July 12, 2017
The past few months I’ve enjoyed delving into my Mayflower ancestry and discovering new relatives who are also descendants of my Pilgrim grandparents. This research has led to articles about all seven of these Pilgrims, the last of which is Thomas Rogers (1571-1621), my 10th great-grandfather.
Thomas came to New England with his son Joseph, and the rest of his children came on later voyages. We have records of at least one of his other children, John, coming to Plymouth about 1630. Sadly, Thomas died the first winter in Plymouth, leaving his children orphans. According to FamilySearch, both Joseph and John had children.
Interested in learning more about other descendants that came through this line, I decided to search GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives for “Thomas Rogers” with the keyword “Mayflower.”
I decided to search specifically in GenealogyBank’s “Historical Obituaries” collection, as I’ve had good luck in the past finding new relatives using those types of records.
The first obituary of the search results was that of John H. Paine (1883-1962), a lawyer from Harwich, Massachusetts.
John was a former attorney, banker, land title administrator and justice of the peace in Harwich, and was a descendant of four Mayflower Pilgrims: William Brewster, Thomas Rogers, Stephen Hopkins, and William White. This means I am doubly related to him – William Brewster and Thomas Rogers are my ancestors, too.
John Paine was very well-connected. A graduate of Boston University Law School, he served in many prestigious public service positions and was a member of several elite organizations in the Harwich community.
This article also gave me the name of his wife: Mildred Williams Paine (1893-1985). Mildred and John had one child, Robert Valmer Paine (1921-1942) , who was sadly killed in action in World War II.
To find more details about John’s life, I searched GenealogyBank with his name and the keyword “Harwich.”
From the results of this search, I found that John’s obituary also appeared in the Boston Record American.
This article gave me one other interesting detail about John’s life: he edited a history of Harwich which was written by his father, Josiah Paine.
By making a quick search of Google using the search: “history of Harwich, MA + Josiah Paine” I was able to locate the book in question.
It’s a great day for genealogy!
Genealogy Tip: Using keywords to search obituaries in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives can help you find specific articles about your family, or locate new relatives who share a common ancestor that you weren’t aware of previously.
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looking for history of Oscar William smith, he was my grandfather. he lived in Hinton West Virginia and worked on the railroad. He passed away in 1952. If anyone has information to share, please contact me at- billsmith@suddenlink,net.
Looking for Isaac Comer born abt 1820 in ??? Pennsylvania, married Lavinia died Feb 13, 1881. Cannot fine his birth
Charlotte – Finding birthday information for that date range can be very challenging. Pennsylvania didn’t start birth records until 1906. The best way to find a birth record for that date range, would be to find church records. If you know the name of the church or the name of the city you may find christening records. Another good source of finding birth information, would be searching obituaries. Newspapers can be a great source to find this information.
William – Thank you for contacting GenealogyBank.com about your search for Oscar William Smith. We would be happy to help you with your search on GenealogyBank.com. You can call our toll free number for assistant. Another search you may try is FamilySearch.org, or call the Hinton West Virginia Library. They may have a collection of newspapers during that time, or they may have information about the family.