As I have written about before, I am trying to complete my family history book. Last month, I even dared to state I was on the last stages of edits. This was true. Then, I found one more source – and it was a whopper!

I wrote some time ago about translated excerpts from a Dutch-language newspaper that were very helpful to me. Well, as I was checking that I had credited my sources correctly, I found a link to an online database of Dutch newspapers. I just clicked my mouse a few times and, lo and behold, there were scans of the original paper for its whole run from 1890 – 1919. I was sucked into the vortex.

I could not resist. The local news, that potentially held details about my ancestors, appeared on only three of the eight pages of each issue. Unfortunately, it still took a fair amount of time to load each page onto my computer, unlike just flipping over the actual paper of a hardcopy newspaper.

I skimmed each page looking for names I recognized. The advantage of reading something in a foreign language is that it is easier to focus on what you are interested in. When I found a name, I used Google Translate to read the news item in English. This worked well in the beginning, but as I progressed, I picked up some basic vocabulary and then became distracted by other bits of unrelated gossip.

Although this source ate into my projected print-date timeline, it was worth it. I found so many puzzle pieces that were not recorded in the standard vital records I already had. For example, obituaries often contained cause of death and kinship facts. Also, the movements of family members were recorded in surprising detail: not only were house purchases listed, but who was visiting whom was itemized with helpful relationship information (e.g. “So-And-So was visiting his sister What’s-Her-Name at her home in Such-And-Such-A-Place last week.”) All these new clues helped complete the family trees I had created, but the best bits were the anecdotes and hints of gossip.

One ancestor was a saloon-owner and he really jumped off the page as I read about the latest happenings at his establishment. Of course, it helped that he lived next door to the newspaper publisher! My favorite anecdote about him was that he won a horse in a raffle in spring 1893 and a month later the paper reported that he had sold it “and with the sale proceeds bought another horse, which has no need of short or long oats, does not have to be shod and does not care about the state of its stable, viz. a steel horse or “bicycle.”” Later, I also found his testimonial in an ad for a snake oil medicine! He must have been a real character.

Newspapers capture moments in time like snapshots, and when you read a series of issues, it is like each picture runs into the next one and the experience is like watching a period movie, in this case with sub-titles. I became invested in the happenings I was reading about – which families had babies, who had suffered the loss of a loved one, what toasts were made at weddings and anniversaries. I felt like I knew the people and the community. They were tied together by this publication in the language they shared, despite being separated by many miles, living in remote areas, in some cases isolated from any other settlers, let alone anyone who shared their culture.

By the time I made it to the Declaration of War in 1917 (the USA joined the war late), I was addicted. It was hard to adjust to all the English language government propaganda for war bonds and food-rationing. The paper became shorter as the economic situation got worse. Then, just as I was urging these long-dead people to hang in there because the war was almost over, the Spanish Flu epidemic hit. Then in June 1919 the paper went bankrupt. When I read the editor’s front-page announcement I felt like I was losing contact with a friend, with all the acquaintances I had come to know through the pages of his paper.

After weeks of submersion, I was forced to step back, to admit that these people who had laughed, loved, struggled and wept were long-dead; I had only been chasing their shadows. But it was worth it.

This article was originally printed in the Bergen News and is being reprinted with permission.