Funny Finds: Chicken thief!

While much of genealogy is a slog of searching endlessly through records, it is important to remember there are bits of your family history that aren't tied to official records.  One of my favorite things to do when I have a little spare time is to search the newspapers for mentions of my family.  I particularly enjoy the newspapers from the mid-1900s, their social sections were the equivalent of today's facebook.  They listed events that were held, times when people left town to visit other people, and were generally nosy and in everyone's business.  You can find some truly interesting facts about your family from that time period that may not have ever been mentioned to you.

Today, I wanted to share one such gem that I found one day while searching my Brenneman side of the family on the newspapers in Iowa.


OK, seriously, I could not stop laughing forever after finding this.  It is still a story that I tell everyone when I speak of our genealogy and some of the unique finds that I've had.  I shared the story with my dad, as this is one of his uncles, but he had passed away the year my dad was born.  My dad had not ever heard the story!

Have you ever found something that surprised you or made you laugh about your family records?


Lori

Surnames discussed: Brenneman

Region: Iowa City, IA, USA

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