Help with newspaper archives.

[KimberleyW]

Hi,
I'm new to this site so sorry if i ramble on a bit too much.

After watching the last episode of who do you think you are with Greg Davies in, i was reminded of one of my family members, who hasnt got their fathers name listed on their birth certificate.
Realising that he was able to find more information in newspaper archives, i thought this may be the answer i needed to find similar information.
It seems like this particular branch of my family tree is a bit mysterious, we dont have much information about them at all, just a very passed down rumour that there could have been a travellers/gypsy connection on that line.

Anyway, i've always struggled with newspaper archives, i literally have no idea where to start.
I know that some of my family members have been in the newspapers before and i have clippings from those newspapers provided by my mothers cousin, but i have never been able to track them down myself.
Has anyone got any useful hints or tips to help me find something?
Apologies if this sort of thing has been answered before.

Thanks
Kimberley

[groom]

Welcome to Rootschat

This site may help  http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/   there is a how to search bit on there. I think they may also offer a few free searches before you have to pay.

Find My Past also have newspapers, but that is a subscription site.

Remember though, that Greg Davis was very lucky to find that information in the newspapers and for most of us that doesn't happen and when there is a blank on the birth certificate we are left with a brick wall!

[diddymiller]

Hi there are various places you can find newspaper cuttings /articles to search. Find my past / Ancestry / other search sites or I use British newspapers online. you can search most for free but will have to pay to see the article itself.


www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/


Diddy

[Cell]

Hi  and welcome to Rootschat

Many libraries (and universities )also have free access to newspaper sites where you can apply for a card and access some of the online newspapers in your home.  I'm in Aus and search papers for free through my library card at home, apparently a few libraries do it too in the UK.

Welsh newspapers are free to use and view the images http://newspapers.library.wales/
If your interest is in England do not rule out searching the Welsh papers as many  newsworthy(and also not so newsworthy ) stories  in the English papers are also printed in the Welsh papers too. I use the site for most of my lot are in Wales, but a few of my lot in England have made it into the Welsh papers too.

Also, as mentioned , if you join the British news paper archives (it's free to join)  they give you a few credits for free (enough for 3 images ,I think) so that you can view a few of your chosen images. I used my last free credits the other week . I've been sitting on them for ages. I totally forgot I had any.

Kind Regards

[KimberleyW]

Thanks for all your help so far guys, very much appreciated!

I've been looking through the british newspaper archives previously in the hopes of finding something about any of my family members, checking all the last names on my tree.
I have fairly uncommon surnames on my line so i was hoping to find something, and i do know that some of my family members have previously been in newspapers but i cant even seem to track down those articles that my other family members have tracked down for me,
I fear i'm searching incorrectly.
I generally use the surname of my family member and then filter it down by date and location.

My family members names are "Wakenshaw", "Dobbins" and "Gray" for the families from the blyth/hexham area and "Harvey", "Bunn" and "Bennett" for the Suffolk area, so you wouldnt think i would have a lot of issues with some of those names.

Am i searching the same way others would?
I would expect some of my family members to be in the newspapers, they cant have avoided them forever, surely

[clairec666]

Hi Kimberley

My local libraries (in East Sussex) have subscriptions to the British Newspaper Archive and FindMyPast, so it's worth checking if your libraries do, so you can search the newspaper records for free.

The most important thing to bear in mind is that some areas of the country have better coverage than others. You can check the coverage of the area you're interested in. For example, I've had a lot of luck with my family in Northamptonshire, Essex and Suffolk.

Also, searching the archives isn't always straightforward. The character recognition software has made some of the text a bit garbled. Try searching for a surname and place name together and see what it throws up. Try leaving out first names because people were often referred to by their initials. Use the date filters to limit it down.

On the positive side, you'll find all sorts of amazing details in newspapers. Anything from darts matches, brass bands, thefts of beehives - that's just what I've found today! Lists of mourners at funerals are great, especially for finding out who the daughters of the family married.

It's been well worth the subscription cost for me, but like I say it depends on the part of the country you're looking at.

Good luck

[Millmoor]

Hi Kimberley

I actually prefer to search the newspaper archive using FindMyPast. Re your North East ancestors the most likely papers where you would find articles would be the Newcastle titles, which are found in Tyne and Wear when you use the county filter. I have just done a quick search and for Wakenshaw found 268 hits in the Newcastle Papers and for Dobbins 722.(For Gray there are over 47,000!).

I think the above would be the most likely source for your Hexham ancestors. For those from Blyth you could also search the Northumberland papers and in particular the Morpeth Herald and Alnwick Mercury.

They are updating the newspaper archive all the time and so its useful to try to keep up to speed with new titles and issues. (Hopefully at some stage in the future Hexham paper(s) will be added).

Totally agree with Claire regarding the character recognition software and would add that sometimes just searching by place name (if it is a small settlement like Bardon Mill where some of my ancestors come from) with no surname at all can produce results.

William

[KimberleyW]

Thank you so much for your help everyone!

I will have another look later on tonight and get back to you with anything i pull up.
hoping to find some weird and wonderful stories

Thanks again
Kimberley

[KimberleyW]

Hi guys,

Just want to thank you again for all your help.

I've been working with the british newspaper archives and thought i would start on the wakenshaw side firstly as they had a lot less hits.
I seem to be finding out a lot about a Private Adam Wakenshaw which i havent come across in my tree as of yet but i am baring in mind, Another Adam Wakenshaw that was arrested for manslaughter! eek! again, havent found him as of yet, but the report was from 1876, and i havent got back too far on the wakenshaw line so it could very well be a family member.

One article i have found which is definitely one of mine though was an accidental death in the home guard when a gun misfired which killed my 2nd cousin 3x removed. a lot of miserable stories so far, hoping to find more though!

Kimberley x