How to Use My 5 FETCH Goals for Newspaper Genealogy Research

Introduction: In this article, Scott Phillips explains how he uses the acronym “FETCH” to remind him of his five goals when using historical newspapers for his family history research. Scott is a genealogical historian and owner of Onward To Our Past® genealogy services.

The beginning of a New Year is always such a grand time! Everyone is celebrating all that we accomplished in the year gone by, planning and resolving for the coming year, and looking at that clean slate of a whole year that stretches before us.

You can even see this feeling come through in an article published way back in 1791 in this Massachusetts newspaper, with its rousing opening sentence: “To our country, brilliant hath been the year that is just expired.”

And the centuries-old newspaper article ends with this wish: “Events have verified the fondest predictions of the friends of the General Government—and whilst we most cordially congratulate our countrymen on them—we devoutly wish that in the Year, this day commencing, they may experience a consummation of similar and more extensive BLESSINGS!”

The beginning of a New Year is also a perfect time to do some planning for your genealogy, ancestry, and family history. This was brought to my mind recently when someone asked me: “Scott, I see you using historical newspapers in your genealogy all the time. What are your goals when you do this?”

It wasn’t a hard question to answer since on the corner of one of my computer monitors I have a little piece of paper with the word FETCH typed on it as follows:

• Focus on the 5 Ws
• Expand out
• Take your time
• Capture all your leads
• Have fun!

FETCH serves as a daily reminder to keep my top 5 goals in mind when I use newspapers in my genealogy research.

I use this acronym because every morning during my school years my father would begin his day by kindly asking: “Hey Scott, would you please fetch me the newspaper?” Years later I taught our wonderful Labrador retriever, Cinder, to fetch the newspaper. Now I am old-school and still enjoy the feeling of newsprint and ink in my hands, and like getting my printed newspaper at the end of my driveway each morning. So FETCH works perfectly for me!

Let me expand a bit on how FETCH reminds me of my 5 research goals.

Focus on the 5 Ws: The five Ws of journalism are: who, what, where, when and why. Read my earlier blog article Newspapers: A Brief History, the 5 Ws & Why I LOVE Them to learn more about the importance of the 5 Ws in newspaper reporting, and why that rule is a Godsend to our genealogy work.

While there have been attempts to change the 5 Ws, as you can see in this 1946 article from an Illinois newspaper, they have stood the test of time and we as genealogy fans benefit from Who, What, Where, When, and Why every time we open a newspaper article for our family history research!

Expand out:Another one of the benefits of using newspapers in your genealogy work is the fact that by nature newspaperwomen and men are inquisitive, so the “E” reminds me to expand out from what or whom I was originally looking for in that article since it’s quite likely more material was included than I was expecting.

Take your time: Like the sports figures in this 1916 Ripley’s cartoon, I always do my best to take my time when I login to GenealogyBank. There is simply so much to learn and take in from adjoining articles, etc., that the time spent in old newspapers for your genealogy is never, ever wasted!

Capture all your leads: Again, the inquisitive nature of newspaper reporters can pay genealogists huge dividends since reporters often provide us with all kinds of family history information in their articles. Names, ages, family, friends, addresses, maiden names, and historical tidbits abound in old newspapers, and are there for the taking to help us move through our work!

Have fun: Being a genealogical historian, I love historical newspapers for all they have to offer in my genealogy. By taking some time for fun I learn more too! Looking at old advertisements, reading the news of the times of our ancestors, and becoming more accustomed to how language and words were used in days gone by can reap huge rewards in all aspects of our family history and genealogy. Plus it is impossible to pass up the chance to read some of the old comics such as Pogo, Mandrake the Magician, Little Orphan Annie, Bringing Up Father, and so many others, like those I recently found in this 1930 Georgia newspaper.

So as you work on your genealogy remember first to FETCH your GenealogyBank.com newspapers. Then delve into the family history treasures that you will be sure to discover and enjoy!