Anyone found much use in the Brit. Newspaper Archive sub?

[Paulo Leeds]

I've tried putting the names of everyone listed in my family tree in and barely found anything bar the odd death or birth listing, but 90% nothing

[Josephine]

I've tried putting the names of everyone listed in my family tree in and barely found anything bar the odd death or birth listing, but 90% nothing

Have you checked the website to make sure they have newspapers from the right area in the right timeframe? That has happened to me when searching for specific obits (in more than one online newspaper archive).

Is it possible that the local library might have newspapers that haven't made it to the internet yet?

It can be a good thing if they didn't make the papers -- it might mean they lived quiet, law-abiding lives -- but it can be frustrating for us as family researchers.

If they weren't mentioned much in the newspapers, perhaps there are other sources of information that you can consult. Have you checked city directories? Sometimes you can learn approximately when someone has died, or when young adults have left their parents' home and if/when they got married.

In my experience, results can vary greatly from family to family. I've found zero newspaper mentions for one extended family but lots of coverage in the church records. With another family, each time more issues of the local newspaper are uploaded, I find more articles, but they all concern court appearances. (Rascals, the lot of them!)

Good luck in your search!

[Jool]

Try not to be too specific with your search.  For example if you search "Thomas Frederick Smith" you may not get any results, however he may be mentioned in the newspaper as Mr. T. Smith or Tom Smith.   I found more results by searching just the surname and town for each family group, or surname and occupation.

Good luck

[Mart 'n' Al]

Remember also that names like Thomas George and James might be abbreviated to Thos, Geo and Jas, etc.  Middle names were often included in newspaper articles so if you're searching for John Smith you won't find John Williams Smith and vice versa.

An occasional subscription like this is wonderful, just for reading about your own own, village or county in the past. I found all sorts of amazing things from 100 years ago. The filtering is quite good, allowing you to remove or add counties, regions, newspaper editions, decades, etc.

Remember also that if you search for a long string, and there is more than one letter blurred or not recognised it might not find the string, so search for a small string rather than something very detailed.

Also remember that many roads, such as Village Road might have been hyphenated 100 years ago. Search for the name of the road, but without adding road, street, avenue etc.  Definitely leave out house numbers.

Martin

[Paulo Leeds]

thanks guys.

I'm guessing they must have led quiet lives.

However, in terms of wedding or death or birth mentions - I would say only 10%  get a search result even then

[Top-of-the-hill]

    I have not found much more than the odd funeral report, especially in earlier times, but then I knew my family had always kept a low profile! But I did find a lot of interesting pieces relating to the ancestral village; accidents, minor court cases, house sales. Again, more as you move through the 19th century.

[Milliepede]

Law abiding is good but it would be nice to find something.  95%+ of my searches don't bring up anything.

[River Tyne Lass]

I am one of the 'fortunate' ones as I have been able to find loads of press coverage about my ancestors.  My ancestors appear to have been of the colourful type - there are stories of law breaking, drunkeness, tragedies, war deaths, you name it - there was even a murder trial with my Great x 2 ancestors as the accused in the 1850s.    Thankfully, they were acquitted as I believe they were innocent.  There are some more positive articles too.
 
However, although on a positive I have many interesting articles to read - the downside is I believe my ancestors had more than a fair share of suffering, angst and drama in their lives.  If I could wave a magic wand and change things for the better for them I would even if this would mean losing all these colourful stories.

I think you have been given a lot of good advice on here.  You could also try putting in just 'Mr' or 'Mrs' so and so.  For example, a couple of ancestors of mine were referred to as 'Mr Senior' and 'Mrs Young'.  Other things mentioned in articles such as the address assured me that these are my ancestors. 

Or you could try just putting on an initial and a surname  or reversing this to find a war mention.   

I would also look for mistakes in spelling of names.  For example, if your ancestor is called Watson they may have accidentally appeared with a spelling error such as being called Witson or Wetson. I have known this to happen.  Other things mentioned in write ups may  be able to clarify if they are person you are looking for.

If you know the address try just putting in just that in search box.  I did that and I discovered a great x 2 Grandfather who appears to have given himself a completely different first name for a while - he was called Philip but was going under the name of Ralph which was his wife's Father's name.  I know for definite this is him because of the address and other things referred to in articles.  I have another ancestor who went by an alias.  In my research I have found that other people sometimes used an alias too . My ancestor James Conroy was also known as Gilroy (according to a newspaper report) and I also found one record where he appears as Kilroy! I do not know if this was by accident or design. His wife was Elizabeth but in an odd newspaper she was referred to as Bessie and Betty.

I have a brother of a bloodline ancestor who had a nasty  boiler explosion in the late 19th century which unfortunately killed his housekeeper.  Most newspapers spell his name correctly as Richard but one refers to him mistakenly as Robert.

So to sum up - try researching for known addresses, name changes, possible errors in print, etc.

Good luck with your searching!

Added: I sometimes wonder how my ancestors can be my ancestors as some of them do seem a bit wild.  I, on the other hand tend to go a bit wild only when I am playing monopoly.  I wonder if I was a Founding and I have just never been told. Or perhaps my ancestors may have been able to lead much more calmer lives if they had been able to spend as much time as I do in archives, libraries and on RootsChat.  Oh well, I suppose this keeps me out of mischief.

[Deirdre784]

In general I’m one of the ‘not found much’ brigade, though i have found a couple of obituaries, one especially good.

Probably not helped in that my maiden name was Lord, and a few generations back - when i was hoping to find snippets in the papers - his wife was a Foreman. 99.9% of the entries were for Lord this or that, or a foreman at a works. Specific names generally found nothing 🙁