RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: gazania on Friday 30 April 10 01:04 BST (UK)
-
I have found the indexed newspapers (both in the UK and OZ) a mine of information; things ranging from a prim great uncle breaking the law, a great grandfather writing a letter to the editor about all things Irish. Another great grandfather won prizes in a Derby competition and then a couple of years later after migrating to OZ won prizes for similar exhibits. Apart from birth, marriage and funeral notices, the ones that have been the most touching were about my gentle and shy mother.
I knew she stuttered and was given elocution lessons as a child, which she hated with a passion, although she did say she could speak fluently when she recited. In her late teens she also became profoundly deaf. But in one very gossipy newspaper for a period of two years, my mother appeared frequently at various functions giving well praised speeches and performances of poetry and play reading. She also won prizes for art which was really her lifelong passion. She is no longer here for me to show my finds. She would have probably laughed her head off.
Regards, Gazania
-
The report of my Gt. gt. grandfather, and his brothers being arrested in Scotland, at the time of the Miners Strike.. Shows where the stubborn streak in the family came from.
xin
-
Hi :)
Mine has been finding my GG Grandad grew prize leeks and bred Bedlington Terriers, all the things that put flesh onto his bones and make me talk about him as if I knew him personally.
-
My 3xgreat aunty committing theft in 1886 in London.
-
1882 My g.gran -charged with assault - fined 40sh. + costs
1888 ..... ..... ...... cutting + wounding - Bench said -"she was well known as a violent woman" 1 months gaol
Her twin brother had 31 convictions for being drunk + disorderley. In 1993 arrested he was for "breach of the peace" and assaulting a police constable.
1900 A g.g uncle "stealing a flag from a neighbours garden,which had been hoisted to celebrate the relief of Mafeking
3 months hard labour.
By 1911 he and his two brothers were all in prison-Winson Green-Parkhurst-Dartmoor
Jackie
-
I have found
A ggg grandfather fined (& then jailed when he didn't pay up) for having an illicit still in 1866.
A couple of shopkeepers being fined for giving short weight.
A brother of a ggg grandfather as a witness in a murder trial
A gg grandfather writing a series of extremely pompous 'letters to the editor' in the 1880s
Another ggg grandfather who was a keen cricketer - as he got older he went from the 1st team to the 2nd team and then the committee.
The 2nd husband of a 4x gt grandmother drowning in a canal while intoxicated
These are just the ones who had unusual names - my Smiths, Joneses & Thomases could all be in there too but I'd never know.
-
I have found a few obituaries and marriage notices for ancestors.
-
My great great grandfather was a policeman in Manchester in 1860s and 70s and several of his "encounters" were reported in Manchester newspapers. The best was a report of how one night he was on his beat when he came across a house on fire and the householder trapped upstairs. He shouted to the man to jump from the window, which he did but unfortunately was killed in the process. An enquiry was held which concluded that no blame could be attached to the policeman, my 2xgt grandfather, "because he did his best".... :o
I hope the poor victim's family saw things in the same light!
-
1. An ancestor ship wrecked in New Ireland and allegedly almost eaten by cannibals. [I think the entire story is false but it did appear in the newspaper in 1900. She had been involved in another less dramatic ship wreck.]
2. GG grandfather detained for mental observation following his very acrimonious divorce in 1884. Headline: “Raving maniac. C.H. Ware losses [sic] his mental grip.”
3. An ancestor’s home bombed [no death or injuries] allegedly by a man he had caught poaching rabbits on his boss’s property in 1882. The poacher was acquitted of the bomb attack.
4. Ancestor’s wife arrested for stalking an actor in San Francisco in 1913. Follow up article about her attempted suicide as a result of the humiliation occasioned by the arrest.
-
1862. Ancestor in Central Criminal Court for counterfeiting gold sovereigns,
also implicated in the robbery of bank note paper from the Bank of England.
Sentenced to 20 years hard labour.
Some years earlier his younger brother appeared in the Old Bailey for attempting to redeem goods from a pawnbroker with a counterfeit gold sovereign - sentenced to 7 years transportation.
Sue
-
ok so a little slow here... :) ;)
please tell me how to access these newspapers..... I would like to see Dunfermline and Leicester areas.... thank you
xin
-
In England, you can access the Gale Newspaper Archive through the County Library Service of several counties. Just google your county council, click on library services, then on something like virtual learning. If you can see "19th century Newspapers" you can access them, possibly even from home, by entering your library card number into the box. Try it and you'll see what I mean. You can also access Gale from Australia via a similar system.
Sorry Xinia, I don't know where you live, so can't say if you can get access.
-
My ancestor is mentioned as giving evidence in an 1814 trial.
-
If you need US newspapers, there are quite a few on Ancestry. To find possibly relevant articles, I have found that it is best to do a Google News Archive search and then look at them on Ancestry. The Google search engine is better than Ancestry’s.
-
OOOh Of course, silly me... I have used the Library index -- just misunderstood the post. :-[
xin
-
Two of several stand out for me. One is my great grandfather, and it sounds like they were poking some gentle fun at him:
PAGE 9 of 15 Oct 1907 of Victoria (BC) Daily Colonist: Headline = "Wrestling Bout is Concluded" sub-head = "Arthur Manson Captures the St. Andrew's Society Caledonian Cup at Last"
I have a picture where he is showing off all his silver sports cups, so he must have become better with age.
The next is a poem written by a 2x great grand uncle published in a newspaper on his 50th wedding anniversary. A line about his early years led me to finding that his family spent about 10 years in an area of the US that no other researcher had found.
Nick
-
Gggrandfather - separated from wife - not responsible for any debts incurred by gggrandmother.
Gggrandfather - prosecuted for dodgy meat dealings (butcher)
Gggrandfather - death
Gggrandmother (same one as above) - second husband advertised not responsible for any debts she may incur.
That's it so far! All from NLA Beta in Aus.
-
I knew from the 1841/1851 censuses that my g-grandfather had three brothers. Couldn't find them at all in 1861 or later and wondered if they had gone to sea or emigrated.... I finally found two of them in Death notices in the local newspaper. Both had died of "decline" - one died age 20 in 1851 and another died in 1859 age 23 :'(
-
I've too have had some great(?) discoveries from both UK and Australian newspapers Just to name three, which were all very detailed in their reporting;
1) Attempted Murder by my gg grandfather upon my gg grandmother by cutting her throat in 1866 - he was sentenced to 6 months gaol. There were a number of articles, from the time of the offence until his conviction.
2) 1790's pistol duel involving my ggg grandfather which he lost with a musket ball to his face, but which he survived. However, another news article from 1810 indicated his luck ran out when he didn't survive a self inflicted musket ball to the head after being dismissed from the army. The original duel was reported in 17 newspapers of the day (though similar wording), indicating a mortal wound, however, only one newspaper a few days later reported him being saved by his brother-in-law (a doctor).
3) The 1836 suicide by poisoning of my ggg grandfather in Paris (but reported in London Times) due to his gambling debts. This article was extremely detailed, including a previously unknown 2nd marriage.
I suppose these are fairly graphic examples, but they certainly making VERY interesting Family Tree researching, escpecially when I found them first.
Les
-
I am still awaiting newspapers for the Allegheny area of PA.
-
A number of useful marriage and death announcements plus:
1 An inquest into a suicide
2 Details of the murder of my ggg grandfathers brother
3 My ggg grandfather was a policeman in Darlington during the late 1830s/1840s so there are a handful of reports featuring him, not altogether flattering it must be said.
4 A number of articles about the railway accident in which my gg grandfathers half brother was involved. He was only 15 and died after having his leg amputated which apparently had been "crushed almost to jelly" :o
-
So far, I've found ...
* Hubby's gggrandfather advertising repeatedly for the return of a stolen horse (!)
* All the sordid details of my gt gt grandfather's divorce from my gt gt grandmother
and perhaps the most curious; -
* Someone with the same name as my gt grandfather (albeit a little late, seeing as he'd emigrated to Australia 30-odd years earlier) was present aboard a new White Star liner when it was taken out for a test-run by Captain Smith. Mr Ismay was also present.
-
The Wildridge family on ancestry.co.uk newspapers from Syracuse NY "The Syracuse Herald" and the " Herald -Journal"....