Old Newspaper Spin

Just as newspapers today tend to take sides in politics, they did in the past as well. This can sometimes make it difficult to know how much one can believe when our ancestors turn up in the local press. I was recently reminded of this. I'm currently reading an engaging book about James A. Garfield (Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard) and the events leading up to and following his assassination in 1881. The book recalled to mind an article that appeared in the Kalamazoo Telegraph describing how one of my ancestors decided to go against his prior political leanings to support Garfield. “As [Edward Flynn] expresses it, he has not left the democratic party, but the party itself has left the union sentiments to which he, as an old soldier, feels deeply devoted. He has felt very loth to leave old political ties and associations but he feels too deeply the convictions to which he devoted his life all through the [Civil] war.” [1] As a result of his public declaration, “Mr. Flynn meets with all kinds of petty meannesses [sic] from his late political friends on his change of affiliation.” [1]

Because the Telegraph lauded Flynn for his switch, the Kalamazoo Gazette simply couldn't resist responding. The Gazette cited two unnamed members of Flynn's company. “They both agreed that Flynn, while in the army was a republican, and the most complete shirk and slink in the company, and spent three quarters of his time on the sick list.” [2]

Not to be outdone, the Telegraph published a rebuttal. “Jealousy has excited the publishers of the Gazette to pitch into Edward Flynn for coming over to the Garfield side. We are reliably informed by a soldier who served with Flynn in the same company that he served his three years faithfully and then re-enlisted, participated with his company in all the battles under McClellan and was present at the battles of Blackburn's Ford, Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hills, last battle of Bull Run, etc.” [3] Edward Flynn, the Telegraph said was “one of the 19 soldiers of Co. I of the old Second who served through the war and came out alive.” [1]

So, what should I believe? If I only had the articles from a single newspaper it would greatly color how I viewed my gg-grandfather. Fortunately, I have both. I also have Edward's Civil War pension application file. While I know that these files are, by definition, a vehicle for complaining about physical ailments, I must say that even after examining the files for about a dozen of my kin, Edward strikes me as a bit of a complainer. In his favor, I should state that near the end of his service (1 June 1865), Edward had been promoted to the rank of Corporal. [4] While I'm not a military expert, it seems to me that Edward wouldn't have been promoted if he had shirked his duty for much of the war as alleged by the Gazette sources. While that is circumstantial evidence, Oliver Caruthers, a Corporal in Edward's unit stated “Flynn was in my squad most of the time. I remember that sometimes it was pretty hard for him to march and he complained of being stiff and sore but he kept up with the company. He was a good soldier.” [5] In regard to Edward receiving assistance in getting around Caruthers recalled “I do know that [Flynn] never would accept or ask any favors so long as [he] could help [himself].” [5]

So, what do I believe? Despite the mud-slinging I think I can accept some of the basics, primarily because I have the pension file for backup. I don't think Edward was a slink or a shirk because his record simply doesn't support that conclusion. Among other things, he enlisted ten days after the attack on Fort Sumter, re-enlisted after his three year term expired and served until his discharge at the end of July 1865. [4] However, the claim of being frequently on the sick list has more merit. Edward was in the hospital at least once for rheumatism. [5] Some of his comrades may also have believed him to be a shirk and a slink because he was at least twice on detached service, once in the ambulance corps for about seven months and another time as a provost guard for just over nine months. [4] The bottom line is that you should always take stories (whether family lore or from newspapers) with a grain of salt, analyze what you find and try to corroborate what you can before you draw any conclusions. Newspapers can be a great resource in the absence of other information, but I'm sure we've all seen enough mistakes in obituaries to know that we shouldn't believe everything we read.

1. “Out For Garfield,” Kalamazoo [Mich.] Daily Telegraph, 31 August 1880, page 1, column 2, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library (http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 12 January 2013), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
2. Kalamazoo [Mich.] Gazette, 4 September 1880, digital images, Genealogy Bank (http://www.genealogybank.com: accessed 26 March 2011), Kalamazoo Gazette Collection.
3. Kalamazoo [Mich.] Daily Telegraph, 14 September 1880, page 1, column 6, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library (http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 12 January 2013), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
4. Compiled Service Record, Edward Flynn, Cpl, Co. I, 2^nd Michigan Inf.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
5. Deposition of Oliver Caruthers (Deposition C), Edward A. Flynn (Cpl., Co. I, 2^nd MI. Inf., Civil War), application no. 83,138, certificate no. 63,675, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications. . ., 1861-1934; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Losing Local Newspapers

I'm always excited when I discover a reference to one of my people in an old newspaper. Whether I learn something good or bad, every little tidbit teaches me something about those long dead relatives that I might not be able to find out any other way.

This makes me wonder what new resources genealogists a hundred years from now will have to replace the local newspaper. While some places still have a locally produced paper that focuses on area residents, businesses and events, other places are seeing this vanish. My mother has complained to me for at least a year that the Kalamazoo Gazette has less and less local coverage.

I know some Kalamazoo news stories now appear online, but I suspect that things that may have appeared in the print paper wouldn't be deemed important enough to end up in cyberspace. Of course, as Kalamazoo increased in population it reached a point where there was less interaction among members of the community. As a consequence, the items that appeared in the Kalamazoo Gazette over a hundred years ago like Mrs. Smith visiting her daughter in St. Louis, for example, understandably disappeared.

I'm sure that in this digital age, traces of our lives will still be around for our descendents. Maybe a database of old Facebook or Twitter posts, YouTube videos or even our browsing history will provide a look into our lives. Will these sources provide more or less information about us? In some ways, it could be both, but when we all publish information about ourselves it is likely biased. Do you know anyone who would post something really negative about themselves? Future generations may gain in the quantity of information available about us, but they may lose any objectivity (or at least willingness to publish the negative) that old newspapers provide us about our ancestors. Only time will tell for certain.

More Newspapers Online at the KPL

Several additional Kalamazoo area newspapers have now been digitized and can be searched at the Kalamazoo Public Library website (click here to go directly to the search page). They are listed under Miscellaneous Kalamazoo Publications. While I cannot personally verify that all issues are in the database, given the limited run of these papers I would be surprised if they weren't. The following papers are now available for perusal.

Kalamazoo Advocate:               Dec. 30, 1921 to Jun. 30, 1922

Kalamazoo Evening News:        Apr. 1, 1898 to Mar. 20, 1900

Kalamazoo Evening Press:        Feb. 9, 1909 to May 13, 1911

Kalamazoo Star:                       Oct. 9, 1921 to Dec. 31, 1921

The People:                              Mar. 7, 1918 to Jun. 8, 1922

Trench & Camp (Fort Custer):   Oct. 22, 1917 to Nov. 14, 1918

Publication dates come from the KPL website.

I want to thank the Kalamazoo Public Library for all they do. In this age of belt-tightening the fact that they continue to devote staff and money to promoting Kalamazoo history (and making it available online) speaks to their commitment to the community.

*Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the library. I'm just a fan.

No Stranger to the Law: Henry Harrigan

You may recall in an early post about using newspapers I described how Henry Harrigan was arrested in New York City in 1889 for fatally injuring a man. To refresh your memory, Henry had been touring New York on the horse racing circuit. One night, after leaving a bar, Henry scuffled with a man he claimed he didn't know, despite rumors to the contrary. [1,2,3,4] Henry whacked Patrick Reedy over the head with his silver-headed cane, fracturing his skull. [2,5] Days later after refusing a trepanning procedure to relieve the swelling of his brain, Reedy died. [5] Meanwhile, Henry, after being released on bail for the assault, lost the then huge sum of $6000 on a single horse race. [2,4,5] According to the rumors, Harrigan and Reedy were acquainted and “the fatal blow was struck during a quarrel,” contrary to Henry's testimony that he was the victim of a robbery attempt. If I had to guess I would speculate their argument had to do with money and horse racing. [3] Apparently, Reedy's father worked as a hostler (a man who tended the horses) at the Saratoga race track, a place Henry certainly would have been to bet on the races. [2] Coincidence? Luckily for Henry, the coroner's jury quickly exonerated “the tall, muscular, well dressed young man” with the “blonde mustache and keen blue eyes.” [2,6]

You may also remember reading about Henry in connection with the violent death of his father, John Harrigan, ostensibly of suicide. I posted a photograph of Henry's flowing signature written just hours after John's death. Even if Henry had nothing to do with his father's death, his perfect signature at the inquest indicates to me that he didn't appeared at all bothered by his father's death (Who Done It?).

What I now refer to as “the Reedy incident,” however, was not Henry's first brush with the law. In May of 1876, less than a year after his father's death, Henry (then eighteen) was in serious trouble. The Kalamazoo Telegraph reported “Henry Harrigan was arraigned before Justice Davis today for assault and battery, he having been a prominent actor in forcibly entering a woman's house, to get a ball that had been knocked through the window. The woman was treated with violence, during the act of recovering the ball. Harrigan was sent up to Detroit for ninety days.” [7] Henry was presumably honing his baseball skills, a pastime he took up shortly before his father's death, when the above assault occurred.

Also in 1876, Henry was involved in a criminal case that I can find no record of other than a single line in the Kalamazoo Gazette. The committee on claims of witnesses in criminal cases submitted their report. In the case of Roland C. Maley, People vs. H.D. Harrigan, claims were made in the amount of $217 and were recommended to be allowed. [8] A search of criminal court cases in Kalamazoo county during this period turned up nothing and I can find no other newspaper references to Roland Maley so I am left to wonder if it related to the May 1876 assault or something entirely different.

A couple of years later, Henry actually hopped a train in a vain attempt to evade arrest. When he heard he was to be arrested for larceny, Henry caught a train leaving Kalamazoo. The pursuing officer, Travis, discovered him in the baggage car. “Harrigan jumped off and Travis after him, the train all the time flying south. As the hind car came along Harrigan again got on and Travis after him. Finally Travis caught hold of H. just as the latter's coat was pretty well shattered; he surrendered. By this time the train was over the Portage, but it stopped, and Travis came back with his prisoner.” [9]

In 1883, Henry discovered what it was like to be on the other end of things when Henry Giddings attempted to shoot him after the two “had some words.” [10] Giddings was sent to Ionia for ninety days. [11] I have found nothing to indicate what this argument was about and as in the 1876 case, no court records were found. I wouldn't be shocked to learn it involved money.

Three years later, another incident came before the courts and again Henry was in the middle of it. A prominent physician, Eugene Southard, charged Henry and three others with “winning money of him at a game of chance in violation of” the gambling acts. [12] Southard claimed that he had lost about $400 “and that faro is the seductive game of chance by which he lost it.” [12] The case was eventually discontinued. [13] According to Henry's account it was only a coincidence that he was closing up his gambling house in Kalamazoo in search of “green pastures and longer grass” mere days after the Southard case was over. [14] The actual reason he was moving on, he claimed, was that he felt bad for the families of the “poor devils” who earned but $1-2 per day and gambled away $12-15 at a time, leaving their wives and children without sufficient food for the week. [14] “Gentleman Hank” alleged “it's many a dollar I have given back after having fairly won it – when I knew the loser to be a worthless, improvident cuss.” [14]

Henry asserted that he had been in the gambling business for about fifteen years and been “tolerably successful.” [14] He said “probably if I had devoted as much attention and study to some other profession as I have to gambling I would be respected a good deal more and be just as well off. I was drawn into it, however, and will probably always stay at it.” [14] He ended his little speech by saying “There is no one who holds his word more sacred than a gambler and no one in whose promise one can put more implicit trust.” [14] I suspect that “gentleman Hank” could have had a successful career in politics.

1. New York Times, 8-31-1889
2. New York Herald, 9-6-1889
3. New York Times, 9-6-1889
4. Kalamazoo Gazette, 9-7-1889
5. New York World, 9-6-1889, P2, col7
6. Kalamazoo Gazette, 9-10-1889
7. Kalamazoo Telegraph, 5-4-1876, P4, col3
8. Kalamazoo Gazette, 10-28-1876
9. Kalamazoo Telegraph, 6-10-1878, P4, col3
10. Kalamazoo Gazette, 4-20-1883
11. Kalamazoo Gazette, 4-27-1883
12. Kalamazoo Gazette, 5-15-1886
13. Kalamazoo Gazette, 5-21-1886, P4
14. Kalamazoo Gazette, 5-23-1886

More Newspapers Online at the KPL!

Since I first wrote about the Kalamazoo Telegraph coming online at the Kalamazoo Public Library website, more digitization has been completed. The year range of the Telegraph now extends into the 20^th century. In addition, some new titles have been added. As of late June, 2012 the following newspapers can be searched at: http://www.kpl.gov/local-history/regional-publications/.

Published with generous permission of the Kalamazoo Public Library

Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph (1868-1901)

Kalamazoo Saturday Telegraph (1893-1909)

Kalamazoo Evening Telegraph (1901-1912)

Allegan County Record (1869-1871)

Otsego Union (1897-1922)

The Weekly Union (1875-1888)

The Progressive Herald (1912-1913)

If you have not yet searched this database and would like a few pointers please see my original post on the subject. (Kalamazoo Telegraph is Online) For those who have searched here, I haven't noticed any differences. Unfortunately, you will still need to sort through the irrelevant text in the search results to determine if it is a good hit.

There's not much more to say on the subject so I'll let you get on with your research and I'll see what else I can dig up.

Little Clues, Big Insights

Like any other genealogist, I would like to see how far back I can trace my lineage, but a name on a page only holds so much interest for me. It doesn't tell me anything about the person or what their life was like. That is when things begin to get truly interesting and family history comes alive.

Naturally, we would all love to find a journal, a trove of letters or a biography in a book about every single person in our tree to tell us what was important to them or why they made certain choices in their lives. Unfortunately, the chance of winning millions in the lottery is higher.

In the meantime, we are forced to make due with what we have. The good news is that sometimes the smallest of clues can help you make a break-through or at least give you insight into your ancestor's character. This is why it is important to look at your documents multiple times over the years or read every newspaper account of a particular incident. Understanding the time period also helps to put your relatives' lives in context.

One example that I recently found in the Kalamazoo Telegraph relates to Henry Harrigan's little brother, George Harrigan. Nearly two years before he was committed to the Kalamazoo Insane Asylum (more on that in the future), at the tender age of seventeen, George umpired a baseball game for the high school team. At first, this entry didn't mean much to me. It was only a few hours later that the possible significance of this hit me. I should explain that George was only three when he was found asleep in bed covered in his father's blood. John Harrigan's death was ruled a suicide (by slitting his throat). For more about this, see my blog post (Suicide or Murder?). Without a father around it would be understandable for little George to look up to his elder brother, Henry (nearly 14 years his senior). George being an umpire for a baseball game may seem unimportant, but Henry was a very good catcher for the Kalamazoo Monitors for a number of years. This note indicates to me that George probably watched his brother play ball at the least. If I really want to speculate it could mean that George looked up to Henry, possibly even as a father figure, and was likely influenced by his older brother's bad example. Whether I am correct or not, this notice in the paper made me think about George and what it must have been like for him without a father around, in a way that I hadn't before.

Another example, again from the Telegraph, told me another little thing about Henry Harrigan. I found yet another article about Henry's run-in in New York City when he struck a fatal blow to a man's head with his silver-headed cane (for more on this story see Digging for Dirt in Newspapers ). The Telegraph said that when Kalamazooans first heard of the incident they wondered if it was their hometown boy. The Telegraph reported that information coming in “stated that the arrested man was a San Francisco sport and Hank always passed as a high roller from California on his eastern trips.” The light bulb went off for me at this. Here, I had been looking for references to Henry in San Francisco newspapers and city directories. Silly me, he was probably never there at all. In Henry's mind he probably felt that no one would take him seriously if he came from a little one-horse town like Kalamazoo. So Henry tried to pass himself off as a sporting man (a gambler who makes his money wagering on sporting events) from the west. San Francisco was probably still a little exotic in 1889 and the added bonus was that there probably weren't many people who could call Henry's bluff. This should have occurred to me, knowing what I do about Henry, but now I know.

I've presented two small examples of how new information can affect how you think about your ancestors. I believe that it's these things all added together that make people come alive. The good news is that you don't really need articles from the newspaper or diaries to make this happen, though it certainly helps. Simply draw up a timeline with family events (deaths of parents or siblings, marriages, divorces, moves, etc.) and historical events (wars, natural disasters, etc.) and see what you can learn. To see how little things can add up see my post on the power of timelines.

Newspaper Search Tips & Tricks

Digitized newspapers are great. You can find so many more things in a digitized newspaper than in one merely indexed because the computer can search every line of the newspaper for your search terms.

The only problem is that your results will only be as good as the quality of the original print. If the text is faint or too much ink makes the letters unclear, you will likely not find what you are looking for. This is why it is important to search in multiple ways to increase your chances of pulling out as many references to your people as possible.

Of course, you will probably want to start by searching for a particular person. If you are searching for someone in the Kalamazoo Gazette through GenealogyBank go ahead and fill in the first and last name fields and the keyword “Kalamazoo.” You may also want to narrow the search to results just from the state of Michigan if you find too many hits from outside the state (which may happen if the name is common). Another way to search is to put the person's name in quotation marks in the keyword field, though if there are middle initials the hit won't show up.

As I previously mentioned, your results are only as good as the original news print. Even if you searched by first and last name you will find results that did not appear there when you search by last name alone. I know this can be tedious (I did it for nearly all of my surnames that lived in the area), but if you find more results it can be worth the effort to do the extra searches.

To make this task more manageable you have several options. If your people only lived in the area during a certain time period you can include a year range in the appropriate box. Or, if your ancestors lived in the area for all or most of the years covered you can sort the results from oldest to newest (or vice versa). This is what I did and in a few cases it took me several sittings to work my way through them all. When I searched for “Flynn” in “Kalamazoo” and sorted with oldest results first, I looked through results to the end of a particular year and made note of that. When I had time to continue, I simply picked it up in the following year by filling in the “year” field (1897-1922, for example).

Unfortunately, this strategy sometimes won't work or yields so many results that it really isn't worth the effort to wade through them all. If you, like me, have surnames that are common surnames or even common words like Lane, Lemon or Brown you know what I'm talking about. I can't tell you how many references there are in the average paper to lemons. In these cases you may have to stick with simple first/last name searches.

If you have someone with an unusual or rare first name you can try searching for that without the surname. This worked to find a few additional articles about Solon Lane, the bigamist in my tree. Keep in mind that first names aren't always included. Sometimes people were only listed with their first initial (e.g. Mr. S. Lane).

In some cases you can search for things your ancestor did in order to find references not pulled out through name searching. For example, I knew that my distant cousin, Henry Harrigan, listed his profession as a base ball player in the 1880 census. By searching for “base ball” and putting in a year range I found him mentioned by name in notices that simply weren't picked up when I looked for his name (even searching by surname alone). I also found a few additional references when my search terms were ball, nine, kalamazoo. Back in the late 19^th century, a baseball team was often called a “nine” for the number of players on a team. Another possibility is to search for a term related to your ancestor's occupation. While I didn't find any additional references to my relative who was a drayman, you may get lucky.

Just remember to be flexible and try as many combinations or names and other terms as possible to extract every possible reference to your people. As with searching other databases too many search terms will limit your results. It can be time consuming to search by surname alone, but it is certainly easier to sort through results in this way than to scroll through page after page of microfilm until you are woozy.

If your ancestors lived in Kalamazoo between 1868 and 1899 take a look at the newly digitized KalamazooTelegraph, available for free on the Kalamazoo Public Library website.

For some ideas on what you can find with diligent searching in digitized newspapers see my posts Digging for Dirt, Beyond Obituaries, Casting a Wide Net and Adding Context.

Casting a Wide Net in Newspaper Searches

As you are searching for information about your family it is easy to forget to search beyond your hometown paper. Once you have exhausted every reference in your local paper, if there are particular people who wandered around or did something particularly noteworthy or notorious, I encourage you to cast a wider net. Occasionally, you will get lucky. Even if you think all of the details of a story were in the hometown paper, it is worth looking further afield. You may find tidbits of information that weren't published locally. While we can never be certain that all of the details in any newspaper account are completely accurate, each new kernel may lead you to another source to examine. Another thing to consider is that some details may not have made the morning local paper. A neighboring paper may not possess any scruples about publishing all of the dirty laundry.

Another instance in which searching broadly pays off is exemplified by the case of John Flynn. I had previously found a death record for him in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At that time, a few years ago, I contacted the Ann Arbor District Library to ask them to search for a death notice for him. They were unable to find anything. When I subscribed to Genealogy Bank for a month, I decided to search for him throughout Michigan. I knew from the death record that he died after falling from a tall building so I believed I might find something. The nearby Jackson paper had what I was looking for. Poor Mr. Flynn was a mason and fell off a ladder while carrying a hod (a pointy trowel used for placing mortar). The hod pierced his side and he bled to death hours later. Armed with this information, I again contacted the Ann Arbor Library and they were quickly able to procure the notice in the paper.

In several other instances, a Kalamazoo story made other Michigan papers and even out-of-state papers. One example was the Harrigan girl whose fiance was practically dragged from her home by the other young woman vying for his affections. Marriage license in hand, she took him across town and married him that day. Why this story made the Chicago papers, I'll never know, but it did. Murder stories tend to make it further afield. When Henry Harrigan whacked a man over the head with his cane in 1889 I found the story in numerous papers, including in Salt Lake City. The Christmas morning murder of my grandmother's sister appeared in newspapers as far away as New Orleans.

To read about what else you can find in newspapers see:  Digging For Dirt in Newspapers,  Beyond Obituaries, Searching For Context, and Search Tips & Tricks.

The Kalamazoo Telegraph is Online

Extra, extra, read all about it. The Regional Publications & Images database, currently featuring the Kalamazoo Telegraph has just gone live. I would like to give a big thank you to the Kalamazoo Public Library for digitizing this valuable resource. So far, the images available are for the Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph (1868-1885) and the Kalamazoo Weekly Telegraph (1893-1899), but more is planned.

Published with generous permission of the Kalamazoo Public Library.

In addition to a continuation of the Telegraph digitization process (currently ongoing) they intend to digitize other records previously available only in hard copy or on microfilm. One of the items planned for inclusion is the Grand Army memorial record. This book, published in 1884, is “for the purpose of securing and perpetuating the military history of every Grand Army comrade .” If you have Civil War ancestors who lived in Kalamazoo you will likely find something once this record is available online.

So, before you head straight to the website there are a few things you should know. First, this is a beta site, which means that it is still being refined so you may encounter a few bugs while doing your searches (you can email them your feedback at the bottom of the search or grid pages). I ran into a few bugs, but they were intermittent and nothing that couldn't be worked around in most cases. I'll mention them as I describe how the system works.

On the search page you can choose which resources you want to search, what years you wish to search and then your search term(s). You can choose “all of these words,” “any of these words” or “exact phrase.” You can't do proximity searching, so you'll have to try variations of names if you hope to find them together or use the exact phrase option. I also tried searching with initials, but this didn't work for me even when I selected “exact phrase.”

Once on the results page, I found it easier to select “grid” view at the top of the page. The hits will be in a list of 25 per page. Occasionally, I have had a problem continuing on the the next page, but this has been sporadic. Once you have brought up the image you'll want to watch on the left panel of the screen for it to pull up your hit(s). The first hit will appear in a blue-outlined box with your search term highlighted in blue. To go to the next hit click on it in the list in the left panel.

One quirk I have noticed is that sometimes when I click on the image the left panel indicates that there are no hits in that issue of the newspaper. When this happens I click back onto the “grid” view and look for the words immediately next to my search term. Back on the image at the bottom of the left panel is a “Find” feature. Try searching for one of the alternate words or part of your original search term. Sometimes this works and sometimes not. One difficulty is that in grid view only a few of the words surrounding your search term pertain to your hit. Most of the rest is irrelevant.

A few final things. If you find there is no scroll bar on the right side, click the button next to the box displaying the percent magnification. When you save be sure to include the page number and column number (I also add T, M or B for top, middle or bottom; my typical notation is KT1876-5-4P4Col3M) so you can more easily find your hit later, otherwise you'll have to read the entire issue to find it. While that would certainly be interesting, it would be more than a tad irritating if you wanted to quickly find your hit again.

One last thing I did discover is that, although the KPL website says digitized images only go through 1885, I found hits in the Daily Telegraph as late as 1899. As for my research, I found the first indication in print of my bad boy, Henry Harrigan's, run-ins with the law. As a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old (in 1876) he was sent to Detroit for ninety days for assault and battery of a woman upon his forcibly entering her house to retrieve a baseball that went through her window. It's disturbing, but I can't really say that I'm surprised.

Digging in Newspapers for Context

While you can find all sorts of interesting tidbits about your ancestors in newspapers, don't forget to look for other topics that you can use to find out more about their lives in general. Were there any natural disasters that struck your ancestors' town? What might they have done for fun? The county fair seems to have been a big draw in Kalamazoo, as were the horse races. The circus came to town a few times. There were also 4^th of July celebrations every year.

Several of my ancestors served during the Civil War. In the course of searching for other items, I found that there were many old soldier reunions for particular regiments as well as for Michigan soldiers in general. When they met, they often set up a large camp, drilled and even held mock battles.

One of my people, Ada (Wallace) Hoard Alger Miner Nelson Carr enjoyed dancing in the early decades of the 20^th century. By searching in the paper I found articles about dancing ordinances that were enacted. Certain dances were even banned.

Henry Harrigan, my bad boy distant cousin, enjoyed gambling years before he killed a man in New York City while there gambling on the horse racing circuit. I found that “Gentleman Hank” decided to close his gaming establishment in Kalamazoo to move to the greener pastures of Chicago out of the goodness of his heart (his story, not mine). He claimed that he felt bad that men struggling to feed their families spent their hard-earned cash gambling. He denied that it had anything to do with the recent kerfuffle (and lawsuit) with a prominent Kalamazoo doctor over gambling losses. After a bit more searching I even found the gambling laws of the time published in the paper.

Don't forget about the times your ancestors lived in. Many things we take for granted began to impact them during the years covered by the Kalamazoo Gazette (as found at GenealogyBank). Electric street lights were introduced in a few locations in the early 1880s. Another important advancement was street paving, originally done with wood. Just imagine trying to move a horse and buggy down a street mired in mud after a heavy rainfall. Speaking of horses and buggies, the introduction of the automobile changed lives. One of my people actually died in 1911, months after sustaining injuries when she was thrown from a buggy after the horse drawing it was startled by an automobile.

The sky is the limit when you are looking for context. Almost any search term will yield interesting results. To start you thinking of your own list, here are some of the search terms I looked for: circus, gambling, horse racing, celebration, reunion, soldiers, flood, tornado, disaster, base ball, county fair, produce prices, dancing, street car, trolley, diphtheria, tuberculosis, etc.

Happy hunting!  To see what else you might find in newspapers please see:  Casting a Wide Net in Newspaper Searches, Digging For Dirt in Newspapers and Search Tips & Tricks

WMU Archives & Regional History Collections

I wish I could tell you more about the resources available at the Western Michigan University Archives in Kalamazoo. Unfortunately, the truth is that living out-of-state, I have not been able to spend as much time there as I would like. Toddlers only nap for so long and a couple of hours doesn't even scratch the surface of their holdings.

The Archives is currently located in East Hall, one of the oldest buildings on the Western Michigan University campus. Their holdings total over 17,000 linear feet, some of which is located off site. They hope to move to a larger facility in the future.

The Archives holds several different types of records. To learn more about their collections you can search their online catalog (be sure to select the WMU Archives as the location in the drop down menu).

The large manuscript collection can be searched through the online catalog and encompasses letters, photos, business records and much more. Due to the large number of records and the variety of records within a particular collection you should not expect a detailed description of every document within a given collection. After conducting a search you can click on a particular collection to learn more. Here you will find a brief description of the contents of the collection as well as names of individuals, businesses or general subjects mentioned therein. So far, I have not found information directly pertaining to “my” people in the manuscript collection, but perhaps you will be more fortunate than I.

If you cannot find much in the manuscript collection to aid you in your research, if you have ancestors from almost anywhere in south west Michigan you should certainly find something in the governmental records housed here. Records from the counties of Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo, Kent, Muskegon, Ottawa, St. Joseph, and Van Buren can be found here. It is also worth mentioning that the records available vary by county. Many of these records, which include tax records and court records, are on microfilm and are available in the LDS catalog. For more specific information on the government holdings (at least for some of these counties) you can refer to the Archives of Michigan circular, but note that while this lists most counties in Michigan, only records with a single asterisk are located at the WMU Archives. You will also notice that though WMU has records from the twelve counties listed above, some counties are not included on this list. I have not found an online source that specifically lists which governmental records are available at the WMU Archives. I would suggest identifying the records microfilmed by the LDS (search by county name at FamilySearch) and then calling the Archives to verify they possess them before planning a visit.

One thing that I discovered the hard way is that the LDS did not microfilm every court case. I was searching for a chancery case in which a mother sued two of her children (more on this in another blog). I found the docket and case number in the index. I then began scrolling through the microfilm only to find that the case I was looking for was absent. A staff member informed me that at least for chancery cases, the LDS only microfilmed divorce records and cases in which the people had different surnames. It seems to me that suits within a family might be some of the more interesting cases (i.e. dishing up family dirt). While the archives did possess the records they were located off site so I was unable to obtain them before driving back to Tennessee. Luckily for me, my mother still lives in Kalamazoo and could go back later to page through the documents and flag them for copying.

In addition to the manuscript collection and government records, the WMU Archives has an extensive collection of books, city directories, many local newspapers on microfilm, a large photo collection, the Ross Coller card file (see my blog post) and many maps, including plat map books for surrounding counties.  They also recently made several Civil War era diaries and letters available on their website.  See here for more information.  For more general information on their holdings I refer you to the “Collections” page on the WMU Archives website. While the exact holdings are not listed on their website, they do have binders on site that list which records/newspapers they have in their collection. An email or a phone call can quickly inform you if they have what you are looking for. You should also ask if the resources you wish to examine are on site, as retrieving them may take a couple of days if they aren't held in East Hall.

Digging for Dirt -- Beyond Obituaries

Obituaries can be very useful, as we all know, but there is a lot more to uncover in newspapers than that. You may also find marriage notices, anniversaries, birth announcements or divorce cases on the court docket. But, if your ancestors lived outside of a large metropolitan area you are likely to find much more.

I signed up for a one-month trial of Genealogy Bank and found much more than I could have imagined. In the spring of 2011, they added a run of the Kalamazoo Gazette starting in 1837 and running through the end of 1922. Some of the things I found included: descriptions of weddings, notices of sickness, birthday parties, arrests, involvement in baseball teams, winning categories at the county fair, visits from out-of-town kin and more.

And then we get to the interesting things, like the young woman whose fiance was paying a call at her house when the other woman vying for his affection appeared. She took him with her across town, marriage license in hand, to get married. The original fiance and her mother reportedly fainted. There was also the case of the young man who was arrested in Canada after running away with his underage girlfriend and leaving her with no means to get home. No other mention of the case was found, except for a notice of application for a marriage license a week or two later.

Other family secrets included my great-grandmother's sister, Nettie Allion, who was arrested for theft. When the police searched her room they found “half a bushel of handkerchiefs, stockings, towels, a belt, a pair of black glass goggles, a pair of shoes, hair pins and other trinkets” she had stolen. I hadn't expected that, but the item that really shocked me was the revelation that the brother of a different great-grandmother had been arrested, tried and imprisoned for rape in 1890.

Some entries may only be a few lines, but can speak volumes about your ancestor. For example, I found this notice: “LOST-- Two white and black hounds. Kindly turn these dogs loose, as there is no reward on them.” That sure seemed pretty cold to me. Twelve years later this same man cheated on his wife leaving her with five young kids to raise after their divorce.

 

Although each entry may be small, every little line adds a bit more information that will flesh out the lives of our ancestors. If your ancestors lived in Kalamazoo between 1837 and 1922 you can add tremendously to your knowledge by an investigation of the Kalamazoo Gazette. Now that the Kalamazoo Public Library has released the digitized Kalamazoo Telegraph we have twice as many opportunities to find out more about our people.

To read more about what newspapers can teach you about your ancestors see:  Digging For Dirt, Adding Context, Casting a Wide Net and Search Tips & Tricks.

Digging for Dirt in Newspapers

I find it interesting that in marketing their website GenealogyBank.com focuses on what we'll find in obituaries and leaves it there. While it is true that you can find quite a bit of information in an obituary, if you are lucky, I think they could expand their efforts to let people know that there is so much more to find.

My first real foray into newspapers began with a bang. It all started with a clue I found in the Ross Coller files, about one of my distant relations at the WMU Archives, Henry Harrigan. Henry had been arrested in New York City for whacking a man on the head with his cane, a blow that proved fatal. Needless to say, I wanted to learn more. My first stop was the online New York Times Archive. I knew the incident occurred in 1889 and was able to narrow my search accordingly.

I found several articles describing the incident. In a nutshell, Henry left a saloon in the wee hours of the morning when he was accosted by Patrick Reedy, who Henry claims was a stranger. Another account suggested that they were already acquainted and had argued. Either way, a scuffle ensued, Henry struck Reedy over the head with his silver-headed cane. A nearby policeman apparently heard the altercation and took both men to the police station, with Reedy resisting arrest. Reedy died days later after refusing a trepanning procedure to relieve the pressure on his swelling brain. Henry was called before a coroner's jury and claimed that Reedy tried to rob him. The attractive, athletic, dapper Henry was readily acquitted.

Another interesting tidbit that came out of the newspaper account was that Henry had “dropped $6000” on a horse race between the time of the assault and Reedy's death. In 1889, $6000 was equivalent to between approximately $730,000 (based on the amount of work by an unskilled laborer required to reach that amount) to $1.2 million (based on economy's average output per person and closely related to average income) in 2010 currency, depending on which calculator is used at Measuring Worth.

Although these newspaper accounts showed me but one slice of Henry Harrigan's life, it gave me much more than that. First, it gave me a physical description of the man. I also learned that he was interested in horse racing and gambling. Other minutia included his silver-headed cane, his friendships with a known sprinter and a baseball umpire and that he had been making a tour of New York (apparently attending other horse races). The newspapers also gave his current address in the city and mentioned that he was from San Francisco, a place I have yet to place him in any records. Clearly, the man got around. If you want to read more about Henry's run-ins with the law (as discovered in newspapers) read No Stranger to the Law.  And for a clue that led me to believe Henry probably never lived in San Francisco see Little Clues, Big Insights.

The big question I had from all of this was: where did he acquire all of that money? I have a better idea now and it required more digging in newspapers. But that is a story for another day.

For more information on what you may find in newspapers see: Beyond Obituaries,  Adding Context, Casting a Wide Net and Search Tips & Tricks.