First, learn about free sites, subscription sites and lesser-known ways for identifying and locating newspapers. Also learn strategies on searching for common surnames and forenames, as well as how to overcome the numerous spelling mistakes in newspaper searching. After understanding the "intentional" ways a name might appear differently than expected, learn about unintentional mistakes that creep in due to OCR technology and how to allow for these (Roddy = Rocldv). Finally learn how spreadsheets can track spelling and OCR variants to make sure researchers perform a thorough and reasonably exhaustive search of newspaper records.
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by Jen Baldwin |
Mary Roddy, a Certified Public Accountant, has been a genealogist since 2000, becoming interested in the subject in anticipation of an extended trip to Ireland. She earned a certificate from the Genealogy and Family History program at the University of Washington in 2005. She lectures frequently on various genealogical topics in the Seattle area and at conferences across the country. She has written a number of articles for Internet Genealogy, Family Chronicle (now Your Genealogy Today) as well as Speak! (the publication of the Genealogical Speakers Guild) and FGS Forum. Mary also writes a regular blog at www.mkrgenealogy.com/searching-for-stories-blog. She is a participant in ProGen 31.
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