A lively couple!

[Blue70]

I recently returned to see what more I could find out about what I thought was a very ordinary distant relation and discovered various stories about him and his wife in old newspapers:

- His wife sued another woman for assault and won
- He narrowly escaped drowning at sea after his brig was struck by a steamer
- His wife was a witness in a court case about a theft
- He and his wife were locked up for being drunk and disorderly
- He and his wife were taken to court for touting for lodgers on the pier


C

[maddys52]

That's why I love hunting through old newspapers. Such a wealth of info to be found which help pad out our understanding of our ancestor's lives. 

[Jackiemh]

I love finding odd bits in the newspapers about the people in my rather extended family -
things like in 1847, 1854, 1856 an individual held a General Game Certificate, cost 4 pounds and 10 pence. He lived in Saffron Hill, Holborn at the time and I wonder where he hunted.
Jackie

[Blue70]

It helps when the person you are searching for in the newspapers has a stand out name that can't be mistaken for another person. When I started online newspaper searching I made a mistake of assuming an ancestor was fined for selling beer. It wasn't until years later that I discovered that another person of the same name was living nearby in the street directories of the time who was a more likely candidate for the illegal seller with him being listed as having an 'eating house' and 'beer house' in the 1839 & 1847 directories.


C