Small item can lead to huge tree

In every newspaper old or new you will find some small item that has been put there by a relative and it is in memory of a loved one. They are usually very small item and really don’t have much information, but they can lead to many more newspaper items. For instance this 1928 Milwaukee Journal small item:

 

Using this information I created a tree on Ancestry dot com for Mrs. W. W. Coleman. I used Ancestry dot com to create the tree because the program uses the information I enter to look for other records which might fit the person. Since I had her death date I used that date to look for her obit in the 1924 newspaper.

 

 

While on the newspaper page I do a search for W W Coleman

When I do a search for W W Coleman in the Google newspaper collection I get this.

From the search, I was able to find a reference to WW Coleman and found a son Edgar W Coleman

As a build the tree form Mrs W W Coleman to her son Edgar I am able to find other records that fill out the tree.

and in some of those records I am able to find W W Coleman’s death and was able to find an obit for him.

the obit gives me more information for the tree. I was able to get Mrs. W W Coleman’s name.

The additional information from the obit and additional new records from Ancestry dot com allow me to find a new branch in a 2003 newspaper.

The new item gives me more information for the tree, which had begun with a little item.

So never pass up a small item thinking that it does not have enough information.

I hope this post has helped you.

Thank You.