Newspapers have always been a magnificent resource for filling in the details of our ancestors lives. Even if you are not fortunate enough to find articles naming your ancestors, newspapers provide the details of life and the events that our ancestors witnessed and perhaps took part in. Details of city, town and village life are coloured and fleshed out by newspapers. What shops, services, industry and commerce were located nearby? What sort of events were held locally that our ancestors may have attended - things like dances and entertainments, church events, hunts, sports and so on. Newspapers don't just report the huge events that impacted everyone - smaller local newspapers especially gave details of the daily lives and local events our ancestors took part in.
If you are especially lucky, there will be stories and articles that name our ancestors and give details of things that they actually did and events they attended. Maybe one of our ancestors even wrote to the editor of a paper about a topic or issue they were passionate about.
I have always enjoyed searching through newspapers for articles about my ancestors and over the years an enormous number of old papers have become available online, often for free.
The variety of articles concerning family is amazing. From trade notices to estate clearances, sporting results to court proceedings, they provide fascinating glimpses into everyday life. Below are a few examples.
From the Ipswich Journal on Saturday 10 July 1784, my ancestor Christopher Prentice advertised to keep his elected position of Water Bailiff, a post he had held for 6 years.
William Hart, an innkeeper, advertised his new venture in the Ipswich Journal on Saturday 2 January 1796.
Isaac Green served as a judge for the local ploughing matches, reported in the Essex Standard on Friday 13 October 1837.
Estate and probate notices were common, either advertising to resolve claims and demands on the estate or giving details of the sale of assets. Here Susannah, the widow of Mr John Noble, advertises in the Essex Standard on Friday 4 October 1850 to resolve her husband's estate.
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