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November 2015 Newsletter


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Obituaries – Don’t Make This Genealogy Mistake

This is a typical newspaper obituary.
It gives the usual genealogical information, including her name (Ella M. Crofoot), age, & date and place of birth.

Stamford Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut), 17 February 1970, page 6

I could easily transcribe this information and move on to the next relative to research in my family tree – but that would be a mistake.

Why?
I have her obituary – isn’t that what I came for?

Historical newspapers often published two items about the deceased: the obituary and the more compact "death notice."

Death notices come in all shapes and sizes, and vary from newspaper to newspaper – but, you must look for them while doing your genealogy research or you will miss important clues.

For example: on the same page of that newspaper, further down along the far right column, there is Ella’s "death notice."

Stamford Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut), 17 February 1970, page 6

Comparing both news articles, we quickly see that additional relatives are named in the death notice:

"Aunt of Lawrence T. Kemp, Mrs. Olive Skinner, Mrs. Hazel Randall, and Mrs. Ruth Brush."

Good thing we checked or we’d have missed four family members.

Genealogy Search Tip: Always check for both the Obituary AND the Death Notice. You’ll likely be glad that you did.