This month I've been plugging in ancestor names to MyHeritage's OldNews.com newspaper site, looking for articles I haven't yet seen. In the past I've searched Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank, now I'm working through the family tree names on OldNews, which has different holdings.
For female ancestors, use multiple search strategies
For female ancestors, I search their maiden names and their married names, with their given name and with their husband's given name. I never know whether a woman (such as my late mom-in-law) will be referred to as Mrs. Marian Wood, Mrs. Marian M. Wood, Mrs. Edgar Wood, Mrs. Edgar J. Wood, etc. I try them all!
Above, the search query and result from my search for my late mother-in-law, Mrs. Edgar Wood (Marian Jane McClure Wood, 1909-1983). She and her husband, Edgar J. Wood (1903-1986) were active in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in East Cleveland, Ohio. But this item in the news from December of 1961 revealed something fascinating that hubby didn't know or remember.
Wait, what?
We knew that my husband's mother, an accomplished ceramic artist who trained under renowned sculpturist Edris Eckhardt, had made a set of creche figures displayed at St. Paul's Church each December. We weren't aware that she had made a set of creche figures that she gave to Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C,. according to this news item.
What?! Rather exciting to think that hubby's mom made creche figures that are in the collection of this famous cathedral!
But just to be sure, I emailed the archivist at the cathedral to ask for confirmation. I wrote that I would offer a bit of biographical background on Mrs. Edgar Wood for their files, if indeed the creche figures are really in the cathedral's collection. Watch this space for news once I get an answer. And redo your research on different sites, because hidden gems like this sometimes turn up unexpectedly!
