If a relative was “locally famous” or involved in a notorious event, they may appear in numerous newspaper items. Many of these contain repetitive information and may be more than you can reasonably look through. Consider filtering out search results that contain items related to the event or the activity the person was involved in.
My relative’s late 1890 era activities generated newspaper accounts across the nation. I decided to filter out results that also contained his alias and/or the name of his associate. There are drawbacks to filtering out results, but sometimes it is necessary. What filter works best will depend on your specific situation, but remember to keep track of your filter so that you know what you removed from your search results. That will allow you to decide later if you need to revise the filter. You won’t know if you don’t keep track. 
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4 Responses
On the other hand . . . if, in order to avoid unnecessary redundancy, I had filtered out historical newspaper articles about my g-g grandfather, the RR contractor and bigamist all over the western states, there are many details I would have missed. Yes, sometimes brief articles seem to have been syndicated and shared widely, word-for-word, in states far from where the action took place. But just as often, certain local papers have slightly new or updated or more detailed information. You won’t know until you look and compare.
I have successfully filtered out results for guys with the same name, who were also frequently in the news, however. One was (by way of contrast) a well-respected and active Methodist ministor in Ohio during the same decades that my ancestor was performing his misdeeds out west. So my search became . Names changed to protect the descendants.
My search terms disappeared, perhaps because I used non-alphabetical, non-numerical symbols to set off the search. I’ll try again:
“J.M. Thompson” – Methodist
This article is quite vague for a newbie.
How do we apply a filter?
To what search? Google? Ancestry.com?
Where do we find filters?
Can you offer a step by step example?
Tip of the Day is short by nature…we’ll try and post something on our Rootdig blog.