With My Library Card, Finding Out "Who's in the Paper"

Most of my mother's Farkas family lived in and around New York City from the early 1900s to the 1980s (and for some, beyond). For them, the New York Times was the "paper of record" for key family events announced via paid notices. In particular, it was a way to let relatives and friends know when and where a funeral would be held, via a paid death notice.

This week's #52Ancestors prompt by Amy Johnson Crow motivated me to finish searching for the death notices of my Farkas great aunts and great uncles. As it happened, none of the family deaths occurred during the big multi-paper New York City strike, December 1962-March 1963, or the later Times strike of 1965.

My parents were accustomed to buying at least two papers a day (morning and evening) and a third on Sunday for the color comics (remember Dondi?), so they really felt the loss of printed news and paid notices.

Searching for Free with My Library Card

Happily for me, I can search the New York Times for free, from home, with my local library card, to gather those paid notices. How? Here in Connecticut, a local library card allows me to access databases, like ProQuest newspapers and HeritageQuest, through the Connecticut State Library. And no more microfilm!

As shown above, I entered the name of my ancestor in the search box and narrowed the period to be searched to the 1940s. Even though I know his exact death date, death notices might be printed on that day or a day or two later. I didn't want to restrict my search too much.

Then I selected the sort for "most recent" articles to be presented first, since he died in the late 1940s.

After only a few clicks, I had his paid death notice. Repeating the process, I quickly found the paid death notices of a handful of his other siblings. I used these to verify the date of burial, as well.

Reading for More than Family Names

As shown at right, in some cases the paid death notices included a tribute from an employer or a trade association.

Here, my great uncle Albert was being remembered by the American Cloak and Suit Manufacturers Assn, which he had served as President and as an executive board member.

Although I was aware of Albert's occupation, from family stories and from documents like Census records and draft cards, I would never have known about his work for the industry without this extra notice in the newspaper.