In a message dated 1/14/03 9:57:12 AM Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes: << It should be remembered that long ago, obituaries were not a service provided by the newspaper, but had to be paid for. Only people with money to spare could afford to place an obituary in the newspaper. >> Doris - The Glasford Gazette obits and death notices were not paid for; but their inclusion in this little weekly paper helped to sell papers. People were eager for any news. Deaths and the details thereof sold even more papers. Someone in each of the little neighborhoods or surrounding communities was engaged to serve as a "correspondent" who gathered the news and sent it or brought it in to town to the newspaper office. That person probably only got their copy of the paper free of charge. I don't know about the obits from papers in larger cities; but that's the way it was in this little village at the turn of the century. Lyde

Lyde and all, > Someone in each of the little neighborhoods or surrounding communities > was > engaged to serve as a "correspondent" who gathered the news and > sent it or > brought it in to town to the newspaper office. > I don't know about the obits from papers in larger cities; but that's > the way > it was in this little village at the turn of the century. That's the way it STILL is here in Shelley, Idaho (pop. 4,000). There is a person who writes for the paper (The Shelley Pioneer) who gives the news for the area where she lives. The news is divided into "areas", like the "Jamestown area", "Taylor area", etc. even thought these divisions are not on any commonly found map, the locals know where they are. It is much of the same type of things that are reported: who went where for vacation, who is visiting, who had a baby....etc. The correspondent usually will give most of the goings ons that concern people she knows, but there is an email address to send her other information if you want. On a similar note, recently I have been sending in transcriptions of a 1925 Tama City newspaper from Tama county, Iowa to the Tama County GenWeb site. It has opened my eyes to the fact that trips to Chicago for a weekend or more were really fairly common. That's a long way to go, really, from Tama, IA, it being just a little northeast from Des Moines! What was the draw, I wonder? Judy L.