Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Finding Newspaper Obituaries for Seaver Folks on Findmypast

One of my part-time projects is to find historical obituaries for some of my Seaver ancestors and relatives.

I have found that by searching for a specific name and a short date range around a known death date can yield results quickly.

Today, I searched for Ebenezer Seaver (1763-1844), who died in Boston, Mass., on Findmypast in their NewspaperARCHIVE collection.  I easily found the Boston Post newspaper page dated 2 March 1844  with the obituary:


The magnification capability is limited on Findmypast, so I have to download the newspaper page to my computer files, and then open it with my photo program, and magnify it to the point I can almost read it.  Then I used the Windows Snipping Tool to make an image of only the obituary and saved it to my computer:


The transcription of the obituary is:

"Died, in Roxbury, yesterday morning, March 1st,
Hon. Ebenezer Seaver.  He was born in Roxbury,
July 5, 1763, and graduated at Harvard College in
1784.  In 1803 he was chosen a representative to con-
gress, and continued to represent the district of Nor-
folk in which he resided until 1813; in the exciting 
times, and strong debates of that period, his uniform
consistency gave great weight to his opinions.  He was
a representative to the general court for several years,
and for a long period held offices of trust, and had great
influence in the administration of the affairs of his na-
tive town.  In many other stations he served his coun-
try, state, and town, in all of which he labored to do
his whole duty.  He was a republican, firm in his faith,
and zealous in the cause; while he claimed the liberty
of forming and declaring his own opinions, he was lib-
eral, and had a respect for every person who honestly
differed from him, and despised all deceit.  His habits
were plain, his speech sincere, independent, and with-
out ostentation; a worthy example in these days of
sycophancy.  But he has outlived most of his genera-
tion, and is the last of his father's family; his early
friends are few, and his discourse and thoughts were
chiefly on the days that are past.  In his death the
town has lost an honest man; his neighbors a counsel-
lor and friend."

I know my readers expect a source citation:

"Died, in Roxbury," obituary, Boston Post [Boston, Mass.], 2 March 1844, page 2, column 1, Ebenezer Seaver obituary; digital image, Findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : accessed 14 June 2016), U.S. and World Newspapers, NewspaperARCHIVE collection.

Ebenezer Seaver is my third cousin seven times removed.  Our common ancestors were Robert Seaver (1608-1683) and Elizabeth Ballard (1613-1657), the immigrant ancestors to Roxbury in 1634.

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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

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