Using newspapers for genealogy is a must! They are an invaluable resource for those tracing their family history. Using them can lead to discovering amazing nuggets of information about your ancestors. But how can you ensure you are maximising your use of this source? Power up your search capabilities to discover your ancestors! Avoid these 8 common mistakes and you’ll soon be searching newspapers like a pro.
Please note this post contains an affiliate link to Find My Past. Subscribing via this link may earn me a small commission.
Newspapers For Genealogy Mistake 1:
Not Knowing Your OCR Variants
To create searchable text newspaper images are scanned using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This software reads the individual characters within words to create transcriptions. Although, far quicker than using humans the tool (like humans) is not perfect. Like all computer programmes and people, OCR makes mistakes. Especially when transcribing faded print or damaged papers.
Some common OCR mistakes include mistaking:
c and e
h and b
m and n
K and R
g and y
Combinations of letters with similar shapes may cause confusion too. Such as g and y together or u and i.
Start an OCR error list. Whenever you find a surname of interest mistranscribed add it to the list. Next time you perform a search, make sure you also search for the misspellings on your OCR list. For example, my surname is Pithers. I need to search for my name, both as it’s spelt and as ‘Bithers’, ‘Pitbers’ and ‘Bibers’.
Newspapers For Genealogy Mistake 2: Missing The FAN Club
Our ancestors weren’t always recorded in the papers by their name. Instead, they might be “the neighbour”, “a witness” or a “daughter-in-law”. Restricting your search to only the surnames of your own ancestors is a BIG mistake. Even if your ancestor’s name is stated, it may have been spelt or transcribed incorrectly.
Widen the net, search for the names of your ancestors’ FAN club. Their Friends, Associates and Neighbours. Search the papers for the witnesses to your ancestors’ marriages. For the neighbours on the census. And of course for their in-laws, and even the parents of in-laws. You might find your ancestor with them. Or you might find out something interesting about one of your ancestor’s friends. Like the fact, they were a war hero. Or arrested for stealing. All worth knowing. After all these people interacted with your ancestor. As Aesop puts it, “a man is known by the company he keeps”. Food for thought, no?
Newspapers For Genealogy Mistake 3:
Not Looking Up Addresses
Always search the papers for your ancestors’ addresses. Generally, it’s best to search by street name and then filter to the county and dates concerned. Check every address you have. You might find a reference to your ancestor. Or something interesting about the neighbourhood. Like a terrible murder. Or the date the street got electric lighting.
Newspapers For Genealogy Mistake 4:
Failure To Filter
Newspapers For Genealogy Mistake 5:
Searching In One Place
This tip is especially for those with a Find My Past (FMP) subscription (or thinking of getting one). The British Newspaper Archive (BNA) collection is mirrored at the site FMP. But, the BNA site has other ways of filtering and more sophisticated search options. It doesn’t have FMP’s myriad of other great records though. Not to worry….you can perform free searches on BNA. Then hop over to FMP and filter by newspaper, date etc in order to get to the paper you want to check. This way you utilise BNA’s searches and a subscription to FMP for both newspapers and other records.
Newspapers For Genealogy Mistake 6:
Not Looking Beyond Boundaries
The National Library of Wales hosts the Welsh Newspapers Online collection. With papers dating from 1804 to 1919. This is a massive selection. Papers are available in both English and Welsh.
The newspapers are worth searching, even if you don’t have Welsh ancestors. Sometimes stories from nearby towns in England make it to the papers over the border. Sometimes the Welsh papers printed stories from other regions, especially ‘big’ national stories. Of course, Welsh papers reported on big events like any other regional newspaper.
The National Library of Australia hosts the appropriately named website, Trove. This amazing online resource is a treasure trove of newspapers, journals and gazettes. Even if you don’t have an ancestor that emigrated to Australia, Trove is worth exploring. Sometimes a big story made it across the pond. You might also find a distant relative that did leave the UK for Australia. See the FAN Club section above! Such discoveries can lead to precious clues about your direct line.
See the bottom of the blog for more free newspaper site information.
Newspapers For Genealogy Mistake 7:
Forgetting The Gazettes
The Gazette is actually 3 gazettes, London, Belfast and Edinburgh. It contains statutory notices for which there is a legal obligation to publish. For example, insolvency notices, probate notices, military awards. Spanning 350 years and free to search online, The Gazette doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. It can be invaluable for researching both soldiers and business owners.
Newspapers For Genealogy Mistake 8:
Are You Missing The Point?
So, your ancestors aren’t mentioned in any newspaper record? It’s disappointing, but not the end of the world. Newspapers can still give you incredible insights into how your ancestors lived. They are rich sources of social-historical information. Advertisements, local and national news all help us understand our ancestors’ lives better. What were they buying? How much did things cost? What were they wearing? Talking about? What local events, from protests to disasters, were they talking about? How did these events affect them? Answers to all these questions and more can be found within newspapers. Reading them is crucial to understanding our ancestors’ lives.
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