Newspapers

From FamilySearch Wiki

Guide to locating newspapers for ancestry, family history, and genealogy research.

Why use newspapers?[edit | edit source]

  • Newspapers report family information within notices of births, marriages, and deaths (obituaries), and local news.
  • Newspapers usually began before government birth, marriage, and death records, often published soon after the initial settlement of a locality.
  • Newspapers may serve as a substitute for civil records that were destroyed.
  • Unlike most government records, newspaper articles are not limited to a form. Thus, newspapers may contain details not found in more structured records.
  • Newspapers can report marriages, deaths or accomplishments of people who no longer live in the area but who still have friends or family there.
  • Newspapers may report events in the life of local inhabitants even when these events occurred elsewhere.

What can you find in newspapers?[edit | edit source]

How do you find newspapers?[edit | edit source]

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Many newspapers are online. You should consult the Wiki article on newspapers for each country to understand how to find and search its newspapers

Sidebar Links to Wiki Articles[edit | edit source]

See the links to newspapers in the right sidebar in this typical Wiki main page.

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Online Genealogical Records Pages[edit | edit source]

On the main page for each U.S. State page and country page, a blue button leads to a listing of online record collections.

Look for the blue button on each state and country
main page to link to the Online Genealogy Records page.

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A typical Online Genealogy Records page.

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FamilySearch Catalog[edit | edit source]

  • Newspapers collected by FamilySearch, usually digitized and online, are listed in the FamilySearch catalog. Enter the name of the country in the "Place Field" and click "Search". A list of record categories will be provided. Select "Census".
Look for the blue button on each state and country
main page to link to the Online Genealogy Records page.

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