Old newspaper archives online.

[coombs]

They really are worth their weight in gold, and can even give biographies of relatives, and open up new leads, and if an ancestor lived to a ripe old age, it can give their birthday and list certain relatives, and the obituary can make it in newspapers across the country.

My ancestor Elizabeth Packard died in February 1842 in Glemham Suffolk, aged 102, and her obituary is given in papers as far away as Liverpool. Her birthday is also stated in one obituary as 12 April.

And my ancestors brother, a Wesleyan, died in 1912 in Leigh On Sea, Essex, and his long obituary says born 1836 and had relatives in Ilford, and travelled to Cornwall with his maternal uncle a lot as a child on the oyster boat. And it mentions his ancestor Nathan Jackson Quilter who died in 1817.

So newspaper records can give extra biographical info on your ancestors if they was a prominent local figure.

[lisalisa]

I agree totally.  It's wonderful to be able to fill in the details, it's like bringing the person (back) to being 3 dimensional.

I've found celebrations of big wedding anniversaries which can provide a lot of details of their lives and families, then not forgetting the odd court appearance or inquest. 

Some of it is incredibly sad.
But even so I'm glad I found out.
It definitely adds a richness to the research.

[Viktoria]

Many thanks for that.
Viktoria.

[coombs]

FindMyPast Fridays are very good with their newspaper releases every week.

[Andy J2022]

And don't forget that if you are searching for Welsh ancestors, there's a free service provided by the National Library of Wales: https://newspapers.library.wales/home
I personally prefer their search tool to FindMyPast's

[Erato]

Here are a few places to search:

https://news.google.com/newspapers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_newspaper_archives

https://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/

[Treetotal]

Thanks posting Coombs and to Erato for the links, very useful to know.
Carol

[Nanna52]

For those who had relatives come to Australia:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/

In New Zealand:
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers

Marvellous free resources.

[Erato]

Also, especially for small town US newspapers, it is always worth checking the local public library and the state universities.