Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary looks through newspaper articles to find stories about the oldest people to have ever lived—and issues a challenge to readers to find even greater claims of longevity in the newspapers. With the Baby Boomers... (Read More)
Old newspapers provide the stories of our ancestors’ lives, helping to flesh out the names and dates on our family trees. What kind of family history can be found in historical newspapers? Let’s pick a typical, ordinary family and find out. For example, what can I discover about the Crofoot family that lived in... (Read More)
Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary shows some of the unique historical maps that can be found in old newspapers, and proposes a fun “gencaching” game to find more of these maps. Some of the greatest tools of genealogical research... (Read More)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena searches old newspapers to investigate the murder mystery of Louise Bailey back in 1914. “If she is innocent, may God help her.” ~ Mrs. Duryea Imagine a story that involves jealousy, murder, and... (Read More)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena addresses the problem that it’s often hard to find information about our ancestors when they were children. One solution? Look for their participation in fashion and coloring paper doll contests run by newspapers.... (Read More)
The other day I asked myself: what can I realistically find about my relatives in GenealogyBank? How many details about my family can I discover? So I decided to find out by searching GenealogyBank’s historical newspaper archives for a family member we know little about: Madge E. Richmond (1866-1942). Her Career as a Teacher... (Read More)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena searches through historical newspaper archives and finds old menus—and shows how these provide social history that helps us better understand our ancestors’ times. When was the last time you ate out? How often... (Read More)
I. D. Lilly, a retired trucker and promoter of the largest family reunion ever held, died in March of this year. He was an active participant in the famous West Virginia family’s gatherings, and served on the Lilly Family Reunion Board of Directors. In 2009 some 2,585 Lilly relatives gathered in Flat Top, West... (Read More)
If you committed murder in 1755 you were dealt with severely. However, the punishment for the crime was not always the same for a man as it was for a woman. In this article from an old 1700s newspaper, we learn that a man and a woman servant were found guilty of the murder... (Read More)
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