September 17, 2014
GenealogyBank’s deep backfile newspaper archives are packed with stories—over 1.6 billion of them.
I like it when old obituaries give key details in the lives of our ancestors. It’s always a bonus when you find that a photo was included with their obituary.
Here are some examples:
These great stories and photos were found in the Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) Newspaper Archives (1861–1987). Dig into our Newspaper Archives (1690 – 2010) and see what you find.
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Hello – love this site!! But I am frustrated because whenever I follow the recommended guidelines and put a name or date, it won’t allow it to continue. How in the world can it be narrowed down when it is a popular name like Miller in a state as large as Michigan? I would greatly appreciate some advice on this. Thanks so much for this site – lots of wonderful stuff. Guess I just had the difficulty of being born with a very popular maiden name – Miller. Take care and thanks!!
Debbie –
Here’s what I do.
If the surname is a common one – like Miller – and is generating too many search results for me to sort through – I add another search term or narrow the date range.
For example – maybe the name of their home town is distinctive – and therefore won’t generate a lot of search result ‘noise’.
Another approach I take – especially when I want to search ‘every’ Kemp etc. is to search in a shorter time span. This way I can easily go through all of the search results in one sitting.
You’ll want to experiment and see just what that incremenatal time line spread should be: one year; 3 years, five years.
Give those approaches a try and see if that makes your sifting through to find the gold nuggets about your ancestors and relatives.
Thanks Tom! That is really helpful advise!
You are welcome Jovelle!
All the best in your research.
Tom