One word can make a difference

[fongu]

I was doing some research at the library and reading old newspapers from 1894 and found one word that made a difference in my research that was significant. This particular spot was a major attraction in the early 1900's with fiddling contests, sings, 4th of July celebrations and other activities. I've been researching this spot for 2-3 years as I had time, even tho I hadn't written the owners of this site due to time constraints and other reasons. It used to be a large area where as many as 12-15,000 people would gather and people rode trains from nearly 100 miles away to attend these gatherings.
Now, this large area is owned by over 150 small land holders and the largest section is about 33 acres and I just haven't tried to get permission, but continued my research just in case things worked out for my getting permission for some of these areas. Found quite a few large ads in the papers about this area and the one word that was not covered in the history of this area was the word mineral. It was named after the owner in the local history book I read, but the papers had the owner's name and the word mineral springs. In the early 1900's, if a place had mineral springs in it's name, it was considered a place for healing as well as recreation and I'm sure it made a difference in the crowd they had. Just thought I would mention this. I love reading the old newspapers from the late 1800's and early 1900's and some of their ads blow me away.

 

[doc holiday232]

Great info--Good luck on your permissions.

 

[JimmyCT]

Great research! I love reading old newspaper articles myself and have found some of my best detecting spots with this method. Wish you the best p.s. holler if you need help - Jim

 

[John-Edmonton]

Great research Fongu! I bet that there are a million great finds to be had there. Follow your dreams!

 

[fongu]

Thanks, everybody. Another thing to be watching for is when the current county was created from several larger counties and if you use the current city & county, you will miss some of the articles and information if you don't post the same name and the other counties it was created from. Seems especially true in state archives. This is obvious to most members, but thought I would share if for people just getting into research. Good luck & happy hunting.