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... (Read More)
Introduction: In this blog post, Mary Harrell-Sesniak talks about how important it is to try many variations when using keywords for your genealogy searches—and explains how helpful a thesaurus is for finding those variations. Mary is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. A thesaurus is a marvelous writing tool—and an... (Read More)
Do you have old family traditions, places and/or heirlooms? Like Abe Lincoln, did your family live in a log cabin? Do you have a picture of it? If you are related to Robert Dalton of Palo Pinto County, Texas, then GenealogyBank’s newspaper collection has a photograph of their old log cabin (built in the... (Read More)
Introduction: Duncan Kuehn is a professional genealogist with over eight years of client experience. She has worked on several well-known projects, such as “Who Do You Think You Are?” and researching President Barack Obama’s ancestry. In this blog post, Duncan searches old newspapers to find the history of two taverns in Manhattan that archaeologists... (Read More)
William Walcutt was there—a stalwart throughout the American Revolutionary War. He enlisted at Valley Forge 7 May 1778 “while yet a youth.” He was only 17 years old, having turned 17 just a month and a half earlier. When he died at the age of 73, his one-paragraph obituary detailed his military service during... (Read More)
Recently, I checked in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives for a few of my Sawyer relatives in Grafton County, New Hampshire—and didn’t find them. Bummer. When I search in GenealogyBank and do not find my target relatives, I make a quick note to try again in a few weeks to see if I can find... (Read More)
Newspapers have been publishing obituaries for hundreds of years, making it easy for bereaved family and friends to learn the details of the life of the deceased as well as the funeral arrangements. GenealogyBank has put this information from the past 300 years online, allowing genealogists to find their relatives within a few clicks.... (Read More)
Last year I wrote about my relative Elizabeth (Meader) Hanson (1684-1737) who, along with her children, was kidnapped by Abenaki Indians on 7 September 1724 and taken to the Indians’ village along the St. Francis River in Canada. They were held there for over two years. (See: Find & Preserve Your Family’s Stories.) Powerful.... (Read More)
Most genealogists use newspaper birth notices, marriage announcements, and obituaries in their family history research—but there are many other good sources of family information in newspapers, such as tax lists. For example, the town of Tamworth, New Hampshire, took out this ad in the Sun (Dover, New Hampshire), an area newspaper, in 1816. It... (Read More)
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Get Helpful, Usable Tips for Your Genealogy Research.