Prompt: “The theme for Week 37 is “In the News.” Have you made a family history discovery in a newspaper? What about a reporter, editor, or newsie in the family?”

I’ve combined Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge, and Steve Little’s The 2025 AI Genealogy Do-Over, to create a unique 52 AI ancestors in 52 weeks party!

52 AI Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 37: In the News

Introduction

What newsworthy discoveries have you found in your family history? You might have found a family link, or an ancestral accomplishment. Perhaps a scoundrel was exposed, or a migration uncovered.

For me, it’s finding good people. I just love reading my ancestors’ obituaries and finding that they were well-respected among their peers, and learning that I have good in my blood.

Discussion

Of course, it’s not all good. My grandfather, who worked for a newspaper, took a jab when his daughter married a man he disapproved of: “Elise West, Dongan Hills Man Wed” read the headline. [1]

But it’s mostly good news. Adam West was “a good citizen, a dependable merchant, honest and upright in dealing with everybody.”

William Carey’s obituary discussed his “faithfulness to duty” and stated that he “was a man highly respected by his acquaintances, and a good citizen.” [2]

Adam’s father, John T. West, “was a faithful worker and supporter of the church.” [3]

Jason M Smith got to see his celebration while he was still alive, in an article lauding his 80^th birthday, calling him “remarkably well preserved.” [4]

Michael Dobbins’s 1886 obituary called him “an old and respected citizen.” Sadly, I don’t have a clipping in my e-files, and don’t have the energy for my paper files.

His wife Mary Malone “is much respected and will be sadly missed.” [5]

I do know that I have more of these which have not yet been organized. “Don’t take me, Lord, my genealogy isn’t done yet!”

But think how much fun you can have looking for your ancestors in old newspapers, more and more of which are coming online!

How AI can help

AI is OCR’ing and indexing newspapers all the time!

Crawling AIs like Microsoft Researcher can find newspapers for you too.

When I asked Copilot for Kansas City newspapers in 1886, it listed seven of them:

It offered help locating digital copies of these newspapers online, and provided more information:

AI is a big help for projects like newspaper research!

Challenge for Readers

Newspapers are coming online all the time. Don’t let a lack of past success stop you from trying now. Go to your favorite LLM and ask a question like I did:

What newspapers were in <location> in <year>? Help me find them online.

Then go follow the trail!

Want to Learn More?

• For researching:
  • Microsoft Researcher is found within Copilot
• • Perplexity
  • Google Gemini
• For newspapers:
  • Free
    • Chronicling America
• • • List of links: Wikipedia
• • • Google News
• (goodness, this WordPress formatting is a bear. Go easy on me, please.)
  • Paid
    • Newspapers.com
    • Newspaper Archive

These are just a sampling of the many, many links out there!

Next Week’s Topic: “Animals”

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

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[1] “Elise West, Dongan Hills Man Wed,” Staten Island Advance (Staten Island, N.Y.), 22 May 1965, page 5, column 3.

[2] “William Carey,” Madison Eagle (Madison, NJ), 20 Mar 1903, page 5.

[3] Source unknown, but would have been a Liberty Center or Toledo-area newspaper in Ohio in 1924.

[4] “His 80th Anniversary,” Richmond County Advance (Staten Island, NY), 17 Dec 1887, page 4, column 2, As found on nyshistoricnewspapers.org

[5] “Argentine,” Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri), 02 Feb 1886.