I have a two-part quick tip about searching the Historical Newspapers Collection.

First, after you have searched all of the states that you know that your family lived in, do a search of “all states.” I did this accidentally one time and found several links to midwestern and eastern newspapers. I would have normally ignored these since that family came directly from Norway to the state of Washington. However when I checked them, I discovered that most of them were articles about a great uncle who became an All-American college football player and was profiled in several out-of-state newspapers. I never would have found them if I had not been curious.

The second tip is to not ignore references to Nevada papers. While I have not found anyone actually in my family tree it would appear that divorces obtained in Nevada were listed in the paper whether the person was a state resident or not. So if you have been trying to find out when and where someone got divorced and hit a brick wall, check the Nevada papers.

Thanks to Teri Beauchamp for today's Quick Tip! If you have a tip you would like to share with researchers, you can send it to ADNeditor@ancestry.com