Newspaper clippings can reveal a lot about an ancestor. Maybe too much.
In the years I’ve been researching family history, I have found that my subscription to Newspapers.com has been a valuable resource, primarily in locating obituaries of ancestors. Obituaries can be extremely helpful in finding out detailed information about the decedent, of course. But because obituaries often list family members who predeceased the decedent as well as survivors, obituaries can provide information on parents, siblings, and descendants as well.
Apart from my subscription providing useful factual information, I’ve also discovered that what constituted “news”—especially from the late nineteenth century through the 1920s or so—could be mundane, shocking, and downright comical.
Not only can one question whether some of these stories merit mention in a newspaper, at least by today’s standards, but the style of writing of that time tends to be more flowery than today’s journalistic writing. An example is below:
Reading the first sentence of the paragraph highlighted at left, one would think that my great great-grandmother Meta Asmussen had died prematurely. Only after reading the second sentence is it clear to the reader that the “misfortune” of her being lost “just in the bloom of womanhood” is a metaphor for her becoming engaged.
Also, notice that newsworthy items include the fact that both Mr. O’Hara and Mr. Johnson each had a team of horses run away, S. J. Shaw has been repairing his house, and winter wheat is “looking well.”
The Junction City Tribune. Junction City, Kansas. December 19, 1878.
The clipping above is not unique. Many of the newspapers of the time—at least those reporting from the places where my ancestors lived—often covered seemingly trivial subjects. I’ve read clippings mentioning by name each and every guest attending a party given by a local resident. I’ve seen clippings naming out-of-town guests visiting a local resident. These sorts of stories would now seem more like society page material to us. I’ve also seen residents’ illnesses detailed, more like we might see in a church bulletin or announcement today.
Thanks to the reporting of The Junction City Union, I can report that my great-grandfather Reginald Harding had “a fine pen of chickens” in 1911 and that he purchased new vehicles in 1915, 1918, and 1920.
January 15, 1920.
I’ve seen announcements detailing local citizens embarking on or returning from a vacation, including their destination and the length of their stay. This would seem to be inviting would-be break-ins at worst and an invasion of the residents’ privacy at the very least.
Speaking of publishing topics of a personal nature, imagine having how much you weighed at the time of your death and the dimensions of your coffin being made public in your obituary!
The idea of a newspaper printing such intimate information seems to our 21st-century sensibilities a violation of privacy. Ironically, though, think how common the phenomenon of oversharing on the Internet–particularly on social media platforms such as Facebook–is today!
Most available clippings date from the mid-1800s on, and my direct ancestors living at that time were all located in the Midwest. For that reason, I don’t know if this journalistic style was unique to–or more prevalent in–more rural areas of the Midwest or whether this was a more general trend in journalism of the time.
Colorful newspapers clippings such as these are highly entertaining. They may not be a source of important factual information, but they can reveal intriguing details about an ancestor’s daily life.
They also serve as interesting relics from the early days of journalism in this country.
Written for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge: Week 38-“A Document with Personality.” PROMPT: “Let’s be honest – some records we work with can be a bit dry. But others are oozing with personality. It could be a will with an interesting clause; an obituary that paints a picture of the person’s life; and don’t forget photos and tombstones! What is something you’ve found that has personality?“
I loved this piece! I too did a double take on Meta. Wait, what?
The accounts of automobiles circa 1915 is fascinating also. If you look at some of the insurance maps from this period, they document gasoline pumps at bicycle shops. Seemingly incongruent, it documents the transition from bicycles to autos rather than from horses to autos.