United States Local Events, Political Meetings, Gossip in Newspapers - International Institute

Social Events
One thing that appears to be common of most newspapers is the comings and goings of the residents of the town. Learning who has gone to visit family or who is returning from vacation. The comings and goings of the townspeople may hold a clue to relatives living elsewhere, giving you another avenue in your research.

Social Items The Atlanta Constitution, September 2, 1910, Atlanta, Georgia.



Society Events
Similar to the social events there are also the society events. These are the reportings of the comings and goings of the rich, famous, infamous, and talked about residents.

Don’t dismiss these sections of the newspaper. While you may not consider your ancestor particularly affluent, it is possible you have underestimated the interest the community had in your ancestor.

The more time you spend working in a given community, working with city directories, census and other records, the more these names will become recognizable, and perhaps you may notice additional connections between individuals invited to a party or listed at some other gathering than just the simple fact that they were at the same event.

Church Events
Church events can mean almost anything going on at the church. Most of the time you will find mention in Sunday or Monday issues of newspapers about what has been going on and if they were having a guest preacher. Other times you may find that there is a special bizarre or other event.

If nothing else, going through the church sections of the newspapers will familiarize you with what churches were in the town and often where they were located. Many of the newspapers list the cross streets where the church stood in any mention of its events.

Fraternal Organizations’ Meetings and Events
Our ancestors often joined fraternal organizations. They may have joined one because of their religious beliefs, or as a result of their occupation. There were many different benevolent and social organizations that are today lumped under the term fraternal societies. Learning what associations may have existed in a particular city or town may be possible through the newspapers of the area.

List of fraternal meetings in Chester, Pennsylvania Chester Times, February 12, 1883.



In the above example, we know that there were meetings of the:


 * Improved Order of Red Men (I.O.R.M.)
 * Knights of Pythias (K. of P.)
 * Philoatheans
 * International Order of Good Templars (I.O.G.T.)
 * Brotherhood of the Union
 * Sons of Temperance (S. of T.)

If you know that your ancestor was involved with the temperance movement in Pennsylvania, then it is possible that he was a member of either the International Order of Good Templars or the Sons of Temperance, which were both temperance societies.

You may also found out about certain members and if they are sick or have passed away. We have already seen an interesting memorial published by a deceased’s Masonic brothers, but you may also find notes on specific members listed under the fraternal organization’s section of the newspaper.

The founding of given camps or lodges may help you in determining which lodge your ancestor may have joined. Announcements such as this one celebrating a first anniversary let you know that if your ancestor lived in the area for awhile, he likely joined a different camp or lodge though he may have transferred in to the newly formed one.

Whenever you are working with newspapers, it is a good idea to keep in mind that there may be a slant in the reporting of that newspaper. And when it comes to fraternal organizations, there is at least one newspaper that was published to print news showing how bad the Freemasons were. It also published other information, but it looked for editorials and other news that put the Freemasons in a bad light.

Figure 26: Mason Murder This opening paragraph establishes the fact that the editor does not believe the Masons are good individuals.Anti Masonic Star, August 8, 1830, New Oxford, Pennsylvania.



Political Meetings
While all newspapers will print information about those running for office or the results of the elections, there are also times when local meetings are announced and those involved in the group may be identified. This may help you in learning what political persuasion your ancestor followed.

Gossip
Gossip seems to be every where we go. It has been going around since there were two people to talk to each other about a third. And it finds its way into newspapers as well. In some instances the term was used to share additional information about other events. Where as the court listings may only mention the trials that are taking place, when looking at the Court Gossip section, you may find additional information about particular trials and how they are going or what certain witnesses said or what the lawyers did.

Local news makes up a great deal of the paper, but there are still many other important things to be found through the pages of the town’s source of news about their town and the world

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course US: Newspaper Records offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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