52 Ancestors 52 Weeks

Social Media

Newspapers used be the social media before the internet.  The newspapers reported the news, world wide, national, statewide and local.  The local news was like our social media today.  You found news of weddings with photos of the bride.  Announcements of the birth of a child.  There would also be stories of the people who were going out of town or were having guests visiting.  You would read about the ships coming into port and who was on the ship.

There were also columns that you could put in a personal note. You could say you were looking for an apartment to rent, or you would not be paying bills for your wife anymore.  One of the columns that was very common was looking for a date. These are some examples.

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My Aunt Florrie worked in a travel office.  She would help people make plans to take a trip on a passenger ship.  This was in the 1920’s.  One of the things they did when it was slow during the day was to check out the personal columns in the newspaper.

They loved reading about the men and women who were asking for a date and giving there description.  One day they dared Aunt Florrie to put in a ad as she was single in her late 20’s and not dating.  She did and a very nice gentlemen answered. They arrange to meet in a public park to check each other out.  There must have been a spark between them because they married in Marich of 1929 and stayed married until their deaths.