Wedding Wednesday - Barth & Keller

The State of Ohio, Lorain County, SS. Mr. F. J. Keller and Mrs. Katie L. Burt were joined in MARRIAGE by me on the 5th day of February A. D. 1887. C. H. Doolittle, J. P. Filed and recorded this 21st day of Feby 1887. Attest E. H. Hinman, Probate Judge

And so begins the marriage of Frederick Jacob Keller and Catherine Elizabeth Barth.  Frederick Keller is my husband's first cousin five times removed.  He was born 7 OCT 1859 in Liverpool Township, Medina County, Ohio and dies 28 JUN 1917 in Brunswick Township, Medina County, Ohio. 

Catherine Elizabeth Barth was born 6 AUG 1864 Grafton, Lorain County, Ohio and dies 17 AUG 1941 in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio. 

Together they were the parents of 9 children -
  Albert George "Bert" Keller  1887-1967
  Joseph Keller  1890 - 1972
  Ella Keller 1892 - 1944
  Harley Keller  1894 - 1988
  Royal Frank Keller  1896 - 1964
  Frederick Keller  1899 - 1984
  Irene Keller  1900 - 1985
  Rose Marie Keller  1902 - 1986
  Velma Keller 1904 - 1990

All the children married and had families except for Ella. 

From the Medina County (Ohio) Gazette, 6 JUL 1917 -
   Fred. J. Keller
  Fred Jacob Keller,  son of Martin and Christina Keller, was born in Liverpool, Oct. 7, 1859.  At the age of 16 he was confirmed  in Zion Lutheran church at Liverpool of which he remained a member until his death.  The most of his life was spent in Liverpool and Brunswick. He has been a member of the the K.O.T. M. since 1903.
  He was united in marriage to Katherine Elizabeth Barth on Feb. 6, 1887.  To this union  were born nine children, Bert, Joe, Ella, Harley, Royal, Fred, Irene, Rosie and Velma.   On Dec. 31, 1916, he was afflicted with a stroke of paralysis, which left him in failing health and caused him much suffering.  He departed this life June 28, 1917.
  He leaves a wife, nine children, two grandchildren, three sisters, Mrs. Regina Reutter, Mrs. Elizabeth Bay and Mrs. Carrie Fahrion, also two brothers Martin Keller and Philip Geiger besides a host of friends to mourn his loss.

From the Medina County (Ohio) Gazette,  2 SEP 1941 -
  Mother of Nine Dies In Brunswick, Sunday
   Mrs. Katherine Keller, mother of nine children, died in her home just west of Brunswick, Sunday night, after being in poor health for about a year.  She was 76 years old.  Her husband, Fred Keller, died 22 years ago.
  Funeral services will be held in the Waite Funeral Home, Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock, with burial in Myrtle Hill cemetery in Liverpool Township.
  Surviving are the following children:  Albert, Joe, Ella, Harley, Royal, Fred and Irene Keller, all of Brunswick, and Rose Fenn of Medina and Velma Tibbitts of Brunswick; a sister, Mary Funk of Chicago, and a brother, Joe Barth of Litchfield.

Both Frederick J. & Catherine E. Keller are buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery, Liverpool Township, Medina County, Ohio. 

Monday Musings

After finishing my project of naming, labeling, cropping & linking all my scanned images I took a day or two and pondered what to work on next. 

I've got all my images sorted and stored in folders on my hard drive.  Most are sorted by surname (direct line from pedigree charts), with the exception of Vital Records (sorted under that by state & county), Newspapers and headstones (sorted by cemetery name).  

When I first started to gather images I had everything just stored under the surname header it belonged to.  I decided that perhaps that needed to be modified.  So now everything is being moved so that it fits more into the patterns I want.  So ALL vital records (birth/death/marr) are all stored under vital records.  All newspapers (obits/news stories/ marriage columns) are now in one place.  The headstones have ALWAYS been under headstones.  No discussion even needed on that one.  With them all filed under the cemetery they are buried in it makes it very easy to find.  And I like it that way. 

I was sort of seriously dreading this task until I did a handful and found out that the software is intuitive enough that it knows when I move the items and it goes ahead and puts the new link in place!  WOWSERS!  Worry gone! 

Should be done with all the moving around by the end of this week!  Already pondering next project....

Monday Musings

The year has not been off to a good start. Already this year we've had two different "flu" bugs visit with us. Luckily for me, I only got a light case of both. Not so lucky were the grandkids & Mr. Brown eyes. This is not my idea of how to start a new year.
With me having the light case on both occasions I was able to stay upright and it gave me time to work while Mr. Brown eyes was sleeping... he's not one to need a nursemaid.
I've been working on the images I scanned while I on the trip. I came home with about 85 images - mostly obits from the Brethren Heritage Center. There are about 6 or 7 more to do and those will be complete. I work on dual monitors so I can transcribe from one screen to the other, crop, name and link it very easily.
I must admit the obits from the Brethren are wonderful to work on. Most of the time they name the parents and give birth, death and marriage dates. Although they give the number of children born to the couple and how many are living its rare that you get the names of the children in the obit.
When the Brethren obits are done I'll move on to the ones for Dayton, Ohio. What are you working on?

Really? I Have To Prove Everything?

I am constantly amazed at how gullible people can be.  From what I am seeing on Ancestry's Family Tree's many people believe everything they read.  And then put it on line as fact without ever taking the time to stop and research and confirm said things.

Obituaries are one of the best examples of this that I have found yet.  For some reason people believe so much of what is in obituaries and no further research is ever done to follow up.

In my GGgrandmother's obituary is states the following, "...He leaves two sons, Paul L. Sharters and five sons...." it then proceeds to state she left behind five brothers & a sister, which in fact was correct. 

The problem with this obituary is that -
A. He is really a she...  no biggie I know.  But it matters to ME.
B.  There were not two sons or five sons there were SIX...
C. None of her sons were named Paul L. Sharters. 
D. No mention of the two daughters, both of whom were living at the time of her death.

A bit of research would have shown the person on Ancestry Trees those facts and then the facts presented on his/her tree would be correct instead of so poorly listing false information. 

The moral of this story?  Don't take everything you find in an obituary to be true.  Remember that in some cases it may not even be a family member writing the obituary.  Many of the Brethren obituaries I have found were written by an elder in the church or by a family friend.  In some cases information given may simply be a guess.  When my grandmother died her place of birth was incorrectly given in her obituary.  She tried to get the person who had the correct information but that person was unavailable.  So she gave it her best guess.

Memories fade, papers get lost..  you really do need to make the effort to prove the things you find.  Even from obituaries!

A Little Done..

Research trips are such fun!  Especially when you combine them with vacation time, some shopping and some fun time with your main squeeze!  I'm blessed that Mark enjoys the thrill of the hunt... aka researching almost as much as I do!

I've been working on the data entry from that last trip.  I've gotten all the deeds & wills from the two days in Raleigh, North Carolina scanned and on my flash or thumb drive as they are sometimes called.  And yesterday I finally finished recording all the marriage records I pulled in Medina County, Ohio.

I've still got tons of obits to get done, both from Medina County, Ohio and from Miamisburg, Ohio - and I've got to get those wills & deeds transcribed from North Carolina. 

With the census count down to 1940 in full swing and only about 296 days (Depending on when you read this!) to go I've got some census work I want to complete as well.  Then there's all the prep work for my trip the first week of July.  I've got the two cemeteries in Kentucky printed off that we need to photograph - over 200 headstone entries to chase, and then all the other work back in Ohio to get printed and bound as well.

The new cousins would love a copy of the genealogy I've done on the family so that needs to get printed and ready to go as well. The fun never ends eh?  

The two oldest grandsons are here all weekend and we've a wedding to attend so I don't know how much I'll get done this weekend.  Promise you, It will all be right here on this desk where I left it come Monday morning!

Happy Researching!
Karen

Lists, Lists & More Lists

Are you a list maker?  I am! I have to do lists for everything.  Shopping, future projects, places I need to go, things I need to do.  Being a genealogist it seems I'm always working on a list of some sort.

This week I've been working on my lists for upcoming trips.  We're not doing trips around the world or anything but you must admit that being prepared aka having a good list is the foundation for a successful research trip. 

Tomorrow we are headed out to Miamisburg, Ohio to do some research on my Gebhart & Early families that lived in that area.  So I've got an extensive list of people who need obits.  While I am pulling newspapers to search & copy, Mark will be going thru the books looking for mention of them there. 

Other lists that are in progress include one for next Tuesday's trip to Fort Wayne and then for our vacation trip I'm working on lists for Pennsylvania (Dauphin, Berks, Lancaster & Schuylkill Counties) and the North Carolina State library & the Archives there as well.  Also hoping to do some work in West Virginia and Ohio along the way. 

Fortunately I don't need them all today.  Most are an ongoing thing in my genealogy software, Legacy.  When I do an obit list I take them out of the software and put them on an excel spreadsheet so they are in chronological order, making two copies, one for me and one for the librarian or Mark, depending on who is pulling the films for me.  Otherwise I use them straight from Legacy.  I print them, bind them in one of my research notebooks and then we are good to go! You can check out the research notebook & obit list by clicking on the link and scrolling down.  Both are there within a few days of each other.

Lists for research trips - they're a good thing!  How do you arrange your lists for your trips?  Do you use them the way your software presents them or customize them for yourself?  I'd like to hear how you do your lists.

Just when you thought you were doing okay....

You find things like this and just shake your head.  What if you only found the first one?  What if you only found the second one?  I'm glad I found both but still....    

Below are the TWO obits of Verda Weber Ott, wife of Fred M. Ott, of Noble County, Indiana.  I can't tell you which newspapers, these two obits were found in the newspaper obit collection that the library has on the Ott family. 

I must admit it does make me wonder just how much stuff I am missing when I find only one obituary??

You decide...
                              *****************
Well Known Lady Dies Near Burr Oak


Mrs. Verdat (Weber) Ott, 52, wife of Fred Ott, widely known and well liked lady of the Burr Oak-Albion area, passed away at her home, Sunday following a stroke while eating a dish of ice cream at Columbia City on Thursday - Old Settlers Day in Whitley County. She was rendered unconscious and brought to her home in a very critical condition. She was a native of this area and highly esteemed by legions of friends.

Funeral services were held Tuesday at the Burr Oak church and interment in Christian Chapel cemetery at Merriam. Surviving are the husband, four brothers and three sisters.

******
Ott -- Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at 2pm (CDT) at the Burr Oak Church for Mrs. Verda Ott, 52, who died Sunday afternoon. The Rev. John M. Hartman officiated with burial in the Christian Chapel cemetery at Merriam. Mrs. Ott died at her home following an illness of more than a year. Surviving are her husband, Fred M. Ott; one son, Harold Ott, at home; five brothers, Victor, Rollie, Herbert and Thad Weber, all of Albion and Ford Weber of Ft. Wayne; three sisters, Mrs. Eva Edsall, Mrs. Wilma Scheurick and Mrs. Jessie Hiatt of Albion.

 
Happy Researching!
Karen

Uncommon Surnames... Boomershine

Alonidious (1878-1958) Boomershine & his son, Ira Boomershine (1902-1979)

**********

I've heard people complain about having uncommon surnames to research. Me, personally - I rather like having an uncommon surname - like Boomershine to research!

It appears to me, that people have a tendancy to remember you easier if your surname isn't all that common. Frequently in the mail people send me things relating to the surname.

It seems that people associate me with the surname, good or bad... the mail brings obituaries, books and all sorts of things. One lady, who I still get clippings from - rescued a box of photographs - said she was at an estate sale and the lady mentioned she had this box of photo's that she needed a home for. They were Boomershine family photo's. Family feud. Hard feelings. That sort of thing. She thought of me, took the photo's and mailed them to me. Bread box size box! The great photo you see above of Lon & Ira Boomershine was found, labeled with names in that box!

I believe over 85% percent of the box of photo's were identified and labeled by the original owner. I scanned them, contacted the line they belonged to & returned the photo's to the family.

When I first began researching the surname I encountered a lady who had been researching for many years longer than myself. When she was just weeks from dying she called saying that she was sending her materials to me. She didn't think her family would keep her work, no one seemed interested. A few days later it all appeared on my doorstep. Don't ask, she asked that she remain nameless.

I'm not quite sure what it is that brings this on, but I am thankful & humbled that they trust me enough with all these things to send them. I am at times overwhelmed by the trust.

Researching an uncommon surname - Its a very good thing!

Happy Researching!

Karen

The Obituary List

One of the most important parts of a research trip, at least to me, is making sure that I am prepared for the job I am about to do. Going into a research trip with no prep to me is just something that makes absolutely NO sense to me. The more prepared you are the more likely you are to have success.

Another aspect of my trip prep is for obituaries in Medina County, Ohio. Mark's Reusch family came from there, so there is alot to do there. This library has an obituary index on line which made my list making much easier! Whenever I come across someone on the line who has no obituary in my data base, I add them to the to do list or the spreadsheet. If you decide for the to-do list you will have to go back and put all the entries from the to do list on the spread sheet. If you go directly to the spreadsheet you will be going back there alot, adding persons of interest & resorting from time to time.

My speadsheet has six columns & when printed, it is printed in landscape mode. The six columns I use are:

1. Name - I use surname first, the given
2. Date - for this library I used the online obituary index and got the dates that the obits appeared.
3. Page number
4. Female ID number. This makes it easy to identify if I have any questions when I am putting them in my data base.
5. Y/N - did I get the obituary or not
6. Comments - things like "no newspaper" or "newspaper on strike" things like that.

If you have mulitiple newspapers in the area you could add another column for newspaper name. Its really comes down to what YOU need to make it work for you. I don't have the mulitple newspapers to deal with this on this trip.

After I get them all entered on the spread sheet I sort by date, with the earliest date appearing at the top. I always print TWO (2) copies - one for me and one in case the films are not open for personal "fetching", the person behind the counter can get them for me much easier if they are in some of order. If Mark is getting films its easier on him as well.

By calling ahead and confirming costs, hours & policies, then having your obituary list in order, ensures you success whether you are pulling 6 or 160 obits.

Please remember that if you have someone pulling films for you & they are on staff, a THANK YOU is always in order. Some libraries also take donations - donating to the library is a great way to say THANKS! They need to hear it and I don't know of any library that can't use some financial help as well! If its my husband Mark - I buy him dinner! ; )

An obituary spreadsheet - Its a VERY GOOD THING!

Happy Researching!

Karen

Relatively Speaking... Resource!

Sunday I took a break from the Pennyslvania prep work to do some prep work in NE Ohio - more specifically Medina County, Ohio.

I had compiled a list of obits I wanted to see if I could find there at the Medina County library. I knew about their library from past visits, and one of their great resources is the Medina County Obituary index.

They have a great bunch of volunteers who have put together this fabulous index. I've found obituaries on this site from as early as 1881, although they do say they have much earlier in some cases. It appears to be pretty current as well, although most of the ones I've needed were pre-1940's. After you put a name in the search box it comes up with a list for you. It gives the name of the individual, name of paper, date of publication (including page number) and very clearly states, obituary, death notice, probate notice or whatever.

They do offer a service so that you can request the obits and have them mailed to you - this of course comes with a fee. For those who can not get there, the fee really is not bad. I did call them & when I go there in a few weeks, I can use my flash/thumb drive to download the obits instead of printing! Does it get any better than this?

Needless to say I put it all to good use, and so far I've come up with a total of 47 obits that I have found on their index. Now if I could just find a way to leave a few weeks sooner... oh Mark.....

Happy Researching!
Karen

Seeking Michigan Anyone??

On Friday the almighty Gov of our state announced that the State library aka the Library of Michigan will be disbanded. I figured I better check my data base & see exactly who I have that died in Michigan. The library has put up some vital records on its website SeekingMichigan.org - primarily of interest to genealogist are the scanned death certificates from 1897 - 1920. Who knows if those will go away when the library is disbanded?

So I spent yesterday going thru my list of 249 persons who died in Michigan. Out of those 14 that I knew died in the time frame for me to search the Michigan death certificate data base. I found 15, one a child that I didn't know about only because I searched using just the parents names trying to find an older sibling that had died.

Out of the 249, there are 27 I need obituaries for. Those I hope to get before the library closes supposedly around the end of September. The remaining ones I either have the obituaries for or I've searched and they haven't been found. I'm going to do a bit more digging around on SeekingMichigan.org today - see if I can locate any other "unknown" siblings.

For those of you who are not familiar with the website, when you go to SeekingMichigan.org use the SEEK box and make sure the "document" box is checked. You could use the advanced search at the bottom, but make sure you double click the Deaths 1897-1920 group.

My cousins, Carol & Anne have both voiced their thoughts on this closing - Anne's blog today can be viewed here. Carol's thoughts were posted on her blog this weekend. I wholeheartdly agree with both of their sentiments. Two different attitudes reflected in the blogs but both say it so well. Being the WO she is, Anne's blog is right on the money!

Its a sad day when sports teams & special interests groups take presidence over libraries & arts. Its no wonder our kids can't read & write and the US is no longer a top contender in anything that requires the use of their minds! WAKE UP MICHIGAN!

Happy Researching!
Karen

Why Can't They All Be Like This?

Finally I am working on the final stack of the obituaries I pulled at the Elkhart County (Indiana) public library back in May. I know, its taken a while, but there were 98 of them, and its just me - and the construction zone that is now a family room, travel, husband and life... anyhow...

I keep running into some obituaries where the second wife survives. And the first wife is never mentioned. Until Now! Read on...

Edwin O. Stroup
Edwin O. Stroup, 83, died Sunday at the home near Millersburg where he had lived for more than 60 years.
He was born April 13, 1866 near Millersburg, a son of Samuel and Anna Parker Stroup. He was married Nov. 29, 1888 to Liddie Culp and she died May 19, 1894. On June 14, 1899 Mr. Stroup was married to Saloma Stiver. She survives with a son from the first marriage, Otto D. Stroup of Richmond, Calif., another son, by the second marriage, Herbert C. Stroup, at home, three granddaughters and a grandson, and two nieces, Mrs. Op__ Yarnell of Napolean, O., and Mrs. Romayne Apple of St. Cloud, Florida.
The body will be returned from the Stiver Funeral Home to the Stroup home this afternoon and funeral services will be held there Tuesday at 2 pm in charge of the Rev. R.A. Worthman of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Millersburg. Burial will be in the Brown Cemetery.
******************

So, do the second wives just ignore the fact that the first wife ever exsisted or is it just some accident that the first wife is not mentioned even though she is gone? Maybe it just is not important to them? Sure would help me!

So many of the obituaries I pull for the men in my files, I know who the wife is, I know who her parents were, then I pull that obituary and the wife is a totally different person. I shake my head and start the process of verifying that yes, this really IS the same person, its just his first wife is not named. Let alone identifying which children belong to which mother.

Sure makes things just a wee bit easier eh? Still have to verify but having a good road map sure helps! Wonder if the informant on this obituary was the second wife?

The Search for Mrs. John Doe

Yesterday amidst the on going construction - I decided I needed to get back to typing obituaries. I've still got about another 25 or so to go on the ones from Elkhart County, Indiana. One thing that continually haunted me throughout the day of typing was the "....daughter, Mrs. John Doe...." that I kept running into.

With so many of these popping up in my genealogy research I've finally devised a plan of attack on figuring out just who these Mrs. John Doe's really are.

First thing I check is to see if the other parent - has an obit and if so, how is the Mrs. John Doe named there? A few times I was able to end the search right there. Most of the time I was not so lucky. Depending on who else is listed in the obituary itself, sometimes you can look for clues there. If not, here's some tips on trying to figure out the identity of Mrs. John Doe.

• Other parents obituary
• Siblings obituaries
• Census records - only if in correct time frame
• City directories - often spouses are listed as well as primary resident
• Published Thank You note in newspaper
• Ancestry - don't forget that this must be followed up on & proven by you!

I'd love to hear your "sources" for finding Mrs. John Doe... share them in my comments section - I don't respond to them all, but I do read them!

Happy researching!

Karen

Extra Extra Read All About It

So many times we as genealogists put on blinders. We get so "focused" in our quest for birth & death dates, we overlook the good stuff. There's so much more to newspapers than just locating the birth or death dates of our ancestors.

Researching in newspapers is not the easiest thing, many newspapers do have obituary indexes, many times there is no index for other goodies you can find there. Many of the on line editions, especially on some websites, do have search engines which can help locate the surnames of interest.

Some things besides obituaries that can be found in your local newspapers:

• Marriage write ups - often elaborate with details on dresses, attendants, flowers, and guests
• Funeral write ups - again with details on guests, sermons and more
• Sports - if your ancestor was athletic you might find him on the sports pages
• Divorces - many newspapers wrote up information on divorces sometimes giving cause of the divorce and other information such as dependant children
• Travel & vacations - Anytime anyone went away it was sure to make the news, travel out of the state or country was big news, and usually it made its way into the paper.
• Parties & social gatherings - who celebrated what where and with whom
• Political - was your ancestor involved in political activities? many times political careers were made in the newspaper. Sometimes will include photo's.
• Police situations - perhaps your ancestor was a witness or the victim. The newspaper sometimes ran these stories and they can be very detail oriented.
• Advertising - one of my husband's ancestors did an advertisment for one of the local "medicine man" type places. It was done in the first person testimonal style and it was great - although at times the husband isn't thrilled to admit it.
• Perhaps your ancestor was one of the correspondants for the newspaper, covering his or her township.
• Birth announcements - even if you didn't post announcing the birth of your baby sometimes the neighborhood correspondant got wind of the birth with details and included them in the column she did.
• Thank you notes after the death of a loved one, often including names of family members and funeral information.

I'm sure if I sat down and thought about it, I could come up with more. But for now, this list should inspire you to locate the newspapers from your ancestors home town and read all about it!

Tomorrow we'll talk more about places to find newspapers, both online and off.

Happy researching!

Karen

Scanner Meltdown

Today is the first full day since the return from our vacation that I am actually going to be home all alone. To some people this may sound boring and possibly crazy - but ME? I'm looking forward to it.

I brought home all these obits and death certificates from our vacation research trip - and now I can finally seriously sit here at my desk and make some major inroads into getting the information into my computer file.

The scanner is on & warming up, the stacks of obits etc are piled neatly awaiting their turn on the scanner. What awesome information will these papers yeild? Children's names? Residences? Perhaps a maiden name I've yet to discover?

Although the weather man is promising yet another beautiful day here in the metro Detroit area, I doubt seriously I will pay much attention or that you will find me out on the patio. I've been waiting for this day for quite some time.

Yep, home body me, loves to go, but loves to come back to my home & my life. Its time to see... is it possible to scan so much my scanner goes into a melt down? Stay tuned to tomorrow's episode to see.... Oh, if you see smoke coming from my office window, its not the house on fire its the scanner...

Happy researching!
Karen

FINALLY!

Its arrived! NO, not a new grandbaby, although with three grandsons a little granddaughter would be most welcome. No, not a new house or car, quite happy with what I have actually. But I think it has finally arrived - what is "IT" you ask... quite simply put - SUMMER!

Today has been absolutely beautiful here in the metro Detroit area. Not too hot, not too humid, just a beautiful day. I ran some errands this morning, after all groceries are a vital part of living, then came home, grabbed the new file from the desk top and my laptop and headed out to the patio.

Heading out to the patio, the comfy swivel chairs and the big shady umbrella, thinking, wow!, I can type to my hearts desire. The birds are chirping, slight breeze, umbrella keeps the sun off me. I've got my caffeine free diet coke, my stack of obits to type and I'm already to go...

After a bit I find myself dozing, the eyelids are heavy, drooping -- oh wait, I came out to type right? Its just so comfy I find myself saying, just a few minutes of the eyelids closed, just a few and then I'll do data entry... I just need a few minutes...

Growing up next door to my "Northern" grandparents, I remember my grandfather & grandmother both working diligently at SOMETHING until at least dinner time (5pm). No catnaps unless it was Sunday afternoon and then you could bet you'd find grandpa stretched out on the bed snoozin' away. Grandma would type letters or sew. Sometimes after dinner you'd find my grandfather sitting in a lawn chair out by the carport smoking.

My "southern" grandparents seemed to live a life just the opposite - just about any time we went to visit you'd find one or both of them sitting on the front porch, they would chat with each other and if someone happened to walk by, well then they would start up a chat with them as well. Both my "southern" grandparents outlived my "northern" grandparents..... not by one or two years but by 15+ years.

Yet, both grandfather's farmed, neither had what I would call an easy life - so my question is, "is it really a bad thing to take time out and just sit on the porch... aka the patio and cat nap now and then?" Such a beautiful day, yet I'm sure I could find something to wash or something to clean.... gee I only wish I could say I felt guilty - but I don't....

Maybe tomorrow will be more productive - for now - I think another catnap is in order....

Read All About it....

I've been here this morning working on typing in some of the obituaries I pulled on our recent research trip/vacation. As I am working on this stuff I keep thinking about the accuracy of the newspapers.



I remember one time my grandmother telling me that it was important to read, especially the newspaper, because you "can learn so much" from there. Well I do read alot - but not so much to learn, and not so much the newspaper. Maybe my genealogy exposure to the newspapers has taught me that not everything in print is truth?



Errors & confusion seem to abound, especially in newspapers. Some things I have found -

• Persons listed as living who have died previously


• children left out yet we know are living


• confusion over dates - conflicting date info


• two papers - different info on same story, both newspapers

These are just a few of the issues I have found with newspaper research. Granted some of the info that is incorrect was reported by the persons responsible for reporting it to the newspaper.

Newspapers can be a great source for genealogical information. The social columns & social pages are full of relationships & "gossip" about who was doing what when. Great color to add to your ancestors genealogy file. I know alot about the women my grandfather dated before he married my grandmother, seems he was quite the man about town. Seeing my grandfather in those social pages/columns paints my grandfather in a much different light than the grandfather I knew. Traveling, dating, parties and more. All show me the young side of a man I called grandfather.

Family gatherings, weddings, funerals and more can be found in the social pages of yesteryear. Some of these things are things that we can find no where else, so our reliance upon them for dates & details is rather strong. And as good as they may be we still should use them with a limited amount of caution knowing that this information was provided by outside parties who may or may not have links to the family.

My great grandfather's illness and slow death were chronicled in the local newspapers. Both of them followed his slow demise, posting weekly updates on how he was doing. But when it came time to post his obituary they couldn't agree on the date or place he died.

This weekend when I wasn't out in the beautiful sunshine gardening I was working in all the items - mostly obituaries that I pulled on this recent trip. Time & time again I found inconsistancies in the date & place of death. Many times I saw, "...died yesterday..." when in fact the death date occured several days before, not yesterday as stated.

So, I encourage you to use the newspaper, for its social pages, news items, and obituaries. All things where details can be gotten that maybe we can't find elsewhere. BUT I encourage you to go there with "eyes wide open", knowing that there are errors, mispellings, and bad dates. Knowing that there are issues that if you allow them to, can take you off track or lead you to believe things are true that really aren't.

Source your material, back it up with further documentation, and read it with "eyes wide open"...