5 Steps to Research

The Great Newspaper Ploy

Marthe Arends
6918 Foster Slough Road
Snohomish, WA 98290-6063
E-mail: mnarends@eskimo.com

If you believe you have ancestors abroad but don't know how to contact them, you may wish to try what I refer to as ``The Newspaper Ploy.'' I thought of The Ploy one day when I was researching a German line. Although my first attempt was successful (due more to luck than anything else), I revised The Ploy to give me even better odds. Internet has made everything easier, but you don't need to be online to use this technique.

I had been researching my family for a long time, and I guessed there must be family living (in what was then East Germany), but I had no names or addresses to which I could write. I knew the town name my family was from, but no more. I decided to write a letter to the editor of the newspaper in the town I was interested in, briefly detailing my research, and expressing my interest in corresponding with any relatives. I wrote the letter in what was very poor German, and enclosed a copy in English. Not knowing the address of the German newspaper for the area, I simply addressed my letter to:

Die Radaketeur (the Editor)
Die Zeitung (the newspaper)
Frose (the town)
East Germany
Letter replies started coming in from newly-found cousins.

Within a month of mailing that letter replies started coming in from newly found cousins, all of whom were delighted to know they had American cousins! One sent a copy of an article the local newspaper made out of my request. In the end, I had seven new German cousins. Those wonderful people set to work tracing the family using the local church and municipal records, and traced the family back many generations beyond what I had accomplished!

I made some mistakes with my first trial of The Newspaper Ploy (my trust in the German Postal System to deliver such a vaguely addressed letter was confirmed, but I would hesitate again to send a letter without a proper address). So when I found myself faced with trying to locate my husband's Luxembourgoise family, the technique was refined. I visited my local reference librarian and looked up the names and addresses of newspapers which were published in Luxembourg (the librarian used Editor & Publisher Inter- national Yearbook [New York: Editor & Publisher Co., most current issue] as the source of foreign newspaper addresses; most libraries carry this volume in the reference section). I picked a likely looking newspaper, addressed a letter to the editor, and gave details of my research, a request to contact living relatives, etc.

Once again, I had the good luck to be contacted by relatives, one of whom (mercifully) spoke English. One of my new cousins even held the whip to a local priest and made him spend long hours researching church records concerning the family! She also had one of the foremost Luxembourg research experts help trans- late some family letters from an almost unreadable German script.

Third time's a charm, thought I some time later. This time I wanted to tackle my mother-in-law's Italian lines. So I repeated The Newspaper Ploy process (now finely honed to razor sharpness), and was astounded and overwhelmed when a package from Italy came a few months later. A priest (a wonderful man by the name of Nello Marcuzzi) in the area I was researching sent a copy of a book he wrote concerning the church and ``our'' family.

Has The Ploy ever failed. Sadly, it did once, and unfortunately I am unable to tell if it's because the newspaper in question never printed my request, or if they did no one responded. But with my successes, I firmly believe The Ploy can work wonders!

A word about languages - when I began developing The Ploy I only spoke English and Russian, which was of no practical use to my research. I invested in a bi-directional German/English translation software, and used it with great success. My German cousins all praised my skills, and seemed to understand what I was saying. Although I must admit my letters caused great mirth to a German speaking friend; she later said that although the language in my letters was funny, it was understandable. When I started communicating with Italian cousins, I invested in a Italian/English translation software. Again my phrases were probably not very colloquial, but understandable.

Consider investing in translation software.

If you want to communicate with people abroad but are afraid of the language barrier, consider investing in translation software. There are also translating services you can utilize which will produce much nicer translations, but they cost a lot more.

If you are interested in trying The Newspaper Ploy, keep these steps in mind:

1. You don't have to know exactly what town your ancestors came from. If you know only a general area, consult an atlas and note the names of the larger towns. Then use the Editor & Publisher Yearbook to match newspapers with towns in the area you are searching. Send letters to all the newspapers in the area.

2. Make your Letter to the Editor brief and concise. If you have a long, rambling letter, or one with too many genealogical details, your odds of being printed drop. Give enough family information so relatives can recognize the family, but don't go overboard.

3. Unless you are fluent in a language, enclose a copy of your letter in English. Do this even if you are using translational software!

4. Send a cover letter to the editor explaining that you are trying to find family, and would like to have the enclosed letter printed in their Letters to the Editor column. Most of my letters were printed as mini-articles (which was even better); it doesn't matter how it's printed, so long as you make it into the newspaper.

5. When you receive a reply, be sure to respond! If you offered to share genea- logical data, follow up on that! Don't immediately demand that your new-found cousins run out and dig up information - enjoy your new relations; get to know one another first!

The Internet Newspaper Ploy

Those of you who are online must have light bulbs going off over your head. There are many newspapers which now have a web presence, and you can bypass sending letters via the United States and foreign mail by simply e-mailing the editor in question.

I must warn you that I have not tried this! I have visited many national and international newspaper sites, and have noticed that not all editors will accept letters via e-mail. Before sending an e-mail version of your letter, e-mail the editor first to see whether or not they will accept submissions via Internet. Attach a copy of your letter in English, just as you would with a paper copy.

There are several good newspaper index sites you can visit to locate online newspapers; I use the following:

BIE-Online Newspapers - http://www.coba.wright.edu/bie/paper.htm

Editor & Publisher Online Newspaper -
http://medianinfo.com/ephome/npaper/nphtm/online.htm

Newspaper Online! - http://www.newspapers.com

Can you adapt The Newspaper Ploy to work in the United States and Canada? You bet! The Editor & Publisher International Yearbook lists newspapers across both countries, and you have the advantage of speaking the native language. If you are online, you can also use the sites listed to locate newspapers in the region you are researching.

One of the rewards of genealogical research is finding new family members and friends. I've been extremely lucky to have found both, here in the United States and abroad. If you have immigrant ancestors, consider writing to a foreign newspaper to locate relatives. You have nothing to lose but a little time and airmail postage, and you may reap the benefits for the rest of your life!