A common source of information for family research is newspapers. There are any number of things that can be published in the paper that might provide information about a person. Obituaries, wedding and anniversary announcements are the most common items found. The social pages often had items on travels, jobs, colleges, and reunions. Even the local police reports may have interesting tidbits!
Obituaries
Obituaries have information on birth and death dates. They often have information about parents, siblings, children, and grandchildren. Sometimes, obituaries contain information about military service, places they have lived, and jobs that they have held.
Al Wellman’s obituary and Al with his father and siblings. Al is the little fellow on the right.
Depending on the information in the obituary, you may get more information about where family members live. You can also find spouses of children and grandchildren. Al’s obituary lists his daughters by their married names: Mrs. Robert Jones is his eldest daughter, Irene Dorothy Wellman Jones. It does list the daughters in birth order, so this may be helpful information if you are unsure of a spouse.
Wedding and Anniversary Announcements
A wedding announcement generally has information about parents. It may have information about where the couple and their families live and other participants in the wedding.
Anniversary announcements have information about the couple and usually contain information about children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Social Pages
In the past, the social pages carried news about the events of the town. It might be people who were traveling to visit other locations or those who were coming to town to visit. You could read about people joining the military or where they were going to college. Write-ups of family reunions are a great source of information.
This article from the West Point Bee covers the family reunion for the descendants of Ben and Teresa Wellman. It talks about the people who attended and mentions where they live. I apologize for the poor quality.
There are family members from Alaska, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and Iowa.
Police reports
Sometimes you find fun little bits of information about your family in the police and court reports.
This article talks about how John Link and WJ Link (Walt’s grandfather) were arrested and sentenced to jail for violating the fishing laws.
The newspapers can be great places to get some data that that can be used to further your research. Knowing that someone lived in Florida in 1995 could help you find out more about them. Remember that the information is typically shared by family members and there could be inaccuracies.
Sherrey
Loved reading this