Newspaper Archives for Genealogy

It's not just presidents, celebrities and sports heroes who get mentioned in the newspaper. 

Mulberry Street, NYC

Small town papers, in particular, have always covered the big events in the lives of ordinary citizens: a high school graduation, opening a new bakery or shoe repair shop, enlisting in the army, an engagement, a wedding, a new baby.  A new publication, Newspapers Give Us the Rest of the Story, does a nice job of showing how to use newspaper archives for a detailed search on family history.

This free ebook (at 14 pages, more of an article, really) is provided by GenealogyBank, a subscription newspaper search service. It details the search of the author's ancestor, one William Kemp, who arrived in the United States in the mid-1800s. The author uses several online tools, including shipping records and immigration records to focus his research in newspaper archives. He then goes on to do a splendid job of using newspapers to uncover the trials and tribulations of his ancestor's journey to America.

It's well done, and worth a download. Keep in mind, though, that in addition to GenealogyBank, there are other newspaper archive resources. You can find plenty of free newspaper archives online, as well as subscription services like Newspapers.com and NewspaperArchive.

Good hunting!