren H. Jennison, of
Walpole, Cheshire County,
NH
• Deceased: John Jennison,
Jr., died in Walpole
• Estate: of John Jennison,
Jr., “is not sufficient to pay
the demands due from his
Estate”
• Mentions “widow”

• Property boundaries: gives
boundaries in all four
directions
• Property size: 100 acres
• Action: Warren H.
Jennison, administrator of
the estate of John
Jennison, Jr., on February
17, 1876, asks permission
to sell John’s entire real
estate holding to settle his
affairs

• The heirs-at-law of the before-
named John Jennison, Jr.
• Must appear at the probate
court in Keene “on the third
Friday of March next
• 17 March 1876


Commercial Advertiser
23 September 1828.


Idaho Statesman
15 July 1915

Practical Tips – Birth Records

Practical Tips – Passenger Lists

Practical Tips -

◦ Try Surname Search First
◦ Add first name
 Add year
◦ Try abbreviations
◦ William
◦ Wm.
◦ Bill

Can You Read This?
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty
uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid,
aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the
ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is
taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can
sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed
ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Azanmig huh?
yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was
ipmorantt!

We have never had this level of
access before

Thank You

Thomas Jay Kemp
Director of Genealogy Products
GenealogyBank.com
Family History Expos
22 February 2013

Genealogy Research with Records in Newspapers

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Genealogy Research with Records in Newspapers