Time to join the discussion. I grew up in the Tarentum area, and enjoyed the Valley Daily News during those years. It had excellent local coverage and actually had national news - or enough national news that you felt like you knew what was going on in the world . . . even if it wasn't the New York Times coverage. Fred, I won't let you move the old Tarentum paper to Vandergrift, no matter how special it was to folks in the Allegheny-Kiski Valley! The Valley Daily News was later merged with the New Kensington paper and ended up as the Valley News Dispatch with a much broader circulation base. The Community Library of Allegheny Valley, 315 E. 6th Avenue, Tarentum, PA 15084 Phone: (724) 226-0770, has an extensive collection of newspapers, including the Tarentum Telegram (1902-1912), Evening Telegram (1914-1921), Valley Daily News/Valley News Dispatch (1904-1973, 1991-March 1999), Natrona Daily Press (May-August 1923), and the Freeport Journal (1879-1905). I am unfamiliar with the current policy at the Valley News Dispatch since it became part of the Tribune-Review family of newspapers, but I do know that while the Gannett chain held the paper, access was severely limited. It certainly cannot be worse now, but the Community Library's collection provides access to all but the 1973-1991 issues, no matter what the policy is at the paper. Access to obituaries has been important in my 30+ years of genealogical research. My first family outline was built from information gleaned from obituaries printed in the Valley Daily News, ranging from a great-grandfather killed in an industrial accident at the Tarentum Glass Works and a great uncle who was killed in a train accident at Penn Salt in Natrona to the more prosaic and natural endings of life of beloved grandparents and other, more distant relatives (in pre-Gannett days). I'm sure that few of us would question the value of obituaries in securing research leads, and we should encourage anything that provides significant access to obituaries. There is nothing like reading in your mother's cousin's obituary that your second cousin had moved to Anywhere, USA so that you have an opportunity to chase him or her down. My great-grandmother's brother moved to Minnesota - a fact deduced solely from a notation of old at the end of her obituary asking that a specific paper in Minnesota please copy the obituary. From small clues and hard work come interesting discoveries. The Armstrong County Pennsylvania Genealogy Project has a specific section for posting obituaries. Many researchers have posted obituaries, including this writer, and many more should. Access to obituaries, whether 100 years or 100 days old, is one important avenue to learning more and kudos to those who take the time to make such access easier. And, very importantly, the site search tool provides an efficient means of finding specific surnames within obituaries, a convenience that few newspaper web sites offer. Larry A. Clever

Larry, Loved your article.........so many true and interesting facts. I grew up in Markle, which is next to Lower Burrell, a bit up the road, which is next to New Kensington, which is next to Tarentum.....and still the home of the Valley Daily News. I have found LOTS of stuff on my Reese/Griffiths side (Washington Co.), Evans/Ewig/McDonald sides (Bedford and Allegheny Co.) and Spencer/Miller side (Armstrong Co.), from the Valley Daily News Obits. Happy hunting everyone! Maureen Reese-Vorp Apollo, PA -----Original Message----- From: Larry Clever [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, July 09, 2001 9:46 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [PAARMSTR-L] Hmmm, Vandergrift? Time to join the discussion. I grew up in the Tarentum area, and enjoyed the Valley Daily News during those years. It had excellent local coverage and actually had national news - or enough national news that you felt like you knew what was going on in the world . . . even if it wasn't the New York Times coverage. Fred, I won't let you move the old Tarentum paper to Vandergrift, no matter how special it was to folks in the Allegheny-Kiski Valley! The Valley Daily News was later merged with the New Kensington paper and ended up as the Valley News Dispatch with a much broader circulation base. The Community Library of Allegheny Valley, 315 E. 6th Avenue, Tarentum, PA 15084 Phone: (724) 226-0770, has an extensive collection of newspapers, including the Tarentum Telegram (1902-1912), Evening Telegram (1914-1921), Valley Daily News/Valley News Dispatch (1904-1973, 1991-March 1999), Natrona Daily Press (May-August 1923), and the Freeport Journal (1879-1905). I am unfamiliar with the current policy at the Valley News Dispatch since it became part of the Tribune-Review family of newspapers, but I do know that while the Gannett chain held the paper, access was severely limited. It certainly cannot be worse now, but the Community Library's collection provides access to all but the 1973-1991 issues, no matter what the policy is at the paper. Access to obituaries has been important in my 30+ years of genealogical research. My first family outline was built from information gleaned from obituaries printed in the Valley Daily News, ranging from a great-grandfather killed in an industrial accident at the Tarentum Glass Works and a great uncle who was killed in a train accident at Penn Salt in Natrona to the more prosaic and natural endings of life of beloved grandparents and other, more distant relatives (in pre-Gannett days). I'm sure that few of us would question the value of obituaries in securing research leads, and we should encourage anything that provides significant access to obituaries. There is nothing like reading in your mother's cousin's obituary that your second cousin had moved to Anywhere, USA so that you have an opportunity to chase him or her down. My great-grandmother's brother moved to Minnesota - a fact deduced solely from a notation of old at the end of her obituary asking that a specific paper in Minnesota please copy the obituary. From small clues and hard work come interesting discoveries. The Armstrong County Pennsylvania Genealogy Project has a specific section for posting obituaries. Many researchers have posted obituaries, including this writer, and many more should. Access to obituaries, whether 100 years or 100 days old, is one important avenue to learning more and kudos to those who take the time to make such access easier. And, very importantly, the site search tool provides an efficient means of finding specific surnames within obituaries, a convenience that few newspaper web sites offer. Larry A. Clever ==== PAARMSTR Mailing List ====