Read the Whole Paper

I have used newspapers extensively to learn more about my ancestors and fill out my family history, but if I could offer just one tip for newspaper research, it would have to be to read the entire paper.  Oh, how that one tip could have saved me years and years of research.

I traveled to California to go to a library which held microfilm of my ancestors’ local newspaper, the Petaluma Courier.  I found the obituary I was looking for, that of my great-great uncle, John Ahern.  It was short and to the point:  “AHERN – Near Oakland, June 18, 1896, John C., youngest son of J. Ahern of Petaluma and brother of James Ahern, a native of Sonoma county, aged 22 years.”[1]  The obituary mentioned only his father and one brother, making no mention of another brother, Henry, and three sisters, Sarah, Belle, and my greatgrandmother, Mary Bradley .  There was nothing to indicate how or exactly where he died.  Of course I followed up with Alameda County to secure a death certificate for John, but came up empty.  I’d theorized that maybe he was always sickly (his mother died in childbirth delivering him) or perhaps some sort of an accident.

Fastforward a few years, again to another trip to California, this time to the Bancroft Library at the University of California in Berkeley, where I searched in the Oakland newspapers for an obituary for John.  I didn’t find an obituary for John Ahern, but I found a surprise – an obituary for John Lockren.  “LOCKREN - In this city, June 18, 1896, John C., beloved son of Ann Lockren and James Ahern, brother of Charles and Mary Lockren, Henry, James and Sarah Ahern, Mrs. Belle Green and Mary Bradley, a native of Sonoma, California, aged 22 years, 9 months and 17 days.”[2]  This was my guy, but why was Ann Lockren listed as his mother?  James Ahern only had one wife, Jane.  And who were these additional siblings, Charles and Mary Lockren?

I read additional issues of the Oakland and San Francisco papers trying to find more about the railroad accident which caused the death of John Ahern/Lockren.  One brief article concerning the coroner’s inquest stated “It developed at the inquest that the correct name of the young man was John Ahren (sic), he having taken the name of his step-father.”[3]
Over time, of course, I did my due diligence, getting the death certificate for his “mother,” Ann Lockren.   No help there, but a clue came in the death certificate for Charles Augustus Lockren, which stated his parents were Michael Lockren and Anna Graham, both natives of Ireland.[4]  Graham was the maiden name of Jane Ahern, John’s mother.   She must be his aunt! 

If only, if only, if only I had read further in that original newspaper, the Petaluma Courier of June 24, 1896, I would have seen on the very next page a three-paragraph article all about the death of John Ahern, containing the significant tidbit, “He lived with his aunt and other relatives at Oakland.”[5]

Of course the aunt wasn’t mentioned by name in the Courier, so I guess it was a good thing I found the Oakland newspaper as well, but I could have saved myself a lot of head scratching and a lot of time if I had read just one more page of the original newspaper!


[1] The Petaluma Courier, June 24, 1896, page 2
[2] Oakland Enquirer June 19, 1896, page 4
[3] Oakland Enquirer June 20, 1896, page 5
[4] Death Certificate for Charles Augustus Lockren, 11 January 1911, California State Board of Health, County of Alameda. Certified copy in possession of author
[5] The Petaluma Courier, June 24, 1896, page 2