Using Newspaper Articles for Family History Research

It’s not uncommon to come across newspaper articles about your family ancestors when researching your family’s history. These articles are valuable sources for context and can also provide leads on genealogical information. However, it’s important to approach them with caution. Even articles written in a biographical style can contain errors or inaccuracies, so it’s essential to verify the information before accepting it as fact.

In this post, we’ll use an article about Mark’s great-grandfather, John Biondich, published in the 1950s, to demonstrate strategies for corroborating information found in a newspaper article. We hope the story is both enjoyable and informative, and that you’ll be able to see how the research techniques we explain can be applied to your own family history work.

Step 1: Verify the Basics

Feel free to click on the link above and open the article in another tab. The article starts by stating that Great Grandpa John had lived in the community of Gilbert, Minnesota, since 1910. Gilbert was preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 1957, meaning John had lived there for most of the town’s existence. To verify this, you could check city directories or census records from both state and federal levels. City directories would list residents and often include occupation, while census records can confirm both residence and family details.

Step 2: Verify Employment

The article then touches on John’s personality and mentions his employment in Gilbert. To confirm this, research can be done using employment records from the city or state and federal censuses. Employment was often listed in these censuses, and while census records are usually sufficient for family history purposes, official verification could be sought from more specific records, such as city records or professional organizations, if needed.

Step 3: Validate Military Service

The article recounts John’s young adult years, including his time in the Austrian Navy during the Boxer Rebellion. This is one of the more difficult aspects to verify, due to the time period and historical events. However, Mark was able to confirm many of the details listed in the article about his great grandfather. Researching historical records and online sources such as Wikipedia.org, Britannica.com, and History.navy.mil helped verify that John’s description of his time in China was accurate. Specifically, Mark found evidence that 30 Austrian Marines participated in the Boxer Rebellion, as John had described. Ongoing research will continue as we explore more about his military service.

Step 4: Trace Immigration and Family Details

The article also covers John’s life after the military, including his immigration to the United States. According to the article, John worked in Minnesota’s lumber camps and mines, married Mathia Radosevic, and had seven children.

Mark’s research confirmed these details, and he uncovered additional information. John immigrated to St. Louis County, Minnesota, in 1906 at the age of 27, arriving via the steamship Le Touraine and passing through Ellis Island. Naturalization and death records show that their first daughter, Mary, was born shortly after his departure from Croatia in September 1906. John returned to Croatia and then back to Minnesota in 1909 aboard the SS St. Paul. This information was corroborated using passenger lists, census data, and naturalization documents found on websites like Ancestry.org and FamilySearch.org.

John’s wife, Mathia Radosevic, also emigrated to the United States in June 1912 aboard the SS Philadelphia with their two children, Maria (Mary) and Mile (Mike). This was verified through passenger lists and census records. Tragically, Mathia died in February 1916 due to apparent complications from childbirth, which was confirmed by her death certificate.

Step 5: Research Insights

Newspaper articles can offer fascinating glimpses into our family’s past, but they should be treated as just one piece of the puzzle. By cross-referencing newspaper information with primary sources like census records, passenger lists, and death certificates, you can confirm or clarify the facts and build a more complete and accurate family history. Mark’s ongoing research into his great-grandfather’s life serves as a great example of how to approach such verification and encourages you to dive deeper into your own family stories.