Check Social Columns in Newspapers – by Karen Krugman

Most people search for obituaries and death notices but never think to look in the social columns. Many of the older newspapers, pre-1940 in particular, carried in their social columns all sorts of things that were going on the community. Many times, family relationships can be defined through these columns. Birth announcements, marriage write ups, photos, and much more can be found. I’ve found death/funeral write-ups in the old social columns, even though there was no obituary or death notice.

Many newspapers carried columns called Vital Records, listings of marriage applications, births, and deaths. This section may not be found on the same page as the obituaries or death notices. I’ve found the columns as early as the early 1900’s in the Detroit papers.