Connections
Genealogy Clues Found in the
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A Connection and a Correction!
I am very grateful to reader Don Bryant, who wrote to ask me a question about one of the old news stories on this site. Seems I had the wrong date listed for this Michigan story!
How did he know?
Don wrote,
On these pages there is a date of Thursday, April 2, 1874. In the eighth grade, my great-grandfather is listed (Eugene Townsend). But he was born in 1873. Harry Holbrook (a cousin of the future Mrs. Eugene Townsend) is listed and he was also born in 1873 or 74. In fact I've found in the 1880 census that all of the pupils listed were born between 1873 & 1875. What is the date on this page signify? It's obviously not the date of the list of students. Is it the date the newspaper began publication? By my estimation the list would be dated about 1886 or 1887.
It seems that although the Hubbardston newspapers are clearly printed on rag (versus modern wood pulp) paper, they are reprints, and the two different dates are back to back on the same sheet! I had thought that the printing was unusually small, even for a 19th-century newspaper. Believe me, even the originals, in their original size, can have such minuscule print that I can't read much until I scan them at 200%! This had already raised my suspicions - who'd want to subscribe to a newspaper that would be so hard to decipher?
Fortunately, I'm sure that the rest of my old newspapers are definitely originals: it had only been these Hubbardston papers (and a Great Lakes newspaper that I haven't yet used on this site) that are reprints.
I'm very thankful to sharp-eyed Don for sharing the information about Eugene TOWNSEND and for questioning the date of that newspaper!