Elder Gerritt W. Gong has counseled, “Connecting with our ancestors can change our lives in surprising ways. From their trials and accomplishments, we gain faith and strength. From their love and sacrifices, we learn to forgive and move forward. Our children become resilient. We gain protection and power.” (link to talk)

It is difficult to know about the lives of our ancestors if we only have names and dates on a FamilySearch page. We can fill in many aspects of our ancestors’ lives through a resource that is becoming more and more available—digital newspapers.

For those whose family members lived in Utah, an excellent resource is Utah Digital Newspapers. But, you may ask, what kind of information can I find in a newspaper? Besides reporting notices of births, marriages, and obituaries, newspapers may also contain information about social events, emigration, enlistments, school and church activities and legal notices. Utah Digital Newspapers currently contains 6.3 million pages from 374 newspapers!

You can search for a family member in the database by putting your family member’s name in the Search field. Here are some hints I’ve used to try to be more successful in my searches:

• Narrow your search by putting your ancestor’s name in quotation marks: “William Critchlow.”
• If your relative (especially women) went by more than one name, try all versions of the name: “Esther Hannah Coop,” “Esther Coop,” “Esther Jarman,” “Esther Hannah Coop Jarman.”
• If your family member had a nickname, search all the variations of his/her name: “Benjamin Chamberlin Critchlow,” “B.C. Critchlow,” “Ben Critchlow.”
• If your relative’s name was spelled differently by others, try variant spellings: “Ann Fellows,” “Anne Fellows,” “Annie Fellows,” “Ann Fellowes.”

You can also narrow your search by using the “Advanced Search” option and selecting a specific newspaper or date range. You can also add additional key words to find what you are looking for.

The following are just examples of the many different categories of information I have found in newspapers:

• Employment: My great grandfather, B. P. Critchlow, becomes manager of the Ogden Consolidated Wagon and Machine after working there for ten years (Ogden Daily Standard, 23 Dec 1899).

• Enlistment: My grandfather, Frederick B Critchlow, is denied an exemption and “forced into the Army” to fight during WWI (SL Tribune, 15 Aug 1917).
• Accidents: My great grandfather, Lorenzo Jarman, nearly dies when his wagon overturns and his horses drown after falling in a deep hole in the “raging waters of the Ogden River” (Salt Lake Tribune, 11 May 1904).
• Social: My great aunt, Mina Jarman, wins first prize in a game played at the Women’s University Club meeting (Ogden Standard Examiner, 23 Oct 1927).
• Births, Marriages & Deaths: My great uncle, William “Bill” Jarman, suffers an untimely death from tuberculosis at age 27 (Ogden Standard, 29 Apr 1918).
• Emigration: My great uncle, Squire Coop, arrives with his mother, Martha, in Salt Lake City after crossing the ocean on the ship Wyoming (Deseret News, 14 May 1879).
• School: My great grandmother, Georgina Critchlow, performs a song at the monthly meeting of the Weber County Teachers’ Association (Ogden Herald, 18 Mar 1886).
• Church: My 2^nd great grandmother, Martha Critchlow, speaks at the Weber Stake Relief Society conference (Ogden Daily Standard, 24 Sep 1892).
• Legal notices and proceedings: My 2^nd great grandfather, B.C. Critchlow, is found not guilty of “unlawful cohabitation” (Ogden Daily Standard, 23 May 1888).
• Miscellaneous: My great aunt, Ann Fellows, writes an article entitled, “Religion and Science,” and thirteen other articles for this publication (Women’s Exponent, 1 Sep 1883).

Shortly before his death, President M. Russell Ballard reminded us that “it is very important for people to seek out and know what they can about those who laid the groundwork for them . . . If we ever lose sight of our forefathers and those who made it possible for us to have what we have, we will have lost something that is irreplaceable.” (link to video)

Seek out your ancestors and their amazing lives through searching in digital newspapers!

– Marianne Bates, Consultant, Granite FamilySearch Center