10 Clever Ways to Find More Ancestor Newspaper Articles

There are lots of ways to improve your results when searching historical newspapers online.  Use these techniques to obtain better results.

Deliberately Misspell When Searching Online

OCR is not perfect and scanning 100-year-old newsprint creates errors. Change your search criteria and replace letters that have a similar shape, such as “b” and “h”

Try Abbreviations

for given names, such as “Wm” for William, “Eliz” for Elizabeth, “Jos” for Joseph, and “Robt” for Robert.  Also “Ave” for Avenue, “Col” for Colonel, etc.

Remember to Search Hyphenated Words

In the old days, many words were hyphenated so search portions of names. Try beginning syllables and ending syllables as your keyword.

Search for an Address Rather than a Name

or combine address or just street name with surname

When Searching for Obituaries

add “beloved” or “dear” or “loving” in your online search criteria. Also try “devoted”, “In lieu of flowers”, etc. This will get you to the Obituary section of the paper.

Married Women went by the Husband’s Name

So you are likely to find “Mildred Jones” as “Mrs. Samuel Jones”. Only if they were unmarried, a child or a widow will their given name appear in the paper. This started to change in the 1960s.

Browse for Cause of Death

for up to 2 weeks prior to the death date from the obituary for an article about an illness or accident.

Combine Names

with occupations, business names, clubs,  churches, etc. in your search criteria

Searching for Birth Announcement?

Then add “born to” or “born to the wife of” to surname

Visit The Ancestor Hunt

at the Newspapers Page to get hundreds of articles and links to help you become a master newspaper researcher

Download the Quicksheet PDF

To download the 10 Clever Ways to Find More Ancestor Newspaper Articles Quick Sheet PDF, click on the Download button below:

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