The Ancestor Hunt
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Newspapers
  • Newspaper Links
  • Obituaries
  • BMD Records
  • Photos
  • Yearbooks
  • Directories
  • By Location
  • Cemetery Records
  • Divorce Records
  • Naturalizations
  • Immigration
  • Mortuary Records
  • Church Records
  • School Records
  • Voter Records
  • Coroner Records
  • Probate and Wills
  • Alumni Records
  • Newsletter Page
  • Tools
  • Genealogy News
  • California Genealogy
  • Videos
  • Fun With Newspapers
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Historical Newspaper Research - Lesson 7 - Don't Search Just Surnames

9/12/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
This is part of a series of educational posts, intended to provide you with information that will rapidly improve the skills needed to find pertinent newspaper articles from historical newspapers.

Lesson 7 is all about searching old, historic newspapers without just entering a surname in the search box.

One of the traps that those who search genealogy and family history can fall into - is always searching for surnames.


Obviously this is logical, but it can be a trap. Because, especially for newspapers - there is a lot of other information in articles that are helpful in finding one of your ancestors.

It may be poor quality original newsprint, an unsatisfactory scanning or OCR process, or even misspellings by journalists and typesetters. But surnames are often not exactly the right spelling in the search index. Furthermore, the addition of non-surname criteria can help focus in in the right ancestor's articles.

How about some examples that may lead to better results?

  • Search for an address - if you know the address of an ancestor, search for it.  A lot of times newspapers would include the residence of someone - so that may be a good place to try.
  • Search for a business name - if your ancestor owned a small business, you might be able to retrieve interesting articles by searching for that name.
  • Search for a lodge or club - if your ancestor belonged to or was an officer in a club or lodge or other group - search for that name.
  • Search for an occupation - if your ancestor had a unique occupation, try searching for that.
  • Search for the name of a sports team or school - often your ancestor may show up in a box score or in a list of graduates.
  • Search for the name of a military unit - if they were in the military, often the complete unit name is included in an article.
  • Search for a hobby or avocation - did Aunt Mary win ribbons at the state fair?  Or did Uncle Joe collect coins?


In all of these cases it is recommended that you limit the search to a specific newspaper or town/city. I suspect that if you performed a nationwide search for "123 Elm Street" or "gasfitter" you might get too many results to pore over.

So if searching for surnames (again especially with a difficult to spell name or with several alternative spellings) doesn't get you the results that you desire - try some of the alternatives listed above.  And you can always search for a surname AND some of these options if the site that you are using has Boolean search capability. Combining search terms is an outstanding way to hone in on the desired ancestor.

___________________________________

Please Share!


1 Comment
Jo Henn link
4/25/2015 04:14:53 pm

I wanted to tell you that I’ve also included this post in my NoteWorthy Reads post for this week: http://jahcmft.blogspot.com/2015/04/noteworthy-reads-11.html. I do do this but not as often as I should.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Free Resource Links
    ​
    ​​

    By Location Newspapers Obituaries BMD Records Directories Photos Yearbooks Cemetery Records Divorce Records Naturalizations Mortuary Records Immigration Church Records School Records Voter Lists Coroners Records Probate and Wills Alumni Records

    Subscribe
    Option 1 - Receive Links to New Published Articles 4 X per month

    Enter Email

    Subscribe
    ​
    Option 2​ - Receive New Complete
    Bi-Monthly Newsletter​ 
    ​
    Enter Email

    Search This Site


    Need Help With Your Research?
    Picture
    Check out the 4,000 Pros at Trace.com


    Facebook Page
    Picture


    RSS Feed

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    November 2010
    October 2010

Picture
©2012-21

Thanks for Visiting The Ancestor Hunt
The Ancestor Hunt is focused on helping primarily hobbyist genealogy and family history researchers to achieve their goals.

"The Ancestor Hunt" is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program.  There may be a small commission paid to "The Ancestor Hunt" should you purchase from Amazon.
.
"The Ancestor Hunt" is also an affiliate for "A Life Untold", Trace.com, Whoowe, StorySpot, and "Audiobiography". There may be a small commission paid to "The Ancestor Hunt" should you purchase from these companies.