Newspaper Look-up

[BeeE586]

Please, is there anyone who can check the Newcastle Evening Chronical to see if there is an account of the burial of William Wisternoff - spelling varies - who died May 18th 1903 ? An index mentions the name as appearing in this newspaper and I have e-mailed them but had no reply.

In 1901 William was living in Haswell nr Durham and the name was spelled Westenhof. A photograph that I have of him, with his wife and son suggests a fairly prosperous family who may warrant an obituary column rather than just a brief mention.

I have not been able to trace a will - any suggestions welcome.

Thank you ............. |hug|

Eileen

[Mythology]

Eileen, am I right in thinking that it's actually "The Evening Chronicle" and you've just labelled it "Newcastle" to distinguish it from other papers of the same name published elsewhere - there aren't two different papers, one of which has "Newcastle" as part of the actual title?

If so, it's at Colindale, and I'm going there next Saturday with SueL. :)

My own stuff is speculative - I'm just fishing, based on a reference in a leaflet issued by a charity in 1839 to their activities in the past year occasionally being reported in the daily papers, so it won't get done in one day anyway, and if that's the right paper, I'll do yours first - it'll probably be more rewarding!

[BeeE586]

Myth - thank you. I was browsing, neglected to earmark the site where I found the index and now I can't find the d--- thing again. It quite definitely said 'Newcatle' and a newspaper of that name does have a website, As I said, I did e-mail them, but no response. It is a VERY interesting family that I have researched in depth. William's father was Russian by birth and coachman to the Sixth Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth. I have done almost as much as I can, I think, and am trawling now for oddments around the fringes. Please don't neglect your own research for mine, although I am very grateful for the offer.

Eileen

[Mythology]

If it came from a web site, it's quite likely to be badly defined anyway - there are Lord knows how many dodgy references to "The London Times" rather than "The Times (London)" or some other such definition which makes it clear that "London" is not part of the title.

(Stops half way through, as something has just dawned on me - back in a minute)

[Mythology]

OK - I think we are in business. :)
This looks like the index that you originally found:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/NBL/DeathNotices/deaths_WIN.html
Now, that does say "Newcastle Evening Chronicle" - but the front page of the index:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/NBL/DeathNotices/
includes reference to:
"the original newspapers which are held at Newcastle Local Studies Library (currently in the Exhibition Hall at Newcastle Civic Centre) and at British Library Newspapers [that's Colindale] in London."
So - I reckon it must be the same thing. It is specifically an index to death notices and we have a date - it won't take long, so I'll cross my fingers and take a look.

[Mythology]

Also, in both the GenUKI index and the British Library catalogue, the first date is given as 2 November 1885, and in both cases there's a reference to the first six months of 1897 being missing.

Now, that there might be two newspapers with rather similar titles, I could believe - that sort of thing could happen if some new rag came along trying to pinch the old paper's business by fooling people into thinking they're buying their usual paper. Two papers with the same start date and the same batch missing though? No - this has to be the one, doesn't it?

[Mythology]

Not much for you, Eileen, it's just the short little entry in the deaths section of the paper, The Evening Chronicle, Issue no. 5,485, Monday, May 18, 1903.

WISTERNOFF. - 40, Chapman Street, Heaton, 16th inst., aged 73, Wm. Wisternoff. Interment Heaton Cemetery, Tuesday, May 19th.

No separate report of the death, nor the funeral/burial.
It's a fairly typical daily evening rag, only a few pages, loads of advertising and very little news. You might have more luck with something which is more of a "proper" paper, but don't ask me which one - not territory that I know well, I'd just be sticking a pin in the catalogue and crossing my fingers.

(Edit - no Sunday paper, of course, but as it's an evening paper, I did also check the one for the Saturday, the day he died)

[BeeE586]

Myth - thank you for the immense amount of trouble you have taken on my behalf, it is very much appreciated. I have delved into one or two local newspaper archives - Derbyshire Times and the Sheffield Star - with some success, but this in Newcastle was a bit out of my league. Even though the North east is one of my favourite areas for visiting, this is the only family member that I know of that had even the remotest connection with that part of the country.

Now I shall Google further for Newcastle to see if I can track down a 'proper, newspaper - the Local Studies Library might be a good place to start.

William moved around a fair bit and the name, as you may imagine is found under a variety of spellings. Born at Chatsworth in 1830, moved to Staveley when his father retired, lived in Derbyshire and Lancashire according to Census, before moving to Durham and Northumberland. Quite why I have never discovered.

My sincere thanks.

Eileen ........ |hug|

[Mythology]

No trouble at all, Eileen, it's only a half hour bus ride from here, I was going there anyway, and my own stuff really is just speculative unimportant fishing, on the off chance that, say, a report in another paper may give a more precise date than "just opened" in the 8 November 1838 issue of The Times.

Yours, while not much, was at least more rewarding in that we got something out of it - I drew a complete blank with mine.

Ah well, another day, another paper ....