Tip: Search Newspaper Sites Using an Address

Searching newspaper sites for an address, instead of a name, can sometimes uncover articles which would not have been found otherwise.

In 1910 the census record for my great grandmother, Anna (Adam) Kaechle, stated she was the mother of seven children with six still living. Since I knew of only six children, I assumed she must have had a seventh child who died in childhood.

In that census, the Kaechle family lived at 651 Chene Street in Detroit, Michigan. Searching Newspapers.com for “651 Chene” in Detroit resulted in 60 matches. The majority of these hits were help wanted ads placed in 1898/99. And others were dated after 1930 when the family was living in a different house.

One article, however, was dated 1909 and was about my family. The section was “births” and included the following: “Frank Kaechle, 651 Chene, boy.” Frank Kaechle was the father, and I noticed that both the girls and boys were just listed under the father’s names.

Although this short article had the surname, Kaechle, spelled correctly, OCR must have read it wrong. Most likely the only way I to find this incredibly short announcement was by searching for the address!

I am thankful to know the approximate date of Frank and Anna’s baby boy, but hope to also learn his name and exact date of birth and death.

(I think the key to blogging while going through BU this fall is to keep the posts short! I will blog when I can.)