4 Incredible Family History Finds from Old Newspapers

Newspapers are one of the most valuable sources of information for family historians because they offer so much more than dry facts. The 4 people below found priceless information about their ancestors in old newspapers available on OldNews.com, from a detailed account of a grandfather’s wedding to an ad about a gold mine owned by an ancestor. Check out their stories below:

Paul found a detailed account of his grandfather’s wedding

Paul Theberge

Paul Theberge’s father unfortunately died when he was in grade school. When Paul started developing an interest in his family tree, his mother mentioned that she believed Paul’s paternal grandmother, her mother-in-law, was actually his grandfather’s second wife, and that the first wife had died at a young age, probably from childbirth. “No facts or other information was available because during that time frame he lived in another state after immigrating from Canada,” says Paul. “The ability to do research back 30 years ago was very limited. So all I had was hearsay.”

Around 20 years ago, Paul started searching for details online, but progress was slow. “Information was sketchy or non-existent and limited my ability to find many archival records about my grandfather,” says Paul. Around 10 years ago, he came across a book published in 1909 about the history of the city his grandfather had moved to — and there he found it: confirmation of the details he knew about his grandfather’s occupation, his first wife, his move to another city and state, and his recent marriage to Paul’s grandmother. “As it turned out, three facts in the book were incorrect but there was enough good information for me to fill in the blanks and correct some of the errors,” says Paul. “However, there were still a few gaps to fill; the biggest one being details about my grandfather’s first marriage.  Although I was able to locate a state record which confirmed dates and parentage, I had no details about the actual wedding; but I did have incentive to find it!”

Then, in February 2024, he received a Record Match to a newspaper record that included the complete story of his grandfather’s first wedding.

Clipping from the Lewiston Evening Journal, January 19, 1897 (Source: OldNews.com)

The article describes the entire ceremony in such detail: the weather that morning, the decor in the church, what color the flowers were, what the bride was wearing, and every step of the wedding procession and marriage ceremony. It also included names of participants and details about the honeymoon.

“It reads just like it happened yesterday!” says Paul. “Wow! That article made my day! I wish my parents were living so I could share the ‘rest of the story’ with them.”

Photo of Paul’s grandfather from a book located in the Fall River City Library titled “The French Guide of Fall River,” dated 1909

Pamela discovered that her great-grandmother was a snake-slaying hero

Pamela Brigham was researching her great-grandmother, Martha Ellen Colwell, when she came across an astonishing newspaper article about her, published in the year 1900:

Clipping from the Madison County Monitor, December 21, 1900 (Source: OldNews.com)

Pamela Brigham

“In the fall of 1899, when she was only 19 years old, my great-grandmother Martha Ellen Colwell was visiting her uncle Dave Berry at his farm in Nebraska,” Pamela explains. “They were out taking a stroll when around them rose a buzzing that sounded like millions of bees swarming them. They realized that they’d walked into a snake infested area. Mr. Berry was armed with a spade and told Martha to get behind him and not move. She didn’t. She took up a club and started killing snakes as well. Between the two of them they killed 456 snakes; 256 rattlesnakes and 250 blue racers. She handed down the rattles and a cousin of mine still has some of them. This story of her was in several newspapers throughout the country.”

“I had never heard the story in my family before finding this about her in newspapers!” says Pamela. “At 19 years old, my great-grandmother was amazing!”

Mike found out that his dad went missing for 2 days in 1945

Mike Smith

Mike Smith jokes that he sometimes wonders if researching a family tree with a surname as common as Smith is a punishment for misdeeds in a previous life. “The paternal side of my Smith family tree originates in the Village of Uley in Gloucestershire in England,” he says. “My great-great-grandfather Moses Smith, wife Mary and family migrated to the Parramatta area in the State of New South Wales in Australia, arriving in March 1855.”

His grandfather moved to Perth in Western Australia in the late 1890s, and his dad was born there in 1908. “He and Mum married in February 1948,” says Mike. “Tragedy struck when, 4 years later, in 1952, Dad went totally blind from a brain tumour. So, he went from a skilled yachtsman, hunter, sportsman and tradesman employed by the Postmaster General’s Department to a few years later a skilled wicker worker at the WA Blind Institute.”

But while Mike was searching for information on his family history, he stumbled across a newspaper article describing a story he’d never heard before:

Clipping from The West Australian, June 12, 1945 (Source: OldNews.com)

“The article is about my father Walter Jack Smith, his brother, a cousin and a friend,” Mike explains. “The article says his name is Walter John but it is actually Walter Jack. They had got lost whilst out hunting in the bush about 45 miles from Perth, the capital of Western Australia. They were found safe and sound 2 days later.”

“Until I discovered this article, no one in the family knew about this episode,” says Mike.

However, the courage and determination of his father from later years were familiar to him: “He was determined not to let his blindness get the better of him,” Mike says. “My sister and I still retain some of the baskets he made for us. He passed away in 1974 at the age of 66.”

Lynda confirmed her great-grandfather’s ownership of a gold mine

Lynda Crabill

Lynda Crabill has been writing about her family history and was looking for more personal experiences or information about some of them to add some interest. She searched for her great-grandfather, William Little, and found an ad about the gold mine he owned in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. “I had heard the story of the family owning one, and a gold nugget was given to each member,” says Lynda, though she says that no nugget ever reached her. “This ad confirmed the ownership.”

Clipping from The Weekly Union Times, October 21, 1892 (Source: OldNews.com)

Lynda looked up the area of the mine and found an email for the historical society in the region. She wrote to them, and received a nice reply. Then, she planned a trip to see the area. “I did visit and met more people there with information about gold mining in South Carolina and other states,” she says. “Now I have something personal to add to that family.”

These stories are just a few examples of the incredible details you might discover about your own ancestors on OldNews.com. Search OldNews.com today and see what you find!