Using newspapers for family history

27 March 2018 12:57

Local newspapers are a valuable source of information for genealogy, revealing details of the daily lives of your ancestors in various ways: birth, marriage or death announcements provide details of your ancestors' lives and where they lived; house sales often give good descriptions of houses and their contents; advertisements can offer details about a business. Your ancestor may even show up as a witness, victim or perpetrator of a crime or the recipient of a prize at a local event. Descriptions of schools, details of church and social events, local council elections and council business, accidents, local news etc. can all give an insight into the daily life of the community in which your ancestors lived. Local newspapers also offer an insight into the major national events of the day, so you know what your ancestors would have been reading, for example, the First World War, or the influenza epidemic which followed it, and how it affected their local community.

FindMyPast has a collection of British newspapers covering England, Wales and Scotland, dating from the 18th century to the present day, although most of them are for the 19th century. You can use the search box to bring up possible articles, adverts or announcements that include your ancestors' names. For Devon you can find the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, the Exeter Flying Post, the North Devon Journal and the North Devon Gazette, as well as newspapers with a smaller local circulation. They also have the Western times and the Western Morning News.

The British Newspaper Archive is available at local libraries and online at home by using your library card. Again, most of the digitised newspapers are for the 19th century, and for Devon they include the Western Morning News, the Western Daily Press and the Western Times.

Susan Francia

Family History Research Services

01822 820855

fhistoryresearch@gmail.com