Enjoyable reading found in news pages

I've said it before, but I want to say it again: To really "know" your ancestors - especially those in the 19th and early 20th centuries - read the newspapers of their time and place.

Because my parents were past middle age when I was born, I knew very little about my grandparents. I did know, however, that in 1901, both sets of grandparents migrated to Ponoka, Northwest Territories (later named Alberta), which seemed a good starting place to learn more about them.

There was some bit of information in nearly every issue that I read of the Ponoka Herald, the village newspaper, available on microfilm via interlibrary loan.

The March 19, 1901 "Local Gossip" section of the Herald reported that my great-grandparents would arrive by train from South Dakota the next week to homestead near Ponoka. Actually, that's not quite correct. The article read, "Mr. D. Wing and family." Mrs. Wing wasn't acknowledged, let alone her first name, but I put aside my feminism and chalked it up to the times.

In September 1901, my Wing grandparents made the news again and validated the chamber-of-commerce rhetoric used to attract settlers to the continent's northwest: "Mr. and Mrs. David Wing visited friends in the village Sunday and Monday. He took out a supply of twine to tie up his mammoth oat crop. He has oats on sod that stand over his head."

I loved reading my mother's grades in school - front-page news. I assumed parental pride of my dad when he had an essay printed in the paper, and when he won championship wrestling medals as a student at the University of Alberta.

When I read about basket socials, a popular form of entertainment, I wondered if my mom made a basket, hoping my dad would be the highest bidder.

The Battle River that runs through Ponoka is important to our family history. Grandma Hattie Wing is said to be the first non- Indian woman to cross it when they moved onto their homestead. It was the Battle River that would one day claim their 9-year-old son. My curiosity about the river's name was satisfied with a historical account that told of "bloody encounters" the Cree and Blackfeet tribes fought along its banks.

One anecdote passed down through the years was proven with this news account: "Eb Olmstead had a close shave last week. While working around the sawmill his beard became entangled in the cable of the carriage and he was dragged some distance. Since then he is going around with a smooth face." What a vivid picture to include in the family history book I hope to write some year soon.

I also learned world history in relationship to my family. The front page of the Nov. 19, 1914 newspaper was filled with news of World War I, while Page 3 held an announcement of my parents' marriage. I had never put the two events together before.

I have just finished reading the first three microfilms of the Ponoka Herald, which took me from 1900 to 1914, and I can hardly wait for the next three films to arrive.

Books that list microfilmed newspapers around the country and are available for interlibrary loan - at no fee - include "History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820" and "American Newspapers, 1821-1936." "Newspapers in Microform, United States; 1948- 1972," is a list of international papers that would include Canada and England. Most books list the papers by state and town.

Once you've decided which newspapers you want, reference-desk librarians will determine where the films reside and request microfilmed copies. The lending libraries determine the amount of time the film is available.

What a productive thing to do during these dark days of winter.

Copyright 2000 Cowles Publishing Company
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.