When I am gone, beat the drum and fire the guns. ~ Captain and Chief Tishomingo As we get closer to July 4th, we think back on the stories of our American ancestors who fought for our freedom in the Revolutionary War. This old newspaper obituary tells us about the story of one of... (Read More)
While doing genealogy research recently in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, I came upon the obituary of a woman identified only as “a female slave named Alice,” who died at Bristol, Pennsylvania, at the remarkable age of 116! Alice was only 10 when she was taken from her parents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Bristol, Pennsylvania... (Read More)
This obituary caught my eye for several reasons. First is the header, with its poem and graphic. “The Knell.” Not “Deaths” or “Died” – which are very common headers for obituary notices even today – but instead “The Knell,” as in death knell. Crisp. An excellent choice of words that immediately tells us this... (Read More)
I was looking for the obituary of William Bullock Clark (1860-1917), a geology professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Looking in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, I quickly found multiple obituaries for him. For example, there is this obituary from the Sun (Baltimore, Maryland). Great obituary. It includes the basic genealogical facts: his... (Read More)
I found this obituary for Linus Lounsbury, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, by searching in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives. He died on 15 July 1836. He was a pensioner. He was in the Siege of Fort Johns in Newfoundland, Canada – 17 September 1775 to 3 November 1775, and was in the... (Read More)
Going through Dad’s old papers I found that he had shot a hole-in-one playing golf. In fact he had certificates for four of them. How he liked to golf. I wondered if these perfect shots were written up in the newspapers – yes, they were. In the Dallas Morning News, golfer Doris Gray was... (Read More)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this blog article, Gena searches old newspapers to discover interesting stories about the life of Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, a.k.a. Mrs. Houdini – the wife of the famous magician. Even if you have no interest in magic, chances are... (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 shares some of the funny and at times insightful comments from the obituary of... (Read More)
Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this blog article, Mary follows up on an article she wrote back in January 2013 and, thanks to helpful suggestions from some of her readers, tries to uncover more of the Robert Ripley genealogy mystery. Early in 2013, the... (Read More)
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