Author Archives: Jenny Ashcraft

Newspapers.com Success Stories

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What if you found out your ancestor was a female mining prospector in the 1800s, made a fortune but then lost it all, and later won a lottery and died a wealthy woman? That’s exactly what Lynzi Coffey discovered as she pieced together her family’s story using Newspapers.com. 

Lynzi Coffey

We wanted to share Lynzi’s story, and others from time to time, to show how our members’ research techniques and tips can inspire you in your own genealogical research.

Lynzi had census records for her ancestors and knew they traveled across the country. Plotting the locations where she knew her ancestors lived, she searched newspapers along the route between locations. In the process, Lynzi pieced together the amazing story of her 2nd great grandfather Michael O’Brien and his wife Mary Helde.

Finding Michael in the newspapers required time and patience. O’Brien was often misspelled. Sometimes the “O” was left off, or the apostrophe dropped, and papers spelled “Brien” in a variety of ways (click here to learn how to search for common misspellings using wildcards). Lynzi’s persistence paid off and she found newspaper stories that mentioned his Irish hometown, an employment history, and his family history. She even discovered that Michael was present at the Golden Spike Ceremony in 1869 and found his face in the familiar photo of the rails joining in the Utah territory. It was the resiliency of his wife Mary that really inspired Lynzi.

Michael O’Brien at the Golden Spike Ceremony

Mary Helde was already married when she met Michael, although she did not live with her husband. Through newspapers, Lynzi learned that not only did Mary lose three daughters in their early infancy, but she also had two sons that died tragic deaths. Mary operated a boarding house in Cheyenne, Wyoming when she and Michael crossed paths. She was already independently wealthy having purchased a number of mining claims that apparently paid off. One clipping described her selling her assets for $30,000 in 1866 (about $475,000 in today’s dollars).

Mary left Cheyenne, sold the boarding house and all of her possessions, married Michael, and accompanied him to Nevada and later Utah. Mary described herself as having a “speculative disposition,” and Lynzi realized how true that was when she found clippings of Mary’s numerous mining investments. Sadly, it appears that Mary’s speculation led to a loss of her fortune.

When news came of mining claims opening in North Dakota, Michael left for the Black Hills. Mary joined him about a year later, but their marriage faltered. In 1891, Michael reportedly drowned while swimming, leaving Mary a penniless widow. Unbeknownst to Mary, however, Michael was very much alive. He’d conspired with some friends to stage his accidental death and left town, a fact Lynzi uncovered in Michael’s Civil War pension file.

Alone and broke, Mary decided to take her last $20 and enter the Louisiana State Lottery, where she won $5,000! She then organized a group of women to invest in mining and once again grew her fortune. When Mary died in 1912, she had no heirs and divided her estate among friends who had helped her during difficult times, a children’s home, and her church.

The colorful story Lynzi uncovered on Newspapers.com shocked her. Her tips include searching for alternative spellings, plotting your ancestors’ locations and checking all the papers along the way, and exhaustive searches! “Discovering records about my ancestors helped me plot points in their lives, but finding them in Newspapers.com helped me bring their story to life,” said Lynzi. Have you discovered your family’s story? Try using Lynzi’s tips and start searching today on Newspapers.com.

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The Pony Express Begins: April 3, 1860

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On April 3, 1860, the Pony Express began delivering mail across the overland route to California. Young men riding horses at breakneck speed carried the mail utilizing rest stations along the way where fresh riders and horses could relieve tired ones. The Pony Express enabled mail to travel faster than ever before – nearly 2,000 miles in 10 days.

A series of events in the mid-1800s including the Mormon pioneers westward trek to Utah, the California Gold Rush of 1849, and thousands of travelers heading west on the Oregon Trail created a need for faster communication between east and west.

In 1859, California Senator William Gwin persuaded the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddle to develop a service to quickly deliver mail to the Pacific Coast. They agreed and selected the city of St. Joseph, Missouri as the eastern terminus for the route. St. Joseph connected to eastern cities with railroad lines and telegraphs allowing messages and mail to quickly transfer to the Pony Express where they were loaded into special leather saddlebags called mochilas, and carried in one of the twice-weekly Pony Express runs to Sacramento, California.

The evening of April 3, 1860, a crowd gathered at the Pony Express station in St. Joseph. They were anxiously awaiting a delayed train that was bringing mail for the Pony Express. As soon as it arrived, the mail was quickly transferred to the Pony Express station. A cannon sounded and the crowd cheered as 20-year-old Johnny Fry spurred his horse to a gallop. This high-speed mail service did not come cheap! Initially, it cost $5 per half-ounce to send a letter (the equivalent of roughly $150 today). Later the price was later lowered to $1 per half-ounce.

In order to minimize the weight, riders were often small and lean. They took a loyalty oath requiring them to refrain from profanity, drinking and fighting as they rode at top speed in between relay stations built about 15 miles apart, where they mounted a fresh horse; and home stations, 75-100 miles apart, where fresh riders would take over. During the journey, riders were vulnerable to extreme weather, bandits, and hostilities with Native Americans. The risks did not go unrewarded. Riders’ made around $100/month – about triple the average monthly salary for the time.

Pony Express News – Lincoln Elected President!

Newspapers relied on the Pony Express to deliver the latest headlines like when Abraham Lincoln was elected president or when the City of San Francisco opened its first railway that ferried passengers around the city on horse-drawn streetcars. The Pony Express also helped deliver international news. Headlines that traveled over the ocean by ship could reach the opposite coast in just 18 days!

‘Bronco Charlie’ Miller was only 11-years-old when he filled in one day for a missing rider. He was later hired and became the youngest regular rider. He also lived longer than other riders, dying at age 105 in 1955.

In October 1861, the completion of the transcontinental telegraph made the Pony Express obsolete after just 18 months. If you would like to learn more about the Pony Express and see fun clippings from this historic time, search Newspapers.com today!

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Our Boston Globe Archives Have Expanded!

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In 1872, six Boston businessmen got together to start a newspaper, The Boston Globe. The first issue hit the presses on March 4, 1872, and sold for just 4 cents. The paper was published six mornings a week and in 1877, a Sunday edition was added. About a decade later, an afternoon edition called the Boston Evening Globe began and remained in publication until 1979.

The Globe is an award-winning publication that has covered historic events like the Great Boston Fire of 1872. On the morning of November 9, 1872, the Globe released its usual morning edition. Local news included the Harvard Fall Regatta scheduled for that afternoon and the daily report of marriages and deaths. Nobody realized they were on the verge of what would become the largest fire in the city’s history.

About 7:20 p.m. that evening, a fire began in the basement of a warehouse on Summer Street. Before it was contained, it had consumed 65 acres and 776 buildings. Firefighters stopped the flames before they consumed the colonial era Old South Meeting House (the church was also saved from flames in 1810). The Globe did not publish the next day, but on November 11th, the headline read “Devastation!” and detailed the spread of the fire, the businesses and homes destroyed, and injuries and deaths incurred.

In 1901, the Boston Americans baseball team was organized in the newly formed American League. In 1907 they changed their name to the Boston Red Sox and by 1912 Fenway Park opened to house the team. Fenway is the oldest ballpark in the Major League Baseball. The relationship between Boston and sports runs deep and young people celebrated in 1920 when a new law passed allowing them to play recreational sports on Sunday.

Boston’s love of sports extends beyond team sports. The first Boston Marathon was held in 1897 and the Globe reported that the race was a great success and should be “an annual fixture.” It was 117 years later, in 2014, after coverage of the tragic Boston Marathon bombing that the Globe was awarded one of its 26 Pulitzer Prizes for breaking news coverage of the incident.

Boston has a rich immigration history. The city has welcomed immigrants from Ireland, China, Russia, Armenia, and Italy among others. If you had an immigrant ancestor that arrived in Boston, you may be able to find them mentioned in the paper. You can also search for the name of the vessel for reports of births and deaths during voyages.

If you have ancestors from Boston or are interested in historical events from the Boston area, our Globe archives are rich in content and contain nearly 150 years of papers from 1872-2019! Start searching The Boston Globe archives today!

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The Amazing Story of Frances Slocum: The White Rose of Miamis

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Young Frances Slocum was just 5-years-old when she was kidnapped from her home by Native Americans in 1778. She was living near modern-day Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in a valley primarily inhabited by the Shawnee and Delaware tribes.

Her father and brothers were working outside when Delaware warriors entered the family home in broad daylight and carried her away.

Wilkes-Barre Times Leader
July 19, 1941

Her heartbroken family searched for her relentlessly, even offering substantial rewards for her return, but she was gone. Nearly six decades passed without word of Frances. Her heartbroken parents died never knowing her fate. Meanwhile, Frances was adopted into the Delaware Tribe and raised as one of their own. She later joined the Miami Tribe after marrying She-Po-Con-Ah, who would later become a Miami chief. 

Frances Slocum

In January 1835, Col. George W. Ewing was conducting business at an Indian Trading Post in Indiana. Darkness forced him to lodge for the night at the home of Maconaquah, a white woman living among Native Americans. After dinner, Maconaquah shared an interesting story. She remembered being taken when she was young and knew her father’s name was Slocum.

Her story intrigued Col. Ewing and he became determined to reunite Maconaquah with her family. He had the story published in a newspaper, a copy of which made its way to the Slocum family. Frances’s siblings immediately set out for Indiana to determine if their sister was alive. Isaac Slocum, the younger brother of Frances, remembered a scar his sister received when they were playing as children. He wanted to see if Maconaquah shared the same scar.

Wilkes-Barre Times Leader
November 1, 1971

Tentatively, they reunited. They determined that Maconaquah was really Frances, their long, lost sister! They urged her to return with them, but she didn’t want to. Frances’s desire was to remain with her people. By an Act of Congress, Frances was granted a square mile of land in Miami County, Indiana, where she remained until her death on March 9, 1847.

Her family honored her by erecting a monument and sharing her story. If you would like to learn more about Frances Slocum, the White Rose of Miamis, search our archives!

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Orphan Trains Head West

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In 1853 Charles Loring Brace formed the Children’s Aid Society to develop programs for the growing population of orphaned children in New York City. In the mid-1800s, a wave of immigration brought newcomers to America. Without an extended family to fall back on, immigrants often crowded into unsanitary living conditions where illness spread creating high mortality rates. Other factors that contributed to the orphan population were disease, unsafe working conditions, poverty, and the Civil War. At one point an estimated 30,000 orphans roamed the streets of New York City. The Children’s Aid Society aimed to change that. From 1854 to 1929 an estimated 250,000 children were loaded onto Orphan Trains and transported from eastern cities to the rural Midwest hoping to find adoptive homes. At the time, there was no federal government program to oversee child welfare.  

Children board the Orphan Train

For some, the Orphan Trains resulted in children being placed in loving, adoptive homes. Others were paraded before prospective adoptive families and treated like indentured servants.  

Little 3-year-old Louise Anderson rode the Orphan Train and got adopted by a family whose daughter had died. She remembered her adoptive mother commenting, “We lost a little girl; she was so smart, and this one was a dummy.” Louise’s adoptive home was not a happy one. By the age of 12, she spent nights alone outside minding the cattle. She never attended school and was illiterate as a child. She married at 17 and learned to read and write alongside her young children.

Alice Ayler was one of the last to ride the Orphan Train in 1929. She was living in a tent in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York with very little to eat. Her mother would often disappear for days at a time and eventually signed papers relinquishing her to the Children’s Aid Society. Ayler took the Orphan Train to Kansas and was adopted. “I was one of the luckier ones because I know my heritage,” Ayler said. “They took away the identity of the younger riders by not allowing contact with the past.”

Most children sent west on Orphan Trains retained few memories and no documentation about their birth families. Siblings were often separated and never saw each other again. Seven-year-old Clara was an exception. Her parents and a sister died while trying to cross a river in New York state. She and her two younger brothers boarded an Orphan Train to Kansas where they were adopted by three different loving families. They remained in contact with one another throughout their lives. 

Two silk ribbons with the number 9 printed on them were the identification pieces worn by young girl who rode the Orphan Train

Nettie Enns remembers boarding the Orphan train with her twin sister Nellie. They were given blankets, name tags and sack lunches for the four-day journey to Kansas. After arriving, the sisters were adopted but their first home was abusive. Nettie remembers her sister being hit with a horsewhip after falling and breaking a dish. The girls were eventually removed from the home and taken in by a woman they considered their mother, though she never officially adopted the girls. Later in life Nettie and Nellie both married and lived across the street from each other.

Discovering information about family members who rode Orphan Trains is difficult, but sometimes possible. Begin with newspaper clippings in the city where they were adopted and branch outwards. Head over to Newspapers.com to learn more about Orphan Trains today!

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Extra! Extra! Read all about The Atlanta Voice

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To celebrate Black History Month, we’re pleased to add The Atlanta Voice to our newspaper archives. Founded in 1966, the paper originated with a goal to provide fair and credible coverage to the growing Civil Rights Movement. According to the paper’s motto: “A People Without A Voice Cannot Be Heard.” The Atlanta Voice is the largest audited African-American community newspaper in Georgia. It is a weekly publication, and our archives contain issues that date back to 1969.

The Civil Rights Movement took root in the fertile ground of Atlanta. As it did, The Atlanta Voice used its editorial voice to shine a light on injustice. For example, in this clipping, a local taxi company refused to hire African-American drivers simply because they just “hadn’t thought about it.” In another instance, the paper reported on realtors who discriminated against African-American home buyers that were suddenly told that a potential home was either no longer on the market or had suddenly jumped in price. In this 1969 clipping, a 40-year-old Atlanta man was fired from his job at a hospital after hospital officials learned his wife was black.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and a native Atlantan. His legacy is deeply intertwined with the history of the city. His assassination in 1968 created shock waves that rippled through Atlanta and across the world. On the 10th anniversary of his death, The Atlanta Voice poignantly noted that the most precious gift he left to African-Americans was a change in their minds and spirits.

That dramatic shift was manifest in 1973 when Atlanta elected its first black mayor. The Atlanta Voice chronicled Mayor Maynard Jackson’s sometimes uphill battle to govern the city even as he and other elected black officials faced harassment. In an effort to overhaul the police department which stood accused of discriminatory behavior towards black citizens, Mayor Jackson ousted police chief John Inman. A number of black citizens had been killed or injured under questionable circumstances during Inman’s watch, and many accused him of racism. The Atlanta Voice reported on the police department’s “Gestapo-type unit” that spied on politicians. In an effort to determine the source providing inflammatory information to the paper, Inman sent an undercover officer to work as a typesetter at The Voice. This infuriated many, particularly the black community. Mayor Jackson continued to press forward and was a force in changing racist behaviors. When Maynard Jackson died in 2003, he was eulogized as a trailblazer in a ceremony the likes of which Atlanta had not seen since the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Atlanta Voice archives are a great place to search for clippings that pertain to your family tree. Did your family member sing in the church choir or serve in the military? News Briefs and society pages are another great place to see birth announcements, wedding announcements and learn about community events your family may have been a part of.

Dive into our archives today* to learn more about the people of Atlanta and the part they played in the historic Civil Rights Movement. Search Newspapers.com to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement today! 

*The Atlanta Voice requires a Publisher Extra subscription to search their archive

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The Atlanta Voice

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To celebrate Black History Month, we’re pleased to add The Atlanta Voice to our newspaper archives. Founded in 1966, the paper originated with a goal to provide fair and credible coverage to the growing Civil Rights Movement. According to the paper’s motto: “A People Without A Voice Cannot Be Heard.” The Atlanta Voice is the largest audited African-American community newspaper in Georgia. It is a weekly publication, and our archives contain issues that date back to 1969.

The Civil Rights Movement took root in the fertile ground of Atlanta. As it did, The Atlanta Voice used its editorial voice to shine a light on injustice. For example, in this clipping, a local taxi company refused to hire African-American drivers simply because they just “hadn’t thought about it.” In another instance, the paper reported on realtors who discriminated against African-American home buyers that were suddenly told that a potential home was either no longer on the market or had suddenly jumped in price. In this 1969 clipping, a 40-year-old Atlanta man was fired from his job at a hospital after hospital officials learned his wife was black.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and a native Atlantan. His legacy is deeply intertwined with the history of the city. His assassination in 1968 created shock waves that rippled through Atlanta and across the world. On the 10th anniversary of his death, The Atlanta Voice poignantly noted that the most precious gift he left to African-Americans was a change in their minds and spirits.

That dramatic shift was manifest in 1973 when Atlanta elected its first black mayor. The Atlanta Voice chronicled Mayor Maynard Jackson’s sometimes uphill battle to govern the city even as he and other elected black officials faced harassment. In an effort to overhaul the police department which stood accused of discriminatory behavior towards black citizens, Mayor Jackson ousted police chief John Inman. A number of black citizens had been killed or injured under questionable circumstances during Inman’s watch, and many accused him of racism. The Atlanta Voice reported on the police department’s “Gestapo-type unit” that spied on politicians. In an effort to determine the source providing inflammatory information to the paper, Inman sent an undercover officer to work as a typesetter at The Voice. This infuriated many, particularly the black community. Mayor Jackson continued to press forward and was a force in changing racist behaviors. When Maynard Jackson died in 2003, he was eulogized as a trailblazer in a ceremony the likes of which Atlanta had not seen since the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Atlanta Voice archives are a great place to search for clippings that pertain to your family tree. Did your family member sing in the church choir or serve in the military? News Briefs and society pages are a great place to see birth announcements, wedding announcements and learn about community events your family may have been a part of.

Dive into our archives today to learn more about the people of Atlanta and the part they played in the historic Civil Rights Movement. Start searching The Atlanta Voice archives today!

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An Amazing Rescue From Slavery

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During the mid-19th century, the abolitionist movement gained strength in the Northern United States. Free states prohibited slavery, but many of those living in slave states were forced to suffer backbreaking work and constant forms of degradation. In 1847, one heroic mother, a freed slave, received a letter from the master of her two daughters. She had given birth to the girls while still a slave, making her daughters slaves according to the law. In the letter, the master threatened to sell the girls and send them to Louisiana unless she could raise $400 to buy their freedom. She had no way to get the money but was determined to save her daughters. This is her story, told from clippings from the Green-Mountain Freeman in October 1847.

After finding a few men who were sympathetic to her story, and able to help transport and hide the girls after their rescue, the mother devised a rescue plan. She immediately set out on foot, walking about 35 miles to the home where her girls were kept. Arriving at night, she waited in the woods until the following morning. Not wanting to raise suspicion, she went to the house as she always did when she visited her children. “I stayed there on Saturday and Sunday, til Monday evening; cooked and washed for them, and then bid my children goodbye, as if I should never see them again; for I told ‘master’ that I could not raise the money.”

Green Mountain Freeman, October 14, 1847

After leaving the house, the mother again hid in the woods until 11:00 pm. As she quietly approached the house, two dogs began to bark furiously. “I stopped a moment, and hid behind the fence, and saw ‘master’ get up and open the window, and look out. Not seeing anything, he shut down the window. I waited till I thought he was asleep, and then went forward. I hurried quick into the cellar kitchen, where my children slept.”

She waited until she heard the master snoring, then quietly woke the children and told them not to speak a word. “I got on their clothes as soon as I could, and fearing that if I went out by the door the dogs would bark again, I determined to go out by the back window. I found it fastened. I got up on the window sill to take out the nail, and as I was pulling at it, I prayed, ‘O Lord, defend me and my dear children this night; I commit myself and them to thee.’ At length I got out the nail, and opened the window, and lifted my children out; and then got out myself. The two dogs were there, but they only stood and looked at us, and never even growled.”

The three of them ran through the garden, over three different fences and palings, and walked four miles to a waiting carriage, reaching it about 1:00 am. Boarding the carriage, they drove as fast as they could towards the city, but had no intention of going to the city, “For I knew that ‘master’ would be there as soon as he could, after he waked up and found the children gone,” said the mother.

Instead, the three were secreted in a series of safe houses and transported first to Pennsylvania and then to Boston. Once in Boston, the mother was able to obtain work and her daughters enrolled in school and learned to read and sew.

Would you like to read other amazing and heroic stories about rescues from slavery? Search our archives for more amazing accounts, and check out our Underground Railroad topic page on Newspapers.com.  To see a beautiful short film on the Underground Railroad, check out Railroad Ties here.

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Greensboro Sit-In Protests Begin: February 1, 1960

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On February 1, 1960, four young African-American men entered the Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina. They sat down at the segregated lunch counter and refused to leave after being denied service.

Joseph McNeil, David Richmond, Ezell Blair Jr. (later Jibreel Khazan), and Franklin McCain, all students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and his doctrine of using non-violent protests as a way to achieve social and political progress.

After purchasing a few small items at Woolworth’s, the young men proceeded to the lunch counter with receipt in hand. Instead of heading to the standing snack bar where they were normally relegated, they sat at the lunch counter designated “whites only.”

After taking a seat, the young men politely waited for service. Someone called the police, but segregation at the lunch counter was a social custom and not a law. The men were paying customers and couldn’t be arrested.

The next day the Greensboro Four returned to Woolworth’s again. This time accompanied by additional African-American students. In subsequent days the numbers of protestors increased. By the fifth day, some 1,000 protestors joined in. The sit-in protests made nationwide headlines. Similar protests spread across the country, occurring in nine states and 54 cities.

The bold actions of the Greensboro Four took courage. It had been six years since the Brown v. Board of Education ruling had passed, eliminating separate but equal – but little had changed. Their protest led to a student-led civil rights movement. As the movement spread, so did the need to organize.

In April, under the direction of Martin Luther King, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized a meeting for sit-in protestors. King told attendees that protests were a civil right and not a social privilege, and he urged protesters to refrain from violence. Sadly, the civil rights movement was marred by violence.  Felton Turner, 27, was abducted by four masked white men, strung up by his heels and beaten with a chain. His attackers carved letters into his chest with a penknife before he was able to escape. He was one of many who endured attacks.

Six months after the sit-ins started, protestors achieved a measure of success when on July 25th, the Greensboro Woolworth’s lunch counter opened to all diners – black or white.

In 2010, on the 50th anniversary of the original protest, the building that once housed the Greensboro Woolworth’s reopened as the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. Part of the original lunch counter where the Greensboro Four sat down in February 1960 is now housed in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

To read more articles about the sit-in protests or the civil rights movement, see our archives and visit our civil rights topic page on Newspapers.com.

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New Papers From Kentucky and Pennsylvania!

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Do you have ancestors from Kentucky or Pennsylvania? We’re thrilled to announce our newspaper archives from these states are expanding!

The Paducah Sun: Paducah, Kentucky is located just past the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers and is home to The Paducah Sun. Our archives date back to 1896 and contain more than 1.5 million pages from The Sun and related titles including The Sunday Chat; the Paducah Weekly Sun; the News-Democrat; the Weekly News-Democrat; and the Paducah-Sun Democrat.

These papers covered important developments in the history of Paducah including steamboat commerce and railroad growth. One historic event that made Paducah headlines was the flood of 1937. Weeks of steady rain followed by sleet caused the Ohio River to crest at 60.8 feet. Flood waters consumed the city and some 27,000 citizens were evacuated. Many residents were trapped in their homes or stranded on the upper floors of downtown buildings. Following the disaster, the US Army Corps of Engineers constructed a 14-foot high floodwall. In the early 1990s, in an effort to beautify downtown Paducah, one citizen suggested painting murals along the floodwall. In 1996, the city hired an artist to paint more than 50 murals that depict the history of Paducah.

If you have ancestors from Paducah, society columns are a great place to piece together your family story. They often mention travels, and births and deaths.

The Daily Item: Based in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, The Daily Item archives go back to 1894. Thomas Edison made a mark in Sunbury in 1883 when he installed and successfully tested the first three-wire electric lighting system in a local Sunbury hotel. The hotel’s name was later changed to the Edison Hotel in his honor. Electricity in Sunbury led to one of the first electric streetcar systems in the country. In 1906, the State of Pennsylvania established a bureau to record all the state’s births and deaths. Before then, newspapers like The Daily Item published birth announcements and obituaries.

Just 13 miles from Sunbury is the town of Danville. We have archives from the Danville Morning News and the Danville News that date back to 1898. In the 19th century, Danville became an important stop along the early transportation routes that included railroads, the Susquehanna River, and roads. Does your family tree contain an orphan from the Danville area? These newspapers are a great resource for information about institutions like the Mother House of Christian Charity and the Odd Fellows’ Orphans Home.

In 1919, during the early days of aviation, Danville residents poured into the streets to see an airplane. For many, it was their first time! The government plane circled the town dropping leaflets advertising Victory Liberty Loans (war bonds) to fund the war effort.

These stories are just a sampling of many fun and historical stories in these newspapers. Get started searching our Kentucky and Pennsylvania archives today at Newspapers.com!

 

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