Genealogy Tip: Be Careful When Limiting Your Search

I am working on scanning my old family photos.
This morning I took the next photo from the stack.

Photo: wedding of Willard Kemp and Eleanor Huse
Source: Thomas Jay Kemp

This is the photo of my parents and grandparents at their wedding in 1945.

I wondered what news articles were printed about their wedding.
I searched limiting my search to my dad’s name and the month/year of their wedding.

A screenshot of GenealogyBank showing a search for Willard Kemp in January 1945
Source: GenealogyBank

Keeping the search simple and narrowing it to just one month is a good way to quickly find the articles you want.

Since his name, Willard Kemp, does not appear often in print, I did not limit the search to only New Hampshire newspapers – the state where they were married – but instead searched all 50 states.

A search of GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives instantly brought back a hit.

An article about the wedding of Willard Kemp and Eleanor Huse, Stamford Advocate newspaper article 11 January 1945
Source: GenealogyBank, Stamford Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut), 11 January 1945, page 15

Excellent article.

Notice that the wedding took place in Laconia, New Hampshire – but the newspaper article was published in the groom’s hometown newspaper in Stamford, Connecticut.

By limiting the search by name and date – but not limiting the search by state – I was able to quickly locate this article.

What if I searched with a wider timeline?
So, I repeated the search using the date range January 1945 to April 1945.

A screenshot of GenealogyBank showing a search for Willard Kemp from January to April, 1945
Source: GenealogyBank

This pulled in another newspaper article. Notice this one was published in a third state, Massachusetts, the following month.

An article about the wedding of Willard Kemp and Eleanor Huse, Boston Herald newspaper article 18 February 1945
Source: GenealogyBank, Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 18 February 1945, Rotogravure section, page 4

This is a reminder that limiting your search by name, date and place can be useful – but by limiting your search too much you might miss out on an important article for your family history.

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