Author: Mark W. Swarthout
Published on: January 26, 2001
Most of the first miners to California simply looked around and picked up the gold that they could see. And most genealogists and historians simply copy down the death and marriage notices. But there is more there than that, so what and how do you look for it? Birth notices were not often found in the early years. In the hundreds of issues of papers I've skimmed, there have only been a couple of births listed, and they were new children of the editor! Unfortunately, in a previous column of the earliest notice I've seen, in the same 'Number' as the first one I found, was the death notice of his oldest son.
So what other local news might be useful? I've seen a listing of individuals that had letters at the post office waiting to be picked up. A list of all the probate estates settled for the last year can narrow down the year of death. Organizations often printed resolutions with the names of the person who signed them. Notices of church pew auctions and temperance meetings may contain names of the participants. Town picnics and other events might include those that attended or led portions of the activity. Another great one was the County Fair! All of the winners' names, the category and their prizes would be listed.
Newspaper editors were often 'bribed' with sample goods and services that they would say nice things about in their columns. Small gifts of produce, tobacco and other goods would be left at the newspaper office in payment of the bill, or simply to show off the exceptionally large, or early, strawberry. And the editors would thank the kind people, by name, in the process.
And you don't want to skip the legal notices! Sheriff's sales on foreclosures and estate sales can give clues. Some papers printed all the transfers of land from person to person recorded at the courthouse. Notices of new partnerships, or the dissolution of old ones can be found there. Because of the legal requirement of publishing for certain periods of time, you'll quickly recognize the repeats and be able to skim through these pretty quickly. Other useful items I've seen include the printing of the town budget and everyone they paid over the past year, including persons providing fire wood and carpentry help.
No, you can't skip the advertisements! Was your ancestor a shopkeeper? A skilled craftsman? Advertising! Even a farmer with produce or grain, or perhaps excess livestock for sale might take out an ad. Your family name in print! Perhaps your ancestor posted a reward for the return of a cow that wondered off. But once you start recognizing the format of the ads, you know what ones are repeated each week. And the patent medicine ads are easy to spot, and ignore, after the first couple of chuckles.
In addition to the basic search for information, keep your eyes and mind open for other items that could prove useful. A block print or engraving of a map of the community could be a great graphic to dress up that web page or the family history book. The masthead, or main header of the paper, is another item that is often printed in fancy script with a picture or logo. An advertisement showing prices of goods might be of interest. Maybe you'll even find an advertisement for the daguerreotypist who took the picture of your 2d great grandparent that is in the small case on your piano. Perhaps the ad for the doll that your grandmother talked about getting from her mother will appear there.
My experience with the Ovid Bee? Imagine my surprise when I realized that the first editorial column, of the very first issue of the Ovid Bee was an apology for being late, due to the editor, David Fairchild, having been at the death bed of his father-in-law, Gershom Palmer! It was followed later in the paper by an obituary, including a first hand account of the events. Twelve years later, David's son, Corydon, the new editor, printed the obituary of his grandmother. Over the years, the editor often mentioned his family, particularly his father and brothers in their publishing concerns as they started papers in other communities.
Corydon's father took off to California with one of his brothers in 1849 searching for Gold. Another son and a son-in-law joined him. He returned a couple years later to pack the whole family up and move them to California. Over the next dozen years, Corydon printed excerpts of letters from family members as they settled in to the mountains of California and Nevada, talking about their family and other people that they had all known back in New York.
Want to guess what the Fairchild's did out on the Pacific Coast? Besides mining for gold of course! Yes! More newspapers, including the Reese River Reveille, the first newspaper in Nevada. I have lots of reading to do! I wish you as much luck as I have had in mining for gold in the newsprint. For more on that angle, visit my web site Ink For Blood.