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Newspapers can be a treasure trove of information about your ancestors. Unlike government records, which are often limited to forms, newspapers typically include a wide variety of different types of information about the people who live in the towns and cities they serve.
So don’t stop once you’ve found their birth, marriage, and death announcements in the newspaper. That’s just the beginning of discovering your ancestor’s story. For more ideas, check out our list of 20 sections in the newspaper to look for your ancestors in.
- Advertisements & classifieds
- Church news, events & activities
- Court dockets & jury lists
- Disaster victims lists
- Entertainment sections
- Gossip columns
- Land/home/farm sales
- Legal notices
- Letters to the editor
- Local election news & political events
- Military service news
- Local news stories
- Ship & train passenger lists
- Personal notices
- Police blotters
- School news
- Social news & events
- Sports sections
- Unclaimed letters lists
- Group photos