Most genealogists focus on the obvious parts of a record—names, dates, and locations. But some of the most valuable clues aren’t highlighted or labeled clearly. They’re tucked into small details, side notes, neighboring entries, or even the way something is written. In newspapers especially, important information often appears outside the main story. A brief mention […]
Author: Kenneth R Marks
Kenneth R Marks was born and educated in the San Francisco Bay Area, receiving a BS in Mathematics in 1968. His career was in Information Technology; with the last 20 Years as a software executive with Boeing, Pearson, and NASA. His genealogy career began in 2004. He is an expert in newspaper research for genealogy, as well as additional genealogy topics. He regularly conducts webinars on the subject and has authored three genealogy books. See the About page for more details.
The Ancestor Hunt, founded in 2008, is focused on helping genealogy and family history researchers of all skill levels to achieve their goals, by providing links to free online genealogy collections, and search tips and techniques, largely via easy-to-understand Quick Reference Guides.
Genealogists often hit a wall because they search for the words we use today, not the words that appeared in older records. A record may exist, an article may be indexed, and the clue may be sitting in plain sight — but if the search terms don’t match the language of the time, it stays […]
Most genealogists search using modern language—but older records weren’t written that way. Newspapers, directories, and official documents often used abbreviations, alternate spellings, and terms that feel unfamiliar today. If you’re only searching what looks “normal” now, you’re unintentionally filtering out a huge portion of what actually exists. This is especially true in newspapers. Space mattered. […]
The Quicksheet Vault is a growing collection of structured, ready-to-use research references — with new additions being added regularly. This past week (April 25, 2026 to May 1, 2026), the following additions were made to the Quicksheet Vault: ✅ QS Core Collection – 0 New – 174 Total✅ QS Glossaries and Notes – 0 New […]
This past week (April 25, 2026 to May 1, 2026), the following additions were made to The Newspaper Research Academy: ✅ Free Resources – 0 New Articles was added – 118 Total ✅ Research Guides – 3 New Guides were added – 137 Total ✅ Video Guides – 0 New Videos – 19 Total ✅ […]
Background Historical Occupation Profiles explain what ancestors actually did for a living and how those occupations shaped the records genealogists rely on today. Occupation Overview Peddlers sold goods by traveling from place to place rather than operating from a fixed shop. In the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, peddling was a common occupation, especially […]
MyHeritage continues to add or update its record collections at a fast pace for us to search. For April 1-30, 2026, there are 6 new and 10 updated collections. The new and updated collections are: I hope that some of these are what you have been waiting for! Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
Ancestry.com continues to add or update its record collections at a fast pace for us to search. For the period of April 1-30, 2026, the new and updated collections are: I hope that some of these are what you have been waiting for! Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
The British Newspaper Archive, a subscription site owned by FindMyPast, has announced its updates for last month. There are 14 New Titles and 51 Titles that have had issues added. There are a total of over 102.6 million pages available on the site. A complete list of all of the site’s titles can be found HERE. […]
Find My Pastis an underappreciated source for digitized newspapers. It is a subscription site that specializes in British and Irish newspapers. Currently, its collection numbers over 102.4 million pages and is growing rapidly. This month, Find My Past added 15 new titles and added to 45 existing titles. They are listed below: New Titles Updated Titles […]