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Here in Australia, we have a digitised newspaper system called Trove. Up until last year, it was mainly the capital city and national papers up to the mid 1950s. Last week, I just went look something up unrelated to genealogy and noticed that they have vastly increased their digitised newspaper selections, including a newspaper very close to the very small town where ancestors have resided for over 150 years. By filtering just this newspaper and also the surname of ancestors and the name of the very small town, I've managed to find a lot of obituaries and articles about grandparents/great grandparents etc. This newspaper also had a correspondent from the town so I could read about what events are on and when. Some of the gems found are an article about my greatgrandparents wedding and an article about my greatgrandmother's early death.
That's been my most recent discovery as well. I came across a digitized version of a small town Texas paper where my ancestors on my father's side lived for a long time, and I was able to read about my Grandmother's wedding with all the the details, see my G-Grandfather's advertisements in the paper (he was a dentist), see little stories about who visited them and read about when my Grandmother came home from college and her sorority activities, and read about my father's birth announcement, etc. Gotta love small town papers for detailing the most mundane everyday happenings!
That's been my most recent discovery as well. I came across a digitized version of a small town Texas paper where my ancestors on my father's side lived for a long time, and I was able to read about my Grandmother's wedding with all the the details, see my G-Grandfather's advertisements in the paper (he was a dentist), see little stories about who visited them and read about when my Grandmother came home from college and her sorority activities, and read about my father's birth announcement, etc. Gotta love small town papers for detailing the most mundane everyday happenings!
Definitely. I have an article about my ggp's 50th anniversary that included their picture.
I'm new at this genealogy thing and - apart from finding names, places and dates relating to my English ancestors - have been enjoying reading newspaper articles on two British sites (findmypast.co.uk and genesreunited) dating back to the mid and late-1800s and concerning the exploits of my ggrandfather.
For example, in 1880 he faced court for "driving furiously through the village at five or six miles an hour" (in his horse and cart). There's also a report of his daughter's wedding, where "the bride and groom, attired in riding costume, each rode a splendid steed (to the church) while relatives and friends followed in carriages". Apparently the whole village turned out to watch the procession.
I'm new at this genealogy thing and - apart from finding names, places and dates relating to my English ancestors - have been enjoying reading newspaper articles on two British sites (findmypast.co.uk and genesreunited) dating back to the mid and late-1800s and concerning the exploits of my ggrandfather.
For example, in 1880 he faced court for "driving furiously through the village at five or six miles an hour" (in his horse and cart). There's also a report of his daughter's wedding, where "the bride and groom, attired in riding costume, each rode a splendid steed (to the church) while relatives and friends followed in carriages". Apparently the whole village turned out to watch the procession.
That's odd because an average horse's walking gait is about 4 miles per hour - 5 or 6 miles per hour would only be a fast walk or very slow trot (average trot is about 7 to 8 miles per hour). To be "driving furiously through the village" with a horse and cart, you'd think the horse would have to be at least going at a fast trot, if not canter. I wouldn't really consider a fast trot to be "furious" speeds but while trailing a cart through a crowded pedestrian village, perhaps it could be perceived as such. Still, it would have been going more like 9 or 10 miles per hour. I can only imagine that they did not have a very good judgment of speed - I would guess that the horse was actually going faster than what was recorded but of course, they didn't exactly have speed guns back then. Very interesting, thanks for sharing.
Well, the furious driver in question was also the local JP, a town councillor and a major employer in the village. I suspect that might have been why the magistrate accepted his estimate of the speed, and dismissed the case.
I'm new at this genealogy thing and - apart from finding names, places and dates relating to my English ancestors - have been enjoying reading newspaper articles on two British sites (findmypast.co.uk and genesreunited) dating back to the mid and late-1800s and concerning the exploits of my ggrandfather.
For example, in 1880 he faced court for "driving furiously through the village at five or six miles an hour" (in his horse and cart). There's also a report of his daughter's wedding, where "the bride and groom, attired in riding costume, each rode a splendid steed (to the church) while relatives and friends followed in carriages". Apparently the whole village turned out to watch the procession.
That's great! Thanks for sharing!
I've read about an ancestor who, in 1646, was fined and "admonished" for the offense of "gathering peas on the Sabbath". What a wild man!
I just had to post here; after I read other posts in this thread I went and looked for and found my GGrandmother's obituary in that same small town paper and FINALLY have more info on her. She had been a bit of a brick wall. I'd found her death certificate but the obit gave me more info. Now I know what town she was born in (death cert just listed the state!) and I know when and where she was married and I know her father's full name (death cert just gave his first initials and last name). So exciting! As it turns out, I've been to her town of birth several times and had no idea at the time. It's where a popular yearly festival is held and it's about an hour and a half from me. I was just there a couple months ago!
I also looked up her husband's obit. I knew more about him but learned via the obituary that he actually served as mayor of the town they lived in for many years! I knew he was active in the town. He was a dentist and owned lots of property, but via the obituary I found out that he was a also mayor for a while! Funny how my father never mentioned that. He was raised in his house, after his own father died when he was a baby and his mother went back home with her kids. You'd think he'd mention at one point his Grandpa being mayor!? LOL. But nope.
I could not find my Grandfather's obituary though (father's father), but I did find more than one mention of illness when the G-Grandparents traveled to be with him because he had fallen ill, right before his death date, but no actual obituary.
Last edited by Sally_Sparrow; 07-09-2013 at 09:25 AM..
I am a distant cousin of Fidel Castro. Apparently, my mom's maternal grandmother was the sister of Fidel Castro's mom. So that means that me and him are third cousins.
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Thanks for sharing! 
