HI The Danville Public Library has, on microfilm, copies of a number of old papers. I'd write to the Star Tribune, (email) and ask how far back thier copies go. In the small town I live in, our local paper, a weekly, has copies of it's paper since 1857. If you don't find it in the Chatham papers, then the Danville paper is next, but if no luck there, the Lynchburg News & Advance has been around that long, though I believe that's a combined paper of two previous. Given you probably have a date, you should be able to find an obituary from one of the other. With people in Chatham today, it's often published in all three. Chatham is sort of dead center, so both papers tend to print obituaries. I have one from 1888, printed in the Tri Weekly News in Lynchburg. My GGGGgrandmother, Ann "Nancy" Harrison Lewis died (May 27/28 of 1888. Her obituary reads "Oldest woman in Pittsylvania Co death" It reads; [Sunday June 3rd, last Sunday at Chalk Level etc] born 17 Aug 1791. Married at 15, mother of 14,At death she had 70 Grandchildren, over eighty greatGrandchildren and several great great grandchildren. Blind for many years, member of Meth. Epis. church 60 yrs. Widowed for 30 yrs. Had read the Bible through, 5 times. etc. (this is not the exact wording, but close). For that matter, Nancy's mother in law, Jane (Shelton) Lewis, wife of William "Meadown Billy" Lewis and d/o John Shelton d. 1804 Pittsylvania, had her obituary printed in a Lynchburg paper; " The Lynchburg Press", Lynchburg VA Friday Aug 10 1821 page 3 col 5. "departed this life on the 27 of July last, in the 65th year of her age, after a long indispositon, which she bore with Christian fortitude, Mrs.Jane Lewis, consort of Mr.William Lewis, sen'r, of Pittsylvania County. She was the mother of 12 children, all of whom she raised, and has left an affectioate husband, 20 grandchildren and a number of friends to lament her departure..." So they are out there. They may not tell you what you want to know, but they are available, on a hit or miss fashion. I found one of these and a kind soul sent me the other. For that matter, an earlier number show up in the Southern Churchman & other similar papers often abstracted in the "Virginia Genealogist", which can be found in a number of libraries, even in Delaware <G>. Most large libraries have indexes for early papers. I'm not sure they go as late as 1934, but I think the index at the Danville Library, not necessarily in the VA/NC Piedmont Genealogy room, but down in the lower level where the microfilm readers were, last time I was there, which has been a while. Happy hunting ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 11:59 AM Subject: [VAPITTSY-L] Where to look for obits from 1934 > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Classification: Query > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3AC.2ACE/1554 > > Message Board Post: > > Can someone give me some guidance on where I would look for an obituary > for someone who died in Chatham in 1934? Did Chatham have a newspaper or > would such a notice be in a Danville newspaper? Any help would be > appreciated. Tom Spencer > > > ==== VAPITTSY Mailing List ==== > Have spare time? The USGenWeb Census Project needs you! To volunteer or > view transcribed censuses, visit http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/ >