{"id":19033,"date":"2017-01-24T10:59:29","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T15:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=19033"},"modified":"2017-02-16T13:03:17","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T18:03:17","slug":"finding-our-ancestors-genealogy-research-in-old-newspapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/finding-our-ancestors-genealogy-research-in-old-newspapers.html","title":{"rendered":"Finding Our Ancestors\u2019 Genealogy Research in Old Newspapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Mary Harrell-Sesniak explains that some of our ancestors who were family historians turned to their local newspaper for advice and answers \u2013 and those queries, published long ago, can prove very helpful to modern-day genealogists. Mary is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the goals of this blog is to help you use GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> more productively. From time to time, blog articles offer tips on overlooked aspects of GenealogyBank\u2019s collections, and for this article I\u2019d like to add one of my favorites tips: searching for clues in old time genealogy queries that our ancestors made to their local newspapers. Some call this data mining, but I prefer to think of it as mining for genealogical gold!<\/p>\n

Our ancestors who were interested in family history sometimes turned to the newspaper for research, answers and advice. You never know what you will find in letters submitted to newspapers by these genealogist ancestors.<\/p>\n

Some of our ancestors\u2019 genealogy questions were printed in ongoing columns, such as the \u201cWho\u2019s Who and Their Forbears\u201d column the Times-Picayune<\/em> published for a couple of years early in the 20th century. The queries within these columns are well worth reviewing, as they contain information that may have been overlooked by current-day family historians.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 26 January 1913, page 34<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your genealogically-interested cousins may have provided information from their personal files that you do not know.<\/p>\n

Transcriptions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just as we see today, our ancestors shared transcribed documents \u2013 so keep an eye out for them and note how life was in earlier times. For example, Oliver Farnsworth\u2019s bond to Rebecca Kemp in 1790 was reprinted years later in this 1903 newspaper article. Here are some of the items promised her in the bond:<\/p>\n