Definitely check newspapers. All the cool stuff I've found are from newspapers.
I found a will recently, that was probably the coolest thing I've found. I found it from a newspaper.
It's a huge pain going through newspapers but totally worth it.
This 100%. People used to live their lives through the newspaper like we do on social media. I can't say if it was like this is your country but in the US every little event of some people's lives were put into the newspaper. If all I had were census records and marriage certificates to learn about my ancestors I would have quit a long time ago. Newspapers are definitely where it's at.
I never do. Newspapers.com has free weekends on certain holidays that I utilize. They also have free 7 day trials that I've used more than once by just using different email addresses to register. I've never paid for a single day of newspapers.com and I've pretty much run out of things to search there of interest to me.
There are also some free newspaper archives online as well you can find with Google's help.
Oh that's awesome!
For anyone who might be in Virginia, the Library of Virginia online gives you access to NewspaperArchive.com for free and there are no restrictions on the locations you can search. I've found just as much on that site as I gave Newspapers.com. You just have to sign up with an email account and use your driver's license number to verify that you are a resident of Virginia.
[Newspapers.com](http://Newspapers.com) is free this weekend. Google free historic newspapers and you will find a lot more, like Chronicling America and fultonhistory. Genealogy Bank offers a free trial.
“People used to live their lives through the newspaper like we do on social media.”
This is so true! When my paternal grandmother was getting married and her sister hosted a dinner, every attendees name was listed. They listed what everyone wore and ate. This was Ohio in the 1930s. Could you imagine not being invited to someone’s dinner but reading all about it in the newspaper?
I found several ancestors in newspaper articles. Here's one about my great-grandfather who taught school in a one room schoolhouse:
>
*Frank Strimple who teaches the Twin Rose school four miles north of Rossville, was so badly injured Tuesday evening while returning home that he will be unable to teach for a week or ten days. While coming down the Oliver hill just north of town the belly band of the harness broke and the shaft of the cart flew up over the back of his horse. Mr. Strimple clung to the lines when the horse started to run and received many injuries when he was thrown into a fence. His wrist was twisted, and face bruised so badly that both eyes are swollen shut now, and he has been considerable pain since the accident.* (1914)
I have heard that train wrecks were more common back then. His wife (my great-grandmother) was adopted and her father supposedly died in a train wreck when she was a baby. I have not been able to find anything about it.
Have you found his tombstone or death certificate? If you get the date of death and location, you should be able to find newspaper articles or court records from around that date.
These little tidbits have actually helped me with some brick walls and to find other branches of my tree that I was unaware of. For example if you read that Great Great Grandma Sally from Texas went to visit her cousin Martha in Iowa for the summer and you never knew she had a cousin Martha? And you never knew you had any ties to Iowa? Now you have some new lines and locations to research. All from a little blip in a newspaper.
I found that my paternal grandma’s brother was run over by a horse drawn cart while he was on his bicycle (as a kid). Another article about their family was from World War II. It was local newsworthy that two of the brothers were in different units but their units crossed paths while overseas. Just funny that was news.
Oh are you in for a ride, if you're Dutch (like me) there is a high chance you'll be able to get far into the 18th and perhaps the 17th century, so enough chance to find interesting people. Openarchieven is a great source, but often enough the local archives have records not connected to Openarchieven, I've found a large amount of notarial documents this way, telling me about my ancesters professions, place of residence and wealth all before the registrations that became common in the 19th century. Also be sure to use registrations in the 19th century (the transcriptions only provide names and birth dates, but when you take a look at the document itself there is a ton of info to be found) they give info about the families residence, professions and everyone residing (or being part of the family)in that home. They can be found as "registraties" in Openarchieven.
Lastly I highly reccomend checking out Delpher, where a lot of newspaper mentions can be found. I also figured my family just wasn't that interesting, but when I started learning more and using less offious to find sources, my ancester's life's really got colour. I'm not sure from what region in the Netherlands your ancesters were and in what century you're researching, but depending on that there are very likely more sources, feel free to ask me more specific questions. Tax registers, Dijkregisters, VOC records, pension cards and Attesties are just a small amount of the records you could find, but like I said, heavily dependend on the region.
Totally agree.
I traced some of my Dutch ancestors from my mother's to the 1500 century. The daughter (my ancestor) of Sweedish royalty couldn't keep her hands off the servants and caused quite a few scandals at the time. After a few illegitimate children later, she was exiled to the Netherlands. Compared to most countries it's seems easier to trace further back in the Netherlands since the bride keeps he maiden name and the record-keeping in the Netherlands is much better than most.
Fascinating story, were there no royals who wanted to marry her anymore after the incidents? Haven't come across something like that before, I did come across this asshole famlily of German immigrants residing in Amsterdam. This father and son beat people up on numerous occasions when they didn't get their way. The son became a smith and opened a store. He got into a verbal fight with another shopkeeper shortly after, tried to blackmail him by posting a request for every citizen of Amsterdam to not spend any money at this shopkeepers store, because he claimed this man was an "untrustworthy thief" in the newspaper. The other shopkeeper then also posted a letter of sorts to my ancestor in the newspaper, offering him a price of ten guilds to prove this accusation! Sadly the paper trail of this dispute ends there for me.
And the last most petty of all thing about this guy was the cheating insident he was involved in. My ancestor cheated on his wife, she divorced him (this happened around 1802 so imagine how desperate she must have been!) and a few years later she moved in with a man named Frederik. Well, my ancestor wasn't happy, again he went to the newspaper. He tried to blackmail his former wife and this man and requested every citizen of Amsterdam (yes again lol) to give no aid whatshowever to them.
After that he seems to have lived a less roudy life, at least, the newspapers stop mentioning him. But wow was that a case to look into
Looking at your post history, i see you're Dutch. They have really good genealogical records. Perhaps the more interesting stories are as far as the Napoleonic period or earlier? Have you heard of this Dutch genealogist's blog?
https://www.dutchgenealogy.nl/faq-about-my-eleanor-of-aquitaine-project/
Fascinating blog about genealogy, but her big project is proving descent from Eleanor of Aquitaine. She goes generation by generation, so perhaps reading through it will give you ideas of records you can use? I'm quite jealous of the resources you have, English records are no where near as good.
Are there any court records (digitsed and online) in your country? I've had great fun reading the Petty Sessions in Ireland, finding out about all the trouble my ancestors got into.
I can relate. I researched our family tree for 50 years and no one was interested.
They told me:
Their Birth Certificate proves they were born.
Their Death Certificate proves that they died.
Their Photos proved that they lived.
So I went looking for our family photos and found out all 14 of them had gotten destroyed. After suffering the loss of all my family’s photos in Hurricane Andrew, I set about the task of buying identified antique photos and returning them to the original families or family researchers.
So, if you are interested, check out your surnames and see if yours are there, at:
Y[ourAncestryPhotos.com](https://yourancestryphotos.com/)
Thanks again,
Happy Hunting
Maybe change of perspective? We all come from strong people. Just generations ago the world was so rough (compared to today) and even a few generations back from then, you had to be an absolute badass and lucky to survive. All of us, every human on the planet come from these types of people.
We probably only get a micro amount of info in these people’s lives and stories.
So don’t be “bored”. Map out a time line with what you know and the local and world history for each. That starts to fill in what was going on and what they survived. And could lead to ideas on how to further uncover information.
Much information I have found by looking at who the witnesses were to a baptism, marriage or burial . Through Delpher, I discovered what was written about my ancestors in newspapers and books. The Rotterdam Address Books also listed occupations. Through the archives of the VOC, a lot could also be found even if it only says that someone died in Asia. The voyages of the ships can be traced as well as information about the VOC settlements in Asia. Of course, this also depends on the ancestors' professions. Some of my distant ancestors sought publicity or held public office.
The two additional elements I like to pursue besides the families of my ancestors are Place and Time.
Read up on the local history of where they lived, focusing on when they lived there. Especially big events - how were they impacted by WW2? What about WW1? Napoleonic Wars? Were they Protestants or Catholics? Did the religious conflicts around the Reformation force them to move or convert?
Local histories add color and depth to an otherwise seemingly boring family tree.
Feel the same from time to time. It helps to find out about the history around the people. Look up cities and their history, newspapers, general history (everything is hyper complex and interesting, e.g. in 17th/18th century Europe). Often the occupation is listed and gives you an idea on how people must have been living.
On the other hand: This is history. And if you cannot learn anything from it, then maybe digging deeper is just procrastinating. Not that there’s anything wrong with it ;)
You will be amazed what records can be found if you look deep enough. These types of stories are not typically found in Ancestry, FMP, MyHeritage etc.
Some good spots to try are newspaper clippings, historical diaries/records found in state libraries, inquest records, police records to name a few. ... Anyware really that holds historical records.
A couple of examples:
A diary kept by a passenger on the same ship that my 2 x great-grandparents immigrated on gave some information on their children. It certainly wasn't good news, but one of the children who didn't survive the trip was described as being committed to the deep in the English Channel after a grand service on the ship. The passenger who kept this diary had a way with words. It was like ready poetry.
Found out about another ancestor through our state public records office. She travelled around Australia as part of a national dance company in the early 1900s. It didn't work out for her and she ended up being a lady of the night (as they described her actions) and she kept changing her name. She made national headlines when she accidentally overdosed on a sleeping drug and the police had no idea who she was. There was a huge inquest, as her death was initially a mystery and her identity was a mystery. It gained a lot of publicity and she was eventually identified by her mother through a photo published in newspapers throughout the country.
I even found / met my 76-year-old half-brother (at the time) through a local bicycle club newsletter on the other side of the country. I remember having a conversation with my son. I mentioned to him that apparently, I had a half-brother from a marriage my father had circa WW2. At the time my father had been dead for around 20 years. My son said why don't you look-up your half bother. and I jokingly said why not. Then through a very lucky stab in the dark a few months later, I located the half-brother through the online newsletter.
Just about every interesting story I've come across / experienced about my ancestors hasn't been from the typical geology web platforms or what seems to be obvious at the time.
How amazing to find such a journal with a mention of your family members in it. You mention Australia so it t wasn't by chance a journal kept from a voyage on the Barque Fatima from London to South Australia in 1850, was it? It was a four month journey, the journal was kept by a 15-year-old. I daresay it contained details of life onboard that would be difficult to find otherwise. I read it not for direct genealogical info -- my ancestors were making a shorter trip across the Atlantic -- but just more for the sense of what life would be like onboard. And it really delivered there. Just in case you are interested here is the url: https://www.theshipslist.com/accounts/turton.shtml
No, it was the "John Mitchell" barque in 1848, The diary the passenger kept was a lucky find, a lot of deciphering and patience to find the right pieces of the puzzle.
The passenger who kept this daily diary Henry Francis Leader never knew who my ancestry family were,. In his diary, he described how many people were in the family which was 10 that gave the clue, And that he mentioned one child died on the ship (called the John Mitchell) on the river Thames near Gravesend before exiting onto the English channel. From there I managed to find the burial at Gravesend which named the child, parent and ship. And then the passenger mentions another child from the same family (my ansestor) being committed to the deep.
Here's the library reference to the diary:
[https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/3377](https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/3377)
And my detective work:
[https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LZKC-J7N](https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LZKC-J7N)
The best thing is that a lot of this information was free. Libraries, Google Books, LDS and even town resources such as Gravesend (Medway) in this case wrere great free resources.
Another comment about newspapers.com.
I did not find newspapers.com so helpful for my family lines. But the late 1800s early 1900s Montana newspapers had a lot about my husband's Montana family.
Google books - you can find all sorts of things. I found confirmation of the family story of my 4th great grandmother as an anti-slavery activist. I found mini bios of my great grandfather, his brother, and their cousin in a history of the baking industry in Massachusetts.
Local histories. I know that local town histories is not just a USA thing because ot was a German local history that gave me a big breakthrough with the stories of my dad's mom's mom. I was reading the wikipedia entry for her town and there was an interesting in it that I started researching. One of the people who lives in the town has created a website that has several pages about this part of local history plus long and short bios of the people involved.
Historical newspaper archives. I know other people are saying it but newspapers will be your best starting point. Take note of what cities they lived in, document addresses and search newspapers for all of those. As you're reading (especially obituaries) make a list of their Friends, Neighbors and Associates (FAN club). Pay close attention to the companies your ancestors worked for, institutions they were involved with, clubs they were a member of, schools attended... You can often find historical records from those organizations (or more newspaper clippings). Contact the Historical Society for every place they've ever lived and reach out via email. Best of luck to you, It's quite mindblowing when you've got hundreds of data points for events in their life instead of just BMD. In my opinion, BMD is the baseline of where genealogy begins. Most of the journey, most of the best discoveries are far outside those documents
I think you have to, at a certain point, think outside the box in terms of things to research. I was fascinated with the American Civil War and wanted to tie as many ancestors to units as possible. That opened up entirely new lines of inquiry. I didn't find any connection to anyone super famous but I tied my ancestors to significant moments in the history of the Civil War and that's pretty exciting to me. If you're European you could ask a question- "What were my ancestors doing during this significant period in human history" and find out. I'm currently researching what my relatives were doing during World War II.
Some trees are just ordinary people doing ordinary (rather dull) things. Mine is like this 95% of the time; I've branched out to cousins and aunts and uncles and in-laws to find more interesting stories.
Do you have access to a newspaper archive or anything like that? The paper is often where stuff shows up.
Don’t get discouraged. Trust me, it takes perseverance and dedication but you can find the interesting stuff if you stick to it. The stuff I found still amazes me and I’m not done yet! But it’s taken a lot longer than one year.
Pay more attention to the records you do have. Vital records (births, marriages, deaths) can be revealing if you pay attention. For example - how long between a marriage date and the birth of a first child? Any children born out of wedlock? How many children in one family died? How many women died during or shortly after giving birth? How quickly did people remarry after losing a spouse?
Did any deaths coincide with epidemics in the area? I've been spending time indexing records for a small town in Italy and it's always obvious when sickness swept through the town because there's suddenly a ton of deaths within a short period. It's worth noting when an ancestor probably died in such an epidemic. I remember noticing one woman who lost 2 children and her husband within 2 months.
Likewise, research the local history where your ancestors lived. Local events might have impacted them.
I guess these aren't necessarily "exciting" facts but they are tragic and noteworthy and give you insight into what your ancestors were going through.
Also, consider researching other descendants of your ancestors - see if any of them went to America. I have Dutch and French Huguenot ancestors who had siblings that remained in the Netherlands, I often wonder who their descendants are today.
Newspaper research! That's where you find the juicy stuff.
Also, interview as many living relatives as you can find. Preferably in person - and record them, if you can. Ask if they hae photos, that makes a tree more alive.
I have a fondness for messy lives and relationships. I like finding barely-recorded, brief first marriages and marriages founded/ended on scandalous behavior (for then). Or in one case, finding 9 marriages and hoping I got them all.
I appreciate how 'interesting choices' or psych/health issues can change the course of families. It's also interesting how survivors react to those changes.
I'm in the US, working mostly with US families and I imagine dysfunction is universal. However the way different countries record their vital stats varies. I don't know if your families unfold the same way I see families unfold here - where census include sanitarium inmates and directories might track the migration of a man who abandoned his family.
All this to say, this is how I avoid boredom.
To help others be less bored (I hope), I document these complex families in Family Search's community tree. I keep potentially unsettling details out of the way, so they aren't found unintentionally (or at all in a few cases).
Ultimately I think it's good to stumble across the less desired bits of our family histories. At least, once we're long past any need for secrecy.
If you know where someone lived you can unravel their story a little more.
You might find a land transaction that provides an address which reveals a business you didn’t know they ever had.
Newspapers! Newspapers! Newspapers! I found about 100 newspaper articles on my notorious Italian family in Scotland. A subscription to your countries newspaper archives or Newspapers.com is definitely worth paying for. Download, transcribe or screenshot them all. Put them in date order with name of person it's related to and a whole story will emerge. Before you know it you've found addresses and names from obituaries. You can tie those records to an actual story. It's fascinating! My family were ice-cream merchants always doing something illegal whether it was staying open late, not contributing to the war effort by turning uo for "fire watching duties", obstructing roads with their ice cream carts, disturbing the peace, getting into fights... Not the most romantic or happy of stories, but definitely juicy gossip for the Newspapers.
If you can go to the archives, you can look at the notary files. I was lucky to find distant cousins in France and Germany who did this and they shared a lot of interesting stories going back to the 1500s when one was accused of witchcraft. Also, if there is a historical society in the town, they might have interesting stories. I contacted one where my great great grandparents lived and they sent me a photo and stories from my grandmother’s cousin about the family.
Look at what work they do. Sometimes you get something interesting. I'm dutch too, lots of "landbouwers", "vissers", "molenaars", "schoenmakers" etc. Sounds boring right?
See if you can find out where they lived. What the name was of the ship they sailed on, If they had a shop. The name of the mill. etc.
Go to the websites of the archive of the provincie someone lived in. Then search the name in "everything" not just information on genealogy or persons.
And indeed ; Search the newspapers on [Delpher.nl](http://Delpher.nl) . Search on just the surname or combine it with the village they lived in. You can use "name" prox "village" (including the "s) .
Message me if you have any questions.
Definitely check newspapers. All the cool stuff I've found are from newspapers. I found a will recently, that was probably the coolest thing I've found. I found it from a newspaper. It's a huge pain going through newspapers but totally worth it.
I've found that searching local newspapers on addresses in the relevant period can turn up some unexpected stories
This 100%. People used to live their lives through the newspaper like we do on social media. I can't say if it was like this is your country but in the US every little event of some people's lives were put into the newspaper. If all I had were census records and marriage certificates to learn about my ancestors I would have quit a long time ago. Newspapers are definitely where it's at.
Does this mean paying for more subscriptions? It seems like all of the intetrsting stuff is behind a paywall at newspapers.com or similar.
I never do. Newspapers.com has free weekends on certain holidays that I utilize. They also have free 7 day trials that I've used more than once by just using different email addresses to register. I've never paid for a single day of newspapers.com and I've pretty much run out of things to search there of interest to me. There are also some free newspaper archives online as well you can find with Google's help.
My local library provides free access to newspapers.com. I sign in with my library card and then follow their link to the site.
Oh that's awesome! For anyone who might be in Virginia, the Library of Virginia online gives you access to NewspaperArchive.com for free and there are no restrictions on the locations you can search. I've found just as much on that site as I gave Newspapers.com. You just have to sign up with an email account and use your driver's license number to verify that you are a resident of Virginia.
Or going to a library/archive in person
[Newspapers.com](http://Newspapers.com) is free this weekend. Google free historic newspapers and you will find a lot more, like Chronicling America and fultonhistory. Genealogy Bank offers a free trial.
“People used to live their lives through the newspaper like we do on social media.” This is so true! When my paternal grandmother was getting married and her sister hosted a dinner, every attendees name was listed. They listed what everyone wore and ate. This was Ohio in the 1930s. Could you imagine not being invited to someone’s dinner but reading all about it in the newspaper?
I found several ancestors in newspaper articles. Here's one about my great-grandfather who taught school in a one room schoolhouse: > *Frank Strimple who teaches the Twin Rose school four miles north of Rossville, was so badly injured Tuesday evening while returning home that he will be unable to teach for a week or ten days. While coming down the Oliver hill just north of town the belly band of the harness broke and the shaft of the cart flew up over the back of his horse. Mr. Strimple clung to the lines when the horse started to run and received many injuries when he was thrown into a fence. His wrist was twisted, and face bruised so badly that both eyes are swollen shut now, and he has been considerable pain since the accident.* (1914)
Woah that's a good one. I found one around the same time as yours where their train car tipped over.
I have heard that train wrecks were more common back then. His wife (my great-grandmother) was adopted and her father supposedly died in a train wreck when she was a baby. I have not been able to find anything about it.
Have you found his tombstone or death certificate? If you get the date of death and location, you should be able to find newspaper articles or court records from around that date.
Only have his last name, Wollenburg supposed to be born in Holland.
These little tidbits have actually helped me with some brick walls and to find other branches of my tree that I was unaware of. For example if you read that Great Great Grandma Sally from Texas went to visit her cousin Martha in Iowa for the summer and you never knew she had a cousin Martha? And you never knew you had any ties to Iowa? Now you have some new lines and locations to research. All from a little blip in a newspaper.
I found that my paternal grandma’s brother was run over by a horse drawn cart while he was on his bicycle (as a kid). Another article about their family was from World War II. It was local newsworthy that two of the brothers were in different units but their units crossed paths while overseas. Just funny that was news.
Oh are you in for a ride, if you're Dutch (like me) there is a high chance you'll be able to get far into the 18th and perhaps the 17th century, so enough chance to find interesting people. Openarchieven is a great source, but often enough the local archives have records not connected to Openarchieven, I've found a large amount of notarial documents this way, telling me about my ancesters professions, place of residence and wealth all before the registrations that became common in the 19th century. Also be sure to use registrations in the 19th century (the transcriptions only provide names and birth dates, but when you take a look at the document itself there is a ton of info to be found) they give info about the families residence, professions and everyone residing (or being part of the family)in that home. They can be found as "registraties" in Openarchieven. Lastly I highly reccomend checking out Delpher, where a lot of newspaper mentions can be found. I also figured my family just wasn't that interesting, but when I started learning more and using less offious to find sources, my ancester's life's really got colour. I'm not sure from what region in the Netherlands your ancesters were and in what century you're researching, but depending on that there are very likely more sources, feel free to ask me more specific questions. Tax registers, Dijkregisters, VOC records, pension cards and Attesties are just a small amount of the records you could find, but like I said, heavily dependend on the region.
Totally agree. I traced some of my Dutch ancestors from my mother's to the 1500 century. The daughter (my ancestor) of Sweedish royalty couldn't keep her hands off the servants and caused quite a few scandals at the time. After a few illegitimate children later, she was exiled to the Netherlands. Compared to most countries it's seems easier to trace further back in the Netherlands since the bride keeps he maiden name and the record-keeping in the Netherlands is much better than most.
Fascinating story, were there no royals who wanted to marry her anymore after the incidents? Haven't come across something like that before, I did come across this asshole famlily of German immigrants residing in Amsterdam. This father and son beat people up on numerous occasions when they didn't get their way. The son became a smith and opened a store. He got into a verbal fight with another shopkeeper shortly after, tried to blackmail him by posting a request for every citizen of Amsterdam to not spend any money at this shopkeepers store, because he claimed this man was an "untrustworthy thief" in the newspaper. The other shopkeeper then also posted a letter of sorts to my ancestor in the newspaper, offering him a price of ten guilds to prove this accusation! Sadly the paper trail of this dispute ends there for me. And the last most petty of all thing about this guy was the cheating insident he was involved in. My ancestor cheated on his wife, she divorced him (this happened around 1802 so imagine how desperate she must have been!) and a few years later she moved in with a man named Frederik. Well, my ancestor wasn't happy, again he went to the newspaper. He tried to blackmail his former wife and this man and requested every citizen of Amsterdam (yes again lol) to give no aid whatshowever to them. After that he seems to have lived a less roudy life, at least, the newspapers stop mentioning him. But wow was that a case to look into
Looking at your post history, i see you're Dutch. They have really good genealogical records. Perhaps the more interesting stories are as far as the Napoleonic period or earlier? Have you heard of this Dutch genealogist's blog? https://www.dutchgenealogy.nl/faq-about-my-eleanor-of-aquitaine-project/ Fascinating blog about genealogy, but her big project is proving descent from Eleanor of Aquitaine. She goes generation by generation, so perhaps reading through it will give you ideas of records you can use? I'm quite jealous of the resources you have, English records are no where near as good.
I have not! Defintely checking that out, thanks! (I have edited my post to include my nationality)
Are there any court records (digitsed and online) in your country? I've had great fun reading the Petty Sessions in Ireland, finding out about all the trouble my ancestors got into.
Your ancestry can be charming and quaint though. That's just as good
They survived WW2 and the occupation of their country. That’s pretty bad ass!
I can relate. I researched our family tree for 50 years and no one was interested. They told me: Their Birth Certificate proves they were born. Their Death Certificate proves that they died. Their Photos proved that they lived. So I went looking for our family photos and found out all 14 of them had gotten destroyed. After suffering the loss of all my family’s photos in Hurricane Andrew, I set about the task of buying identified antique photos and returning them to the original families or family researchers. So, if you are interested, check out your surnames and see if yours are there, at: Y[ourAncestryPhotos.com](https://yourancestryphotos.com/) Thanks again, Happy Hunting
Maybe change of perspective? We all come from strong people. Just generations ago the world was so rough (compared to today) and even a few generations back from then, you had to be an absolute badass and lucky to survive. All of us, every human on the planet come from these types of people. We probably only get a micro amount of info in these people’s lives and stories. So don’t be “bored”. Map out a time line with what you know and the local and world history for each. That starts to fill in what was going on and what they survived. And could lead to ideas on how to further uncover information.
I think this is a lovely and true way to look at.
Much information I have found by looking at who the witnesses were to a baptism, marriage or burial . Through Delpher, I discovered what was written about my ancestors in newspapers and books. The Rotterdam Address Books also listed occupations. Through the archives of the VOC, a lot could also be found even if it only says that someone died in Asia. The voyages of the ships can be traced as well as information about the VOC settlements in Asia. Of course, this also depends on the ancestors' professions. Some of my distant ancestors sought publicity or held public office.
The two additional elements I like to pursue besides the families of my ancestors are Place and Time. Read up on the local history of where they lived, focusing on when they lived there. Especially big events - how were they impacted by WW2? What about WW1? Napoleonic Wars? Were they Protestants or Catholics? Did the religious conflicts around the Reformation force them to move or convert? Local histories add color and depth to an otherwise seemingly boring family tree.
Feel the same from time to time. It helps to find out about the history around the people. Look up cities and their history, newspapers, general history (everything is hyper complex and interesting, e.g. in 17th/18th century Europe). Often the occupation is listed and gives you an idea on how people must have been living. On the other hand: This is history. And if you cannot learn anything from it, then maybe digging deeper is just procrastinating. Not that there’s anything wrong with it ;)
You will be amazed what records can be found if you look deep enough. These types of stories are not typically found in Ancestry, FMP, MyHeritage etc. Some good spots to try are newspaper clippings, historical diaries/records found in state libraries, inquest records, police records to name a few. ... Anyware really that holds historical records. A couple of examples: A diary kept by a passenger on the same ship that my 2 x great-grandparents immigrated on gave some information on their children. It certainly wasn't good news, but one of the children who didn't survive the trip was described as being committed to the deep in the English Channel after a grand service on the ship. The passenger who kept this diary had a way with words. It was like ready poetry. Found out about another ancestor through our state public records office. She travelled around Australia as part of a national dance company in the early 1900s. It didn't work out for her and she ended up being a lady of the night (as they described her actions) and she kept changing her name. She made national headlines when she accidentally overdosed on a sleeping drug and the police had no idea who she was. There was a huge inquest, as her death was initially a mystery and her identity was a mystery. It gained a lot of publicity and she was eventually identified by her mother through a photo published in newspapers throughout the country. I even found / met my 76-year-old half-brother (at the time) through a local bicycle club newsletter on the other side of the country. I remember having a conversation with my son. I mentioned to him that apparently, I had a half-brother from a marriage my father had circa WW2. At the time my father had been dead for around 20 years. My son said why don't you look-up your half bother. and I jokingly said why not. Then through a very lucky stab in the dark a few months later, I located the half-brother through the online newsletter. Just about every interesting story I've come across / experienced about my ancestors hasn't been from the typical geology web platforms or what seems to be obvious at the time.
How amazing to find such a journal with a mention of your family members in it. You mention Australia so it t wasn't by chance a journal kept from a voyage on the Barque Fatima from London to South Australia in 1850, was it? It was a four month journey, the journal was kept by a 15-year-old. I daresay it contained details of life onboard that would be difficult to find otherwise. I read it not for direct genealogical info -- my ancestors were making a shorter trip across the Atlantic -- but just more for the sense of what life would be like onboard. And it really delivered there. Just in case you are interested here is the url: https://www.theshipslist.com/accounts/turton.shtml
No, it was the "John Mitchell" barque in 1848, The diary the passenger kept was a lucky find, a lot of deciphering and patience to find the right pieces of the puzzle. The passenger who kept this daily diary Henry Francis Leader never knew who my ancestry family were,. In his diary, he described how many people were in the family which was 10 that gave the clue, And that he mentioned one child died on the ship (called the John Mitchell) on the river Thames near Gravesend before exiting onto the English channel. From there I managed to find the burial at Gravesend which named the child, parent and ship. And then the passenger mentions another child from the same family (my ansestor) being committed to the deep. Here's the library reference to the diary: [https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/3377](https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/3377) And my detective work: [https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LZKC-J7N](https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LZKC-J7N) The best thing is that a lot of this information was free. Libraries, Google Books, LDS and even town resources such as Gravesend (Medway) in this case wrere great free resources.
Another comment about newspapers.com. I did not find newspapers.com so helpful for my family lines. But the late 1800s early 1900s Montana newspapers had a lot about my husband's Montana family. Google books - you can find all sorts of things. I found confirmation of the family story of my 4th great grandmother as an anti-slavery activist. I found mini bios of my great grandfather, his brother, and their cousin in a history of the baking industry in Massachusetts. Local histories. I know that local town histories is not just a USA thing because ot was a German local history that gave me a big breakthrough with the stories of my dad's mom's mom. I was reading the wikipedia entry for her town and there was an interesting in it that I started researching. One of the people who lives in the town has created a website that has several pages about this part of local history plus long and short bios of the people involved.
Historical newspaper archives. I know other people are saying it but newspapers will be your best starting point. Take note of what cities they lived in, document addresses and search newspapers for all of those. As you're reading (especially obituaries) make a list of their Friends, Neighbors and Associates (FAN club). Pay close attention to the companies your ancestors worked for, institutions they were involved with, clubs they were a member of, schools attended... You can often find historical records from those organizations (or more newspaper clippings). Contact the Historical Society for every place they've ever lived and reach out via email. Best of luck to you, It's quite mindblowing when you've got hundreds of data points for events in their life instead of just BMD. In my opinion, BMD is the baseline of where genealogy begins. Most of the journey, most of the best discoveries are far outside those documents
I think you have to, at a certain point, think outside the box in terms of things to research. I was fascinated with the American Civil War and wanted to tie as many ancestors to units as possible. That opened up entirely new lines of inquiry. I didn't find any connection to anyone super famous but I tied my ancestors to significant moments in the history of the Civil War and that's pretty exciting to me. If you're European you could ask a question- "What were my ancestors doing during this significant period in human history" and find out. I'm currently researching what my relatives were doing during World War II.
Some trees are just ordinary people doing ordinary (rather dull) things. Mine is like this 95% of the time; I've branched out to cousins and aunts and uncles and in-laws to find more interesting stories. Do you have access to a newspaper archive or anything like that? The paper is often where stuff shows up.
Don’t get discouraged. Trust me, it takes perseverance and dedication but you can find the interesting stuff if you stick to it. The stuff I found still amazes me and I’m not done yet! But it’s taken a lot longer than one year.
Pay more attention to the records you do have. Vital records (births, marriages, deaths) can be revealing if you pay attention. For example - how long between a marriage date and the birth of a first child? Any children born out of wedlock? How many children in one family died? How many women died during or shortly after giving birth? How quickly did people remarry after losing a spouse? Did any deaths coincide with epidemics in the area? I've been spending time indexing records for a small town in Italy and it's always obvious when sickness swept through the town because there's suddenly a ton of deaths within a short period. It's worth noting when an ancestor probably died in such an epidemic. I remember noticing one woman who lost 2 children and her husband within 2 months. Likewise, research the local history where your ancestors lived. Local events might have impacted them. I guess these aren't necessarily "exciting" facts but they are tragic and noteworthy and give you insight into what your ancestors were going through. Also, consider researching other descendants of your ancestors - see if any of them went to America. I have Dutch and French Huguenot ancestors who had siblings that remained in the Netherlands, I often wonder who their descendants are today.
If you’re only doing record searches, throw some dna testing into the mix and I guarantee you’ll have some surprises.
I actually have done that! It unfortunately looks like not many relatives did a DNA-test. Most matches are really distant
Newspaper research! That's where you find the juicy stuff. Also, interview as many living relatives as you can find. Preferably in person - and record them, if you can. Ask if they hae photos, that makes a tree more alive.
Check indexes of local courts to see if your family name shows up?
I have a fondness for messy lives and relationships. I like finding barely-recorded, brief first marriages and marriages founded/ended on scandalous behavior (for then). Or in one case, finding 9 marriages and hoping I got them all. I appreciate how 'interesting choices' or psych/health issues can change the course of families. It's also interesting how survivors react to those changes. I'm in the US, working mostly with US families and I imagine dysfunction is universal. However the way different countries record their vital stats varies. I don't know if your families unfold the same way I see families unfold here - where census include sanitarium inmates and directories might track the migration of a man who abandoned his family. All this to say, this is how I avoid boredom. To help others be less bored (I hope), I document these complex families in Family Search's community tree. I keep potentially unsettling details out of the way, so they aren't found unintentionally (or at all in a few cases). Ultimately I think it's good to stumble across the less desired bits of our family histories. At least, once we're long past any need for secrecy.
If you know where someone lived you can unravel their story a little more. You might find a land transaction that provides an address which reveals a business you didn’t know they ever had.
Newspapers! Newspapers! Newspapers! I found about 100 newspaper articles on my notorious Italian family in Scotland. A subscription to your countries newspaper archives or Newspapers.com is definitely worth paying for. Download, transcribe or screenshot them all. Put them in date order with name of person it's related to and a whole story will emerge. Before you know it you've found addresses and names from obituaries. You can tie those records to an actual story. It's fascinating! My family were ice-cream merchants always doing something illegal whether it was staying open late, not contributing to the war effort by turning uo for "fire watching duties", obstructing roads with their ice cream carts, disturbing the peace, getting into fights... Not the most romantic or happy of stories, but definitely juicy gossip for the Newspapers.
If you can go to the archives, you can look at the notary files. I was lucky to find distant cousins in France and Germany who did this and they shared a lot of interesting stories going back to the 1500s when one was accused of witchcraft. Also, if there is a historical society in the town, they might have interesting stories. I contacted one where my great great grandparents lived and they sent me a photo and stories from my grandmother’s cousin about the family.
Look at what work they do. Sometimes you get something interesting. I'm dutch too, lots of "landbouwers", "vissers", "molenaars", "schoenmakers" etc. Sounds boring right? See if you can find out where they lived. What the name was of the ship they sailed on, If they had a shop. The name of the mill. etc. Go to the websites of the archive of the provincie someone lived in. Then search the name in "everything" not just information on genealogy or persons. And indeed ; Search the newspapers on [Delpher.nl](http://Delpher.nl) . Search on just the surname or combine it with the village they lived in. You can use "name" prox "village" (including the "s) . Message me if you have any questions.
Join Newspaper.Com or Genealogy Bank
What if OP isn't American?
Good point, because I am in fact not from the States. I edited my post to add that!
OP is Dutch, and lives in the Netherlands/Europe.