Do You Know Where in Ireland Your Ancestors Came From?

Finding the town or county where your family came from in the “Old Country” can be difficult. That’s where Irish American newspapers can really help you locate your ancestor’s place of birth when researching your ancestry from Ireland. For example, look at this 1859 obituary from an old Irish American newspaper: This typical historical... (Read More)

Understanding Terms Found in Historical Newspapers

Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary explains some of the unusual or archaic terms often found in historical newspapers, and provides examples from period newspapers. When I first started searching historical newspapers to help with my family history research, certain... (Read More)

The Importance of Old Newspaper Advertisements to Genealogy

Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena writes about the value of a resource in newspapers that is often overlooked by genealogists: the classified ads. “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine. Ovaltine? A crummy commercial.”—Ralphie Parker from the movie A... (Read More)