Abstracts of Newspapers

(c) Linda Haas Davenport

(Dec 2019 update: When I first started abstracting old newspapers it was extremely difficult to locate digital copies of old newspapers. Now thousands of newspapers have been digitized and are online at several subscription sites and through the National Archives newspapers project. A search of sites like Linkpendium! and Cyndi's List have listing of available newspapers and are excellent spots to start, along with a search of google.

Because digitized newspapers can be found in so many places I will no longer be abstracting these old newspapers.)

However, keep in mind a local newspaper offers the greatest opportunity to find information on our ancestors that can be found no where else.

These small local newspapers were usually published once a week and were a combination of National, State and Local News with the emphasize being on Local News and Gossip. It is in these weekly papers that we often find mention of marriages, deaths, and births that sometimes can not be found anywhere else. It is through reading these old local newspapers that we begin to gain an understanding of the day to day lives of our ancestors - what effected them, what they were interested in and what the area they lived in was like.

Many of these old weekly newspapers listed marriages, births and deaths from all over, not just the local area or state.

Please Enjoy Your Stay and Come back often.