Opening Doors to Family Stories with Newspaper Matches
By: Heather Haunert
Newspapers can provide a unique glimpse into the daily lives of our ancestors. With Storied‘s Newspaper Matches, you can now easily find and explore newspaper articles related to the people in your family tree. In this blog post, You’ll learn what newspaper matches are, how to find them, and how they can enrich your genealogy research.
What Are Newspaper Matches?
Storied‘s Newspaper Matches feature allows you to discover newspaper articles associated with individuals from your family tree. The articles could be obituaries, wedding announcements, local news stories mentioning your ancestors, classified ads placed by relatives, and more.
NewspaperArchive seamlessly integrates with Storied to provide access to historical newspapers dating back to the early 1700s in some cases. The advanced search algorithms will match the names, locations, and dates associated with people in your tree to relevant newspaper articles. Each match is presented as a thumbnail image of the newspaper page with a short excerpt.
With a single click, you can view the full newspaper page and read the article. It makes exploring your ancestors’ lives through newspapers easier than ever before. No more struggling with tricky searches or digging through page after page of results!
Finding Newspaper Matches
Newspaper Matches are easy to locate within your Storied family tree. Here’s a step-by-step guide to finding these hidden gems:
1. Open your family tree by clicking on My Family Trees in the left-side navigation panel.
2. Select an individual to focus on, like a grandparent or great-grandparent.
3. The small profile card will display information about your ancestor. If that ancestor has Newspaper Matches, it will be listed at the bottom of the card with the number of matches.
4. Click on the number of matches to access the Newspaper Matches for your ancestor.
5. This will take you to the Hints page. Below your hints are Newspaper Matches.
6. Newspaper Matches are sorted by dates and locations.
7. Click on Review Matches to see thumbnail images of matching newspaper articles, the name, date, and location of the publication, and a brief snippet of the text.
8. Click on any match to open it. The full newspaper page will display along with tools to adjust image settings, save it as a clipping that you can attach to your ancestor, and more.
9. Use the page arrows to flip through other pages from the same newspaper issue. You might find related articles!
10. Click back to explore more matches for this ancestor or go back to the tree view to find Newspaper Matches for other ancestors.
Keep in mind that the number of matches can vary widely based on the availability of historical newspapers for the area and time period your ancestors lived in. You may uncover dozens or hundreds of matches for some individuals. For others, no matches may yet be found.
If you don’t immediately see Newspaper Matches, try exploring ancestors from different locations or expanding your tree with more generations. The more family data present, the greater the opportunity for matches.
Using Newspaper Matches in Your Research
Newspaper Matches on Storied provide unique, personal details about your ancestors making them come alive. Here are some examples of how these matches can further your genealogy research and creative strategies to weave these real-world snippets into your storytelling:
Reveal forgotten details – Articles can contain specifics like full names, street addresses, maiden names, exact death/birth dates, etc. These can aid your documentation or reveal inaccuracies in your records.
Capture social history – Beyond vital facts, newspaper pieces give snapshots of day-to-day living. See the costs of goods, hot topics, election coverage, local happenings, and more through your ancestors’ eyes.
Learn about careers/positions – Related articles may mention the occupations, business dealings, community roles, memberships, achievements, and accomplishments of your forebears.
Pinpoint migration patterns – Trace your family’s movements by looking for mentions in newspapers from various locations. See where they visited, moved to, or had connections.
Guide further research – Articles often reference other people connected to your ancestors like relatives, close friends, or associates. Search their names to expand your family history.
Spark inspiration – Enjoy seeing your ancestors taking part in the events of their times. Let their successes, tragedies, quirks, and adventures ignite your passion to keep exploring your roots.
Tips for Using Newspaper Matches
Follow these tips for making the most of Newspaper Matches:
– Carefully examine every section of the newspaper page. Valuable details can appear in ads, announcements, articles, and listings.
– Verify article specifics against other records you have for the ancestor. Compare names, dates, locations, etc. to confirm a match’s accuracy.
– Keep an open mind about possible name variations and alternative spellings. Newspapers contained many errors and phonetic interpretations.
– Note the newspaper’s location and date. This provides historical context to understand and interpret the match.
– Look for related articles on the same or nearby pages for additional mentions of an ancestor.
– Search for matches associated with relatives of each ancestor, too. Their circles interconnected and newspapers reflected this.
Whether you’re hoping to finally break through a brick wall, capture details to enrich your records, or simply relish some ancestral anecdotes, Newspaper Matches can help!
Ready to Uncover Hidden Details?
Newspaper Matches on Storied provide a valuable glimpse into our ancestors’ daily lives and offer an exciting avenue for storytellers to infuse their narratives with authenticity and depth. Take time to explore the matches associated with the people in your family tree, and let the historical papers guide you to revelations about their experiences, challenges, accomplishments and personal moments. Not only will you uncover key genealogy facts, but you’ll gain inspiration from the resilience and humanity of those who came before you. Let the magic of real-world storytelling with newspaper matches unfold in your next Storied masterpiece.
Want to Learn More?
Check out this blog post on creating using newspapers to create a timeline called Unfolding History: Creating an Ancestral Timeline with Newspapers on the NewspaperArchive blog.
Watch this short video tutorial on navigating Newspaper Matches on Storied.