{"id":25463,"date":"2017-09-26T11:22:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T15:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=25463"},"modified":"2024-03-13T11:12:54","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T15:12:54","slug":"obituaries-link-generations-contain-the-stories-of-our-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/obituaries-link-generations-contain-the-stories-of-our-lives.html","title":{"rendered":"Obituaries Link Generations & Contain the Stories of Our Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newspapers covered every day of the lives of our ancestors and the history that was unfolding around them. Obituaries contain the stories of our lives. The details and clues obituaries contain pull us in to start digging deeper and learning more about each person and the towns where they were born, lived and died.<\/p>\n

Some are brief, some are lengthy \u2013 but one by one our stories are preserved and passed down to future generations in obituaries. A lot can be packed into just a few lines.<\/p>\n

How long have obituaries and death notices been published in America?
\nSince paper and presses were available.<\/p>\n

The earliest newspapers in America were generally two folded broadsheets that provided the reader with four pages.<\/p>\n

Astonishingly, obituaries in American newspapers go back to the days of our earliest settlers that arrived on the Mayflower. GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> include the obituary of Peregrine White (1620-1704)<\/span> \u2013 who was born onboard the Mayflower in 1620 \u2013 down through the hundreds of millions of obituaries that have been published across the centuries, right down to today.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank.com, Boston News-Letter (Boston, Massachusetts), 24-31 July 1704, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Have newspaper obituaries changed over the last 300 years?
\nYes and no.<\/p>\n

Newspapers have grown from the standard 4-page, folded newspaper to daily papers that can have upwards of 40, 50 or 60 pages. With more space and the ease of automated typesetting and computers, obituaries now can cover multiple column inches in a newspaper \u2013 complete with photos and detailed mini-biographies written by the family. Obituaries have come a long way from the few lines written about Peregrine White to today.<\/p>\n

Not every issue of every newspaper has survived \u2013 but sometimes the additional printed material distributed at the time of a person\u2019s death and funeral has survived.<\/p>\n

Here is an early example of a death notice card, printed as a note card to alert friends to the death and pending funeral of the late John Perkins, who died in 1783.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another example of surviving material is this ad related to my distant cousin, 14-year-old Rebecca Carpenter (1796-1810)<\/span>. The issue of the newspaper that carried her obituary when she died 18 September 1810 has not survived, but an advertisement announcing the availability of copies of the sermon preached at her funeral did.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank.com, Rhode-Island American (Providence, Rhode Island), 18 December 1810, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a courtesy and keepsake for the family and friends, funeral sermons were commonly transcribed, published and distributed \u2013 usually in very small press runs. This practice widely continued from the 1700s to the mid-1800s. Bookseller Henry Cushing, ever one to promote his stock, offered these sermons at a bargain rate \u2013 12 \u00bd cents per copy \u2013 but if you bought 6 copies, he would give you a 7th copy free.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, Rebecca Carpenter\u2019s funeral sermon itself has also been preserved, and can be found online. It gives us a brief glimpse of her short life.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank.com. Thompson, Otis. A Sermon Preached at the Interment of Miss Rebecca Carpenter who departed this life, September 19th, A.D. 1810, in the 15th year of her age. Providence, Rhode Island: Dunham & Hawkins, 1810. 16 pages.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Published funeral sermons are the forerunner of the lengthy obituaries that we are used to today. While death notices in early American newspapers were kept brief because of space constraints, the invention of the linotype machine in the late 1800s allowed editors to expand the page count of newspapers \u2013 and obituaries expanded right along with them.<\/p>\n

The sermons and eulogies given at funerals are still frequently published today as \u201cmemorials\u201d and \u201cIn Memoriam\u2019 volumes. These generally follow the format of funeral sermons and include a brief biography of the deceased and the testimonial talks given at their memorial service.<\/p>\n

It is also common to see lengthy biographical memorials published by professional and alumni associations. For example, Yale University has put online the obituaries of their graduates that were published in the annual volumes of the Yale Obituary Record from 1859-1952. These detailed biographical and genealogical obituaries often give details about multiple generations of each person\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Source: Yale Obituary Record, 1871<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lot can be packed into just a few lines.<\/p>\n

Like these few lines written about Alpheus<\/span> and Orsey Harmon<\/span>, who were found \u201cfrozen to death on the prairie between Carthage and Nauvoo, Illinois\u201d on 17 December 1842. Alpheus was described as a \u201cpreacher of Mormonism.\u201d He had been called to preach the Gospel in 1841, and on his return home in 1842 was trapped in a snow storm that killed him.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank.com, New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, New Hampshire), 28 December 1842, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes those stories are recorded in newspapers published miles from where our ancestors lived. News of the Harmons\u2019 deaths in Illinois was published in the New Hampshire Sentinel<\/em> in Keene, New Hampshire \u2013 over 1,100 miles away.<\/p>\n

Remarkable. Unforgettable.
\nNo matter how brief the obituary, its details give us clues to more information about our ancestors\u2019 lives and even to their extended family tree.<\/p>\n

Marilyn Guedesse was born in Minot, North Dakota, 31 March 1933, and died in Hamilton, Illinois, 20 December 2015. I never met her, her husband, parents or descendants \u2013 but when I read her obituary I knew she was my cousin.<\/p>\n

How?
\nThe family included in her obituary the fact that she was a descendant of Mayflower passenger\u00a0Governor William Bradford<\/span> \u2013 since he is my ancestor, that makes us cousins.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank.com, Daily Gate City (Keokuk, Iowa), 23 December 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Obituaries are a great source for bringing together the branches of the family tree \u2013 not only by listing the current, recent generations, but by naming their ancient ancestors like this obituary did.<\/p>\n

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