Authenticating Family Stories: How Local Newspapers Can Give Your Family Story a Second Life

SESSION: F327, DATE & TIME: Friday 10 May 2019 11:00 a.m.

Greg Hilton

Come and join in on fun newspaper research can bring! Take some time to sit back and relax as you rethink some of those research angles and explore the flavor Newspapers can add to the stories of your ancestors.  Too often we’ve gathered some tasty tidbits of family lore without consulting what newspaper accounts might add to their story.

Greg Hilton will briefly describe what has changed in recent years to make many things possibly using on-line FREE newspaper databases. He’ll also show you how and where to locate them.  Newspapers not only provide context to your ancestor’s life, they allow us to experience the hardships and joys hidden below the surface or not found in the record groups commonly used for research.

Often sprinkled with humor, newspapers add another dimension to our ancestor’s lives when we hit that proverbial dry run in our research.  Database search tips and ideas of where FREE on-line newspapers might be stowed will be discussed along with a few of Greg’s best examples of how the newspaper authenticated and added fodder to his own family stories.

BIO: Greg Hilton is a local writer, speaker, volunteer, and researcher. He is a former staff member in the History and Genealogy Department at the St. Louis County Library, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the St. Charles County Historical Society.