Family History Photo Mystery: How I Used Newspapers.com to Get The REAL STORY
Family History Photo Mystery: The photo above is my 2nd great aunt Anna McPhillips (1887-1925). When my great-grandmother Therese McGinnes (1894-1988) gave me the photo in 1977, she said this:
“Oh that was Morris Austin’s wife. She was pinned against a building by a runaway car in the Bronx. It ran up the curb and she died instantly. Her name was Anna.”
And there was this written on the reverse side:
Using only these clues – no maiden name for Anna, no date for the accident, etc. I was able to use historical newspapers to find this article in the New York Evening Post dated Saturday 9 May 1925:
And that article had all the clues I needed to complete the puzzle about the life of Anna T. McPhillips.
Family History Photo Mystery: Save BIG at Newspapers.com!
Did you take advantage of the FREE ACCESS earlier this month at Newspapers dot com? Over 1 BILLION pages of historical newspapers were available for research and download! I have been able to make some amazing discoveries for my own personal genealogy research.
Did you want to continue the search? Right now through February 28th, you can get 30% off Newspapers.com Publisher’s Access and find out more about your ancestors! Click HERE or the image below to get started!
**Offer ends Feb 28 at 11:59PM MT. Offer available for new Publisher Extra® subscribers only and not for renewal of current subscriptions. Billed in one payment of $49.90 + tax for a 6 month Publisher Extra® subscription. Your subscription will automatically renew at list price after the introductory 6 month offer.
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Family History Photo Mystery: Tips for Researching on Newspapers.com™
- Try using quotation marks around names or phrases to narrow search results (e.g., “James Smith”). This will give you results where those words appear next to each other on the newspaper page.
- Don’t forget to clip articles as you find them!
- Check for nicknames and spelling variations. James, Jim, and Jimmy might all be ways a family member appeared in the paper.
- Research grandparents, siblings, cousins, and other family members. Even if your dad isn’t mentioned in an article, his family members might be.
- Research places of business and home addresses. These can help you uncover valuable details about your relative’s career and community.
Family History Photo Mystery: Clip Articles, Obituaries, Photos, and more
Clippings are an easy way to keep track of interesting things you find on Newspapers.com™. With a Newspapers.com™ account you can clip an article or an entire page, and once its clipped, you can easily find it again or share it with friends. You can also follow a newspaper, follow another member’s profile, or save a search—and receive notifications when they’re updated.
The Newspapers.com™ viewer is a powerful tool that lets you explore a newspaper page in detail, clip a page or article, and print, save, or share what you find. When you find something on Newspapers.com that you would like to have a copy of, you can print the image directly from the viewer or you can download the image and save a digital copy.
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@2025, copyright Thomas MacEntee. All rights reserved.
