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Oct 2006 Issue
by LaRae Free Kerr
In 1882, little one-year-old Lawrence Free, son of Preston Free, Jr., died of cholera infantum. In 1912, Preston Free and wife joined several other couples for an evening of music and singing in Centreville (sic) where popcorn and a fine lunch were served. In 1913, Mr. and Mrs. Preston Free’s daughter of Los Angeles came to visit for a month or six weeks. In 1916 Mrs. Preston Free was quite ill. In 1917 Preston Free’s wagon was hit by an automobile, preventing Mr. Free from walking for several months.
Great everyday stuff, letting us peek into ancestors’ lives. Where did all those life-bites come from? A newspaper. Specifically, the Utah Digital Newspapers at http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/.
As reader Lisa Klomp reminded, this site is continually adding Utah newspapers. According to the site, the Deseret News from 1850 to 1898 and the Salt Lake Tribune from 1871 to 1891 are included. Click Collection Titles and Dates on the site to see if your Utah county and time period are covered. This kind of great gossip may be just a website away; however, all historical newspapers are not so easy to find.
What a newspaper chase reader Mark Packard of Connecticut sent me on. He emailed, “(I) love the online Historical NY Times – indexed from 1850 to the present. The treasures I’ve found there are a book to themselves.” I know from past experience that the New York Times did not limit itself to local news, but included the West as well as the world. So I wanted to get in on the “treasures.”
An internet search led me to the perfect site, http://historynews.chadwyck.com/, which offers (1) Palmer’s Index to the New York Times 1790-1905, (2) Palmer’s full text Times online 1785-1870, and (3) Historical Index to the New York Times 1851-1923. I could not get into the site! It became apparent I had to have a subscription to ProQuest to access this newspaper.
Another email from Mark suggested, “The NY Times and Hartford Courant can be reached through ProQuest (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb). It’s a pay service but my library subscribes, and I can access with my card number for free.” He adds, “Hartford Courant is the oldest continually published newspaper (I think!) and it’s indexed from 1764 to the present…” When I typed in my library card number, I got an error message. The new library card in the new state I am in does not include this database from ProQuest.
Those historical New York Times indexes piqued my interest, so I continued the search. The local librarian indicated that though the http://pioneer.utah.gov subscription included HeritageQuest from ProQuest, it did not include any version of the New York Times index. That this was sadly true was reiterated by Pam, the state administrator.
When asked, Pam suggested the University of Utah Marriott Library might have such an index. The librarian there said they do have an index for the New York Times from 1851-2003 which is available to anyone with a Marriott Library card, purchasable at the library for $55.00.
The Brigham Young University librarian couldn’t find a historical New York Times index on its internet. Even if such an index could be found, it would cost non-students $249 or more to buy the card through the Friends of the Library program.
But all was not lost. The BYU librarian said the New York Times is indexed in the Family History Center in the Harold B Lee Library. I called there and discovered it is indexed from 1854 to 1987 in book form. Copies of the New York Times newspaper are on microfilm in the center. And this is free. Whew. Thank you.
In the meantime, back at Ancestry.com, I discovered the New York Times is indexed from 1881-1900 and from 1905-1906. The New York Daily Times is indexed 1851-1857, The New York Evening Times from 1855-56, the New York Herald from 1869-72, 1969, 1971-72, and the Hartford Courant not at all. Not good enough.
Since the ProQuest historical New York Times index uses three indexes from 1785 to the present, that site may be more accurate than the others. In addition ProQuest is the author of HeritageQuest and other databases already included with my library card. So, hey, out there, whoever has the power to add the historical New York Times index to the ProQuest package, please do.
Reader Roger West asked for help locating his David and Emily Hooley West family in St Joseph, Missouri. They lived there only one year. No tombstones or burial records for them are extant. Were there any other records to search? Surprisingly, there is one that many overlook: church records.
In this particular instance, the Wests were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Roger was in luck. The ward records for St Joseph, Missouri of 1850-1853 are held in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. This information comes from Register of LDS Church Records by Laureen R Jaussi and Gloria D Chaston published in 1968.
It is just one example of how useful pre-computer books can still be. Other books by Juassi and Chaston you might be able to locate at Sam Weller’s or other used bookstores are Fundamentals of Genealogical Research published 1977 and Genealogical Records of Utah published 1974.
Newspapers are great family history tools and so are church records. Don’t forget them.
LaRae Free Kerr, M. ED., can be reached at Itsallrelatives@sfcn.org.
