Tip for Using FreeReg to Search for Birth and Death Dates

FreeReg is an index to church parish registers in the British Isles.  It's a great resource for finding baptisms, marriages, and burials in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.  It can also aid in finding birth or death dates.

If searching baptisms hoping to find a birth date, you may well find one because both dates are sometimes recorded.  But it's important to remember that baptisms happened after a birth and not on the birth date.  And sometimes those baptisms happened several years after a birth.  When you put in the search years for a baptism, be sure to extend the date at least several years after the child was born.  

Burials usually happened within days of death so no need to extend the death year unless you don't know it. 

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2025 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

When the Index Is Wrong - A Search Tip

The old indexes in the county records volumes are not always accurate, and I'm sure they can be inaccurate in a variety of ways.  This was my experience with one way an index can be wrong.

At FamilySearch I found the index in the county record book with "Robert Nelson et ux" listed, indicating that I could find his deed in Volume Q2 on page 345.  He's the second from bottom line on the image below.  

I found Volume Q2 with deed records at FamilySearch.  Since FamilySearch had not yet digitally indexed this volume, I needed to click a few times to find page 345.  And when I arrived, there was no Robert Nelson on the page.  Assuming I'd made a mistake, I looked through the digital film images again, returning to page 345, with no Robert Nelson.

Was the whole index wrong (or had I made a mistake) or was this just one error?  I decided to see if there was anyone else in the index on or near that page and saw that yes, directly below the line with Robert Nelson was a person on page 355.  When I found page 355, yes, indeed, the person the index stated would be there was there.  So the index was at least partially accurate.  I began to page backward and there, on the next previous page, I found my Robert Nelson et ux.  He was on page 354 instead of 345.  The person who typed the original index for the volume had transposed two digits.

So, if you don't find your ancestor on the page the index lists, check to see if the creator of the index transcribed a few digits.

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2025 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

Ideas for Dealing with an Impasse in Research

After participating in Randy Seaver's most recent Saturday Night Genealogy Fun in which we were invited to write about our most frustrating research challenge, I decided to edit, update, and publish this post based on one I wrote a number of years ago.  (Reminders are good, right?) 

When I come upon an impasse in a family history search I often fall back and consider possibilities.  I prefer to call it an impasse — just a little hitch in progress until I figure out the next steps, the next places to search for a solution.  These are my suggestions for next steps when dealing with an impasse.  

First, I consider all the records I have — civil (census, birth, marriage, death, court records, etc.), parish, undocumented family records, and any others — and ask myself these questions.

• Have I carefully reviewed every document for every scrap of information and recorded it?
• Have I missed anything in those documents and, if so, what?  How will it help me?
  
• Did I misunderstand or misread some record or some information given to me?
• Was the record from a different time period with words I don't understand?  If so, I find the definitions so I do understand, and if I still don't, I ask for help.
  
• Was any of the information I received transcribed from another document/record and, if so, how many times had it been transcribed from the original (knowing that every transcription allows for further misinformation to be passed along)?  Can I find the original?
  
• Which information that I've received might be inaccurate?  Undocumented family records and word-of-mouth information are high on this list in one line of my family.

 
Next I consider the possibilities.

• If there was a fee to register the birth/marriage/death to create a civil document, might the event have been registered later than it actually happened?  Might it have been given an inaccurate date so it falls within the registration deadline?  I can imagine this could happen if the registrants didn't have money to pay the fee at the time of the event.
• If an ancestor had to go to a courthouse to record an event, how far did they live from the courthouse?  Would it have been a challenge for them to get there to record the event?
  
• If a child was born out of wedlock, might that have prevented the baby from being baptized/christened?  If so, there may not be a parish record for the event.
• If a child was born out of wedlock, was his surname listed as the mother's maiden name, or the father's surname?  I should check both surnames, especially if the first search doesn't reveal a record.
  
• If the child was born out of wedlock, did the child's birth require civil registration? 
  
• If the parents moved (or the county boundaries moved) between the time of their marriage and the birth of any of their children, which locations would need to be checked? 
• If the problem is a marriage and I'm unable to find a marriage record, might there at least be marriage banns amongst the parish records or a note in a gossipy local newspaper? 
• If it's a death record I'm unable to find, have I searched records in all possible death locations?
  
• What other records, both formal and informal, might help me discover information for an event in an ancestor's life?

Most important:  I need to make notes as I review the documents and records I have.  I can't rely on my memory.  I note

• the probable date of an event
• the records I have and important information in them
• any connections I see between records such as locations, possible relationships, events near the same dates, etc.
• the next records to search
• the next place to search
  
• that wisp of an idea that fluttered through my mind, no matter how improbable, unlikely, or impossible it seemed
  

A list like this and notes like these almost become a to-do list and will be similar to a research log in advance of the research.

I'm sure you, dear readers, have plenty of other suggestions for next steps when dealing with an impasse and I hope you'll share them!

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2024 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

More about Gust and the Strawberry Farm, Plus a Research Tip

I lived in a family that did not pass down family stories.  In fact, I didn't learn that my father grew up on a farm where his father, Gust Doyle, grew and harvested strawberries until I was a teen.  And it was even later that I learned that my great-grandfather William Doyle had started the strawberry business.  Bit by bit, I keep learning about these ancestors of mine.

A number of years ago I published the post, Banner Week at Doyle's Berry Farm, June 13, 1908.  It has some good information, however, at the time I wrote that post I didn't know how many acres of strawberries grew on the farm.  Since that post I've uncovered a little more information. 

In 1908 the owner of the berry farm was William Doyle.  At that time his son, Gust, was 19.  This newest information comes from 1916, when Gust, then age 28, was the owner of the farm.

Below is part of page 99 from the 1916 Annual Report of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Volume 22. 

This report indicates that Augustus Doyle of Stoneboro had five acres of land planted with berries or small fruit plants only.  It's possible that Gust grew other small fruit plants but since my original source of information about the strawberry farm, my father's half-sister, Tressa (Doyle) Wilson, never mentioned growing other fruits, I believe all five acres were devoted to strawberries.

Surprising is that this is a list of licensed nurseries.  Does that mean Gust also sold strawberry plants?

It's hard to tell from this 1916 report and the earlier postcards in the post about the Doyle Berry Farm in 1908 whether there were more acres devoted to strawberries in 1916 or fewer.  

Research Tip
If you're trying to find information about your farming ancestors, remember to search for state agricultural reports at Google Books or other state sources.  For Pennsylvania, Google Books has reports from 1879 through 1917 with only a few exceptions.  Some reports have more information than others but it's always worth checking if you want to learn more about an ancestor's farming activities.

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2023 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

"The Adventure of Mrs. Bartley" + a Newspaper Tip

Thomas Bartley and Robert Bartley were brothers, both born in the late 1700s and died in mid-1800s.  Robert is my third-great-grandfather.  Thomas and his wife are, I believe, my great-great-great-grand-uncle and -aunt.

The stories below come from a newspaper column called "Pioneer Tales" by James A. McKee.  This was published on page 4 of the March 27, 1912 issue of The Butler Citizen.  James A. McKee edited and compiled the book 20th Century History of Butler and Butler County, Pa. and Representative Citizens.  As far as I can tell, the entries below were not copied from the book.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

        Adventure of Mrs. Bartley.
    Thomas Bartley, a native of Ireland,
came to the township about 1807.  Mrs.
Bartley was unaccustomed to frontier
life and was utterly ignorant of the
dangers from wild animals that infest-
ed the wilderness about her cabin
home.  One day she noticed a raven-
ous-looking dog in the yard, and from
purely sympathetic motives she en-
deavored to coax the animal into the
cabin with corn meal mush attached
to the end of a stick.  The strange
beast resisted all overtures to be
friends and finally loped off into the
woods, where it disappeared from
sight.  That evening Mrs. Bartley told
the story to her husband, who in-
formed her that what she had taken
for a dog was a timber wolf and that
she was lucky to escape an attack
from the beast.
    Robert Bartley, a brother of Thom-
as, settled in the same neighborhood.
He ran a small distillery as well as his
farm and it is said that the boys in
the neighborhood caused him a good
deal of trouble.  It is also recorded
that the boys did not always get the
best of the conflicts they had with the
hot-headed Irishman.  On one occa-
sion, they were smarting under defeat
and decided to get even with Bartley.
    The boys captured a live possum and
one night when the Bartley family
were sitting at their evening meal be-
fore the open fireplace in the log
cabin, the boys climbed to the comb
of the root and dropped the possum
down the wide chimney into a blazing
fire that was cracking on the hearth.
The antics of the frightened animal
almost caused a panic among the Bart-
ley children.

In addition to the stories themselves, other information I garnered from this article include:
-- Thomas Bartley and Robert Bartley are brothers.
-- Thomas Bartley was born in Ireland and immigrated to the U.S. in or before 1807.
-- Thomas was married at the time of this incident (though no date is recorded).
-- Thomas and his wife lived in a rural area.
-- Robert had a family and children.
-- Robert operated a distillery and also farmed.
-- Robert was described as a "hot-headed Irishman."
-- Robert and his family lived in a log cabin.

Sadly, the original source of these stories is not recorded.  In the second story the phrases "it is said" and "it is recorded" leave me wondering who said it and where it was recorded.  Will I ever know?

A Newspaper Tip.
If you're searching ancestors' names in newspapers, don't ignore results that were published long after his or her death.  Oftentimes, especially in the 20th century, newspapers published looking back or history sections, such as 25 years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago, etc.  You may be surprised, as I was with this clipping, to find an ancestor's name many years after he or she died.

-–Nancy.

Copyright © 2022 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

A Marriage License and a Marriage Certificate May Not Be Together

My experience with mid- to late-1800 marriage records is that marriage licenses and certificates are recorded at the county level with both on the same page, license above the certificate.

For at least one of my ancestors, the marriage license and the marriage certificate were recorded separately, in different county books, a fact I just noticed as I was updating sources in RootsMagic.  I had already recorded the separate documents and sources for both but because my g-g-grandfather's wife is not an ancestor and because the records didn't contain much family information, I hadn't given them much attention or thought.

The grandfather of these documents is my second great-grandfather, Ellis H. Bickerstaff, who married his second wife, Sarah J. McCune, in 1880 in Jefferson County, Ohio.

Their marriage license is recorded in Jefferson County (Ohio) Marriage Licenses, 1872-1886, Volume 2, p. 682, viewable online here at FamilySearch (with a free account).

Transcription

The State of Ohio, Jefferson County, ss:
Personally appeared before me Isaac H. Clifton
who after being duly Sworn deposes and says that Sarah J. McCune
is an unmarried female, of the age of eighteen years, and that she is a resident of Jefferson
County, Ohio. That Ellis H. Bickerstaff is an unmarried man of the age
of twenty-one years, that they are no nearer of kin than second cousins, and that there is
no legal impediment to their marriage to the best of his knowledge and belief.
Isaac. H. Clifton [signature]
Sworn and subscribed to before me, this 14th day of April
A. D. 1880.
J W Jordan [signature]
Probate Judge

Their marriage certificate is recorded in Jefferson County (Ohio) Marriages, 1866-1883, Vol. 8, p. 673, viewable here at FamilySearch (with a free account).

Transcription

The State of Ohio, Jefferson County, ss:
I Hereby Certify, that on the 15th day of April A. D. 1880
Mr. Ellis H. Bickerstaff and
Miss Sarah J. McCune were legally
joined in marriage by me, a minister.
Given under my Hand, this 15th day of April A.D. 1880.
J. M. Carr [signature]
16568 [handwritten]

We can't assume that a marriage license denotes an actual marriage.  Of the two documents, the marriage certificate is the most important because it certifies a marriage.  However, individual and family information such as full names, birth dates and locations, parents' names, etc., may be found on either or both records.  Best to look at both license and certificate if they're available.

-–Nancy.

Copyright © 2021 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

Use Google Books to Search Google News Archives

I just recently learned this information and I'm excited to share it (in the off chance you don't already know).  I often use Google News Archive in my genealogy research, particularly for newspapers published in the communities where my ancestors lived.  (There are only a few but I use them often.)  After changes at Google News Archive a number of years ago it became almost impossible to perform an OCR search of a particular newspaper.  I resorted to waiting till I knew a date for a birth, death, marriage, or other event, then looked at the newspaper for that date and a few days after, hoping to see more information, knowing, of course, there was always a chance I would miss something.  But there's another way to search Google's newspaper collection, learned from Lisa Louise Cook's post, 10 Surprising Things You Can Find at Google Books.  There's lots of great information in that post but for me, the very best tip is learning that Google Books will search Google's newspaper archive.  No longer do I need a particular date or location. 

Begin at Google Books, https://books.google.com, by typing your search word in the search box.  I typed "Meinzen."

When the results appear, near the top of the page, click on "Any document" and choose "Newspapers."

You can also choose an offering of time periods, or create a custom range.

I chose only "Newspapers" and found this article about my aunt, 7th from the top of the search results.  Had I included her first name it would have probably been one of the first in the results list.

Most of us who use newspapers are probably aware that OCR doesn't catch every instance of a word and that newspapers sometimes had typos which OCR will not recognize.

It can be a bit cumbersome to determine whether Google News Archive has images for a newspaper in the area where your ancestors lived:  it lists the names of the newspapers but not the publication location.  I suppose many states have an Adams County so The Adams County News could be from any of them.  The best way I've found to determine whether newspapers of interest are included in their collection is to find the names of newspapers from my geographic area of interest and look through their list to see if it's available. On the positive side, Google News Archives does tell the dates available for each publication.  The earliest I found was 1800, the latest, 2009.

Two of my fondest genealogy dreams are that Google News Archive would continue to add newspapers and that Google News Archive and Chronicling America would add newspapers from Steubenville, Jefferson County, Ohio; Mercer County, Pennsylvania; and more newspapers from Butler County, Pennsylvania.  During the mid- to late-1800s into the early 1900s, Steubenville published more newspapers than any city I've researched.   

Be sure to visit Lisa's post to read more about genealogy offerings at Google Books and other tips for using the website.  Excellent post.  Thank you, Lisa!

-–Nancy.

Copyright © 2021 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

Research Tip: Read Every Entry on the Page

When you search for an ancestor in court records where there are several entries on a page be sure to read all the entries on that page.  You never know who you will find. 

I searched for and found Alma Mary Gerner's marriage recordnin the Mercer County Orphan's Court Marriage License Dockets.

Looking at the rest of the entries, I found Alma's sister Della Gerner's marriage record as the next entry.  I love it when that happens!

It's worth the extra minute to look at all the records on a page because you never know who you'll find.

-–Nancy.

Copyright © 2021 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

Falling Off the [Genealogy] Wagon, Climbing Back On

Every few years I seem to fall of the genealogy wagon, fall away from my ancestors, away from searching for them and researching their lives.  Am I the only one with this problem?  When this happens I'm usually disappointed with myself, then discouraged that I didn't prevent it, and feel worse that I don't get back on the wagon sooner.

Why We May Fall Off the Wagon

• Illness.   Family history research requires a good amount of mental energy and the ability to focus.  When we feel miserable it's hard to think about much other than ourselves or our pain.  A major illness or surgery can require rest or sleep, and pain medication can keep us out of the loop mentally for a week or two.  Keeping up with our own essential needs may be all we can handle.  Ancestors?  Heck, I can hardly stay awake, let alone think beyond the next few hours!  When we're caring for someone else who is ill it may be even more taxing on our energy, both mental and physical.  Family history can wait a bit -- and then a little longer, until a year goes by....
• Time Limitations.  There are seasons in our lives when there really may not be time to do research.  Temporary responsibilities may require our attention and time; employment may make demands on our time; or living family members may need our time and attention.  We may have the mental energy to think about our ancestors while driving from one place to the other but may truly not have time to sit and research.  When that happens too long, we can forget to think about ancestors.
• Loss of Interest.  Perhaps you have another hobby that captures your attention and takes you away from family history for a while.  
• Mired in a Family History Mess.  Maybe you've done lots of research but you haven't sorted and organized the research or added the information to your genealogy program.  You have all these papers, all these digital images, all these leads for where to search next, you have a mess!  You think, I'll take a break for a week or two, give myself some breathing room.  And a week turns into a year.
• A Brick Wall.  You were going along great, finding one ancestor, then the spouse, then the children, back each previous generation.  Suddenly you can't find another piece of information for that ancestor.  You were so focused on him or her that you don't want to switch to another family line.  You say to yourself, I'm done for now.  
• Not Knowing the Next Steps.  We learn how to research for our ancestors as we go along but sometimes we reach the point where we don't know what the next step should be.  That, especially in combination with any of the above challenges, may cause us to quit working on family history.

How to Climb Back on the Wagon

• Remember your ancestors, or even just one ancestor -- a birthday, an anniversary, a death date, or the anniversary of a major event.  You could keep a calendar of birthdays and anniversaries. 
• If you read blogs, continue to read, even if you aren't researching.  At least family history will be somewhere in your consciousness.
• Keep up with, or at least occasionally view, blogs such as Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings, Linda's Empty Branches on the Family Tree, or John Michael Neill's Genealogy Search Tip of the Day.  One of their favorites of the week lists, or a list of new online databases, or a search tip may be just the spark you need to help toward the genealogy wagon.
• Occasionally look through your previous research results or blog posts (if you blog).  Stay familiar with the work you've already done.
• Consider taking a free, online genealogy course.  I've heard good recommendations for  "Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree" at FutureLearn.   BYU also offers a few free online genealogy courses. 
• A webinar requires less time than a course.  Legacy Family Tree Webinars are free during the first week after they're recorded.  Maybe one of them will pique your interest. 
• If you can find a few minutes a day, the suggestions at 20 Ways to Do Family History in 5 Minutes a Day offers some suggestions.
• If nothing else, use photos of ancestors as the background on your computer monitor or hang a few photos of ancestors on a wall in your home or office where you see them every day and wave as your walk past. 

I firmly believe that our ancestors want to be found, want us to remember them and their names, and tell their stories when we find them.  And if we don't remember them and tell their stories and history, who will?  Which means I need to climb back on the genealogy wagon myself!

Please share your suggestions and experiences if you've fallen off the genealogy wagon and climbed back on.

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

Out of Place Records

A few years ago I performed a broad search at Ancestry for my great-great-grandfather, Dixon Bartley.  Based on other research, I believed he was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in about 1806, lived there his whole life, and died there in about 1900.  If I found any information other than census records in my Ancestry search, I expected his name to be in records for Butler County.

So it was a surprise to see Dixon's name as a result in Ancestry's Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 in the Durham Reformed Church, Durham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania collection.

I almost ignored the link thinking it couldn't possibly be him.  To my surprise, I found the names of Dixon along with other citizens of Butler County.  Could they all have moved together from that area to Bucks County?  If so, why would Dixon have moved more than 300 miles in his later years?

It took a bit of investigation to discover that the record I saw was from the pastoral record book of Rev. Charles F. Althouse, who had been assigned to St. Peter's Reformed Church in Fairview, Butler County, Pennsylvania, from February 15, 1897, to June 30, 1902.  Dixon and friends hadn't moved.

Rev. Althouse served in eight different locations, the last being Durham Reformed Church in Durham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  I assume that whoever catalogued these records at Ancestry checked the location at the beginning and end of the Rev. Althouse's record book but not the locations in the middle of the book.  It seems that because Rev. Althouse's last location of service was in Durham, these records were included in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records at Ancestry. 

Because I have more than a few ancestors who lived in this location at this time, Rev. Althouse's book was a boon to my research.  I found Dixon, his wife, Rebecca, and their son's father.  The records in the book also added some social history and context to the lives of those ancestors.

Don't be fooled by search results.  Just because the record seems like it couldn't possibly be for your ancestor because the stated location of the record is not where your ancestor lived, don't ignore it!  Some records are just out of place.  

This post was written for Amy Johnson Crow's 2019 version of 52 Ancestors.  The post topic for the week was "Out of Place."

--Nancy.

Related Posts
▸Mixed/Misidentified Church Records on Ancestry - Church Record Sunday
▸Dixon Bartley - Church Record Sunday 

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner.
.

An Indexed Record ≠ a Source Document

There are indexes and there are indexes.  Some link to images of actual documents.  Some tell you where to find the actual document without linking to it.

When I find an ancestor in an index that's not connected to an image of a document, I print the indexed results and then try to obtain a copy of the document. 

Commonly used indexes, among many others, at FamilySearch are
> England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008
> England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005
> England and Wales Death Registration Index, 1837-2007

When I search one of these records I get results that look similar to the ones in the photo, above, and those below.

In this instance I searched for Jane Doyle, location of death as Northumberland, date of death between 1850 and 1865.  There are four individuals named Jane Doyle in the results, all meeting the criteria I requested.  Any of them could be (or could not be) the person I'm trying to find.  When I click on one of them I'm taken to a screen that looks like this one, below.

The only information in this record is name; quarter of death; location of death; and the reference to the actual source document in the U.K. GRO Index.  This is not an image of the actual document and does not give enough information to determine whether this is the ancestor I'm seeking.  No family members are named nor is any other specific information given. 

You'll notice that FamilySearch gives a citation for this record and offers me the opportunity to attach it to an individual in Family Tree.  But this is only an index result, not a document that helps me know whether this is my ancestor or not.  Until I order the document there is not enough information to tell whether this may be my ancestor or not.  I do not want to save this record to an individual in FamilySearch's Family Tree, order the record, and find out it isn't for the person I thought.  I'd rather wait until I know for sure, then attach this as a record along with a transcription of the document. 

These are the steps I recommend when when searching an index that does not link to an image of a document:

1. Search the index and when you find a possible ancestor
2. Record the information (in your research log or as a note in your personal genealogy program) and use it to
3. Find a copy of the original document.
4. Evaluate the information in the document and if you decide it's your ancestor
5. Record the information in your personal genealogy program.
6. Include a source citation and a transcription of the record in your genealogy program.

I love indexes but if I assume a person I find in an index is my ancestor without actually seeing the document I could go far astray.  An indexed record is not the same as a source document.

How about you?  Do you cite the results of index searches as documents?

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2018, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

Handwriting in Context

Members of genealogy groups on Facebook sometimes ask for help reading a word on a document, posting only the word they can't read.  What one novice can't read, an experienced family historian may be able to decipher.  But sometimes, perhaps even often, it is only by comparing handwritten letters in different words on the same document — seeing the handwriting in context — that can one figure out what the words are.

A case in point is this marriage record I received this week.  I knew the names would be Thomas Richardson and Martha Doyle but when I saw what looked like "Thomas Bichardson" my first thought was that it was the wrong certificate.  My second thought was to look more closely and compare words.

The uppercase R, P, and B are the confusing letters in this record:  they look similar.

In this first example, below, the R in Richardson looks like a B.

But compare the B in Blythe to the Rs in Richardson and Reay, below, and one can see the difference.  Without the identifiable Blyth and without comparing the two letters I would not have identified these letters correctly if I'd been asked to index this record.

Also notice the P in Pitman.  If I saw that in another word I might have wondered if it were an L.  The letters have lots of little, extra curlicues that add beauty but not clarity.

The R words in this document are Richardson and Reay.
The P words are Pitman and Parish.
The B words are Blyth and Banns.

Because I anticipated what some of the words would be — Blyth, Pitman, Parish, Banns, and even the surnames — it was not as difficult to determine what the words were and transcribe this record as it would have been if I'd had no knowledge of the location, occupation, or surnames.

Whenever reading a handwritten document in which you don't know what the letters or words are, always look at the handwriting in context.  Use the all the words and letters, especially those you do know, to help you figure out the ones you don't know.

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2018, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
.

Two Tips for Searching Online Newspapers

When looking through Google Newspapers the other day I noticed as I scrolled through the pages of the Youngstown Vindicator that there were several front pages, each different from the previous one.  Looking closely at the dates, I noticed a few things and I remembered that a few generations ago many of the larger cities' newspapers printed more than one edition during a day.  As details about news developed, the newspaper changed, added, or omitted content from one edition to the other.

This is the front page of the Monday, May 20, 1918, noon edition of the Youngstown Vindicator.

These are the headlines of articles found on the front page (from top to bottom):

• It's Your Duty and Proud Privilege as an American to Give Liberally to the War Chest
• Foe Too Battered To Resume Attack
• Thoroughness Watchword of U.S. Army in France
• Tired of Giving?  You Haven't Begun to Give
• Crack German Divisions Lose Fighting Spirit
• City's Givers Start to Fill Big War Chest
• Prague Under Martial Law
• T.N.T. Blast Still Mystery
• Ireland Quiet Over Sunday
• Greek Murders American Wife
• Major Lufbery Killed
• Germans Lose Fighting Spirit
• Opening Market
• Tornado in Nebraska
• 4 Planes Fall in London Raid
• Americans Down Two Enemy Planes
• Let Himself Be Blown to Death To Save Crew of His Submarine
• American Ship Lost
• Billions for Railroads

And this is the front page of a later edition of the same newspaper on the same day.

Some of the front page headlines have changed.

• Many Casualties in London Air Rair---Billion for Railroads---Pershing's Men Score
• Lufbery, Leading American Ace, Is Killed
• $129,003 First Day's War Chest Total
• Team Captains Make War Chest Reports
• Tired of Giving?  You Haven't Begun to Give
• Major Lufbery Killed Had Won 18 Victories
• Germans Hope to Cut Down Arras Salient
• 2 Negro Guards Defeat 20 Huns
• Use Billion for Railroads
• Most Ambitious Attack Ever Made on London
• Famous Trust Case Decided
• Five Negroes Are Lynched
• Prague Under Martial Law
• Twelve Killed in Nebraska Tornado
• Flyer Bibble Found
• Cyclone in Northern Illinois and Iowa
• The Weather
• Farrel New U.S. Win-The-War Aid

Tip One
Be sure you check multiple editions of the newspaper if they're available.  Content may change from one edition to the other.  Newest news may be sparse in the early edition, more detailed in the later edition.  Some articles may be omitted from the later edition, or new articles may appear if there's space.  This could include articles about your ancestor.

Tip Two
Even if Google News tells you that there are no editions of a newspaper, be sure to check previous and subsequent dates.  Google News showed no copies of the Youngstown Vindicator for May 21, 1918.  But when I scrolled through all pages for May 20, 1918, I found the May 21, 1918, newspaper near the end.

What is your best search hint for online newspapers?

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2018, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission of the owner. 
.