The Amazing Power of Newspapers: Part 1

Edward J Leach and Olivet Athletes

One summer, during college, I read Irving Stone’s very thick The Agony & Ecstasy, a biographical novel of Michaelangelo’s life. I now don’t remember much of the book, but there’s an image and description that has stayed with me for over 30 years. It was about Michaelangelo’s philosophy of sculpting. It went something like this, a masterpiece already exists inside the marble and his job was to remove the bits of marble surrounding it in order to allow the masterpiece to emerge. Sometimes he would be in a rush and hit it just wrong so that the piece of marble just fell apart into pieces, but other times as he was delicately and patiently chipping away, the masterpiece would emerge and be revealed in its full glory. 

 I see a parallel to this in my family history search. I think too often I approach with the smash and grab because I’m not patient enough to follow through on a research plan. So I end up with lots of broken marble (or lots of paper and boxes strewn about my room) that can’t easily be put back together in a useful way. And I have nothing really valuable to show for my time and effort. 

 Newspaper Resources 

 This week was a little different and my patience has paid off! And some true treasures were found in newspaper articles. (I found so much that this is going to be the first of several blogs!) The March/April 2023 edition of familytree Magazine included a Special Edition on Historical Newspapers. This is a keeper issue! It highlights FIVE newspaper websites (some free and others require a subscription): Newspaper.com: https://www.newspapers.com/ 

(familytree Magazine, March/April 2023) 

Library of Congress: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ 

Genealogy Bank: https://www.genealogybank.com/ 

NewspaperArchive: https://newspaperarchive.com/ 

Fulton History: https://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html 

 For research in Michigan, though, I want to recommend another site, and that is Central Michigan Digital Newspaper! I was following a path for some research related to the Bailey family. In a search for articles about a Hazel Ione Bailey who married a man with the last name French I was trying different permutations of her name (always very important in newspaper searching, sometimes women are only referred to with their husband’s names like, Mrs. Herbert French or even Mrs. HR French) and I came across a woman named Hazel French but she was in Osceola County. Now, “my” Hazel Bailey never lived in Osceola County but the hits that came up were in a newspaper that I did not know existed and it WAS the place where my grandmother and her mother lived! 

 Chipping Away 

 For three consecutive nights, I chipped away in my search process and what emerged was beautiful and amazing…and such a surprise! My great-grandmother, Florence Mary Stoddard married her husband Edward James Leach in 1905. I have written about both of these people in previous blogs (A Journey in the Making, “Notions and Fancy Goods”, and Names and Naturalization). I personally knew my great-grandmother Florence because she lived to age 91, but I never met her husband E. J. Leach. He died in 1919 when my grandmother was 5 years old. My grandmother, Elizabeth, barely remembered him and piecing his life together has been a big part of my family history journey. His father is one of my Brick Walls and I continue to yearn to learn more. 

 I spent a concerted effort to search through the Osceola County Democrat found on the Central Michigan Digital Newspaper Repository and I have been rewarded!! Osceola County is not a heavily populated county in Michigan, in fact if you’ve seen the movie or heard the story “Jerry and Marge Go Large”, the town where Jerry and Marge live is Evart, Michigan in Osceola County and is the next town to the east of Reed City (about 13 miles), you might then understand the size of these communities. 

Reed City is where my great-grandmother was born and her father and uncle owned Stoddard & Bros hardware and mill supply store in the town, so they were well known and local celebrities. As such, they were big fish in a small pond and their names graced the society columns of the newspaper. I thought I had searched the newspapers, but with this new newspaper, I learned I had only just begun. 

 Most Exciting Find 

While I was searching through permutations of my great-grandmother’s name, “Florence Stoddard”, I came across things I knew, like she attended Olivet College after her graduation from Reed City High School in 1901. I also knew that she met my great-grandfather, Edward James Leach at Olivet College and they married in 1905. I had no idea, though, that EJ Leach attended any other colleges other than Olivet and possibly Michigan College of Mines, so when I read the following newspaper, I couldn’t believe my eyes! 

Earlier (in A Picture is Worth MORE than 1,000 words!”) I shared how I found a photo of him as a student at Olivet and later learned through a search at the Olivet Archives a variety of activities he was involved in, including the Track & Field team, where he won 1st Place (there is a story there!) in the MIAA Tournament. So when I saw that he was visiting my great-grandmother on his way down from Houghton (in the Upper Peninsula) to Lansing (Reed City is right on the way!) where he was attending the Michigan Agricultural College, I was gobsmacked! 

He attended MAC, now known now as MSU (Michigan State University). The next morning, I checked with the Michigan State Archives and they confirmed that he was an Engineering student in his freshman year for the 1903-04 years. He apparently doesn’t show up again in their rosters after that, but I currently have a query with the Registrar’s Office. Tonight I did also search and found the Class of ‘05 MAC Yearbook, in which he is listed as a Freshman (Class of ‘07) and I found a picture of him as part of the Eclectic Society (a literary society nicknamed “The Tic” which later became Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. 

 After searching her various permutations (like Flossie, her nickname) and also Edward’s name, I could see their courtship unfold and eventually by paging through (don’t know why the search didn’t work!) I found their wedding announcement. I have no photos from their wedding, so these descriptions are precious! 

 And unfortunately after just 14 years of marriage, Edward’s Obituary. 

And Florence's return to college at Central Michigan University to earn her teaching certificate in 1922. Old Newspapers are definitely worth the time and effort, especially if you know your relatives had financial resources, standing in the community, or were infamous (that’s another story for another time!).

This is truly an amazing opportunity to fill in gaps for some members of my family!