One of the unexpected resources for genealogy that I found while researching Sadie Evahn of Spokane WA is the Library of Congress Historic Newspapers program.

Seems like they have thousands of newspapers published between 1836 and 1922. Some runs that they have preserved are relatively short and some longer. Many are microfilmed but a good number are online and searchable.

I got lucky and found The Spokane Press in the early 1900s to be scanned and searchable online. I learned a bit about my mystery woman Sadie Evahn. Still more to be found but I’m getting there.

They may or may not have papers relevant to your search but this is a free resource worth checking out. If you take the view that nothing is free, think of it as your tax dollars at work.

In any case, a great resource for genealogy and worth a look. The URL for the Library of Congress Historic Newspapers is http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/.