52 Ancestors Week 37: In the News

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 37: In the News

The theme for Week 37 is “In the News.” Have you made a family history discovery in a newspaper? What about a reporter, editor, or newsie in the family? 

Still waiting for pictures of Spider-Man! 

    At the time of this blog's posting, it's incredibly difficult to find Haverhill newspapers online. You literally have to jump through hoops in order to find a story about somebody living in Haverhill, Massachusetts. For some reason Haverhill newspapers are not online anywhere at this time. Thankfully, there are ways around this problem. You could do a keyword search on Newspapers.com for "Haverhill" and add someone's name. That's how I was able to find the car story I talked about a few weeks ago. You gotta love loopholes! 

    Using the loophole, I was able to find a ton of neat stories. One of the most bizarre ones was how several newspapers across the country reported on my 2nd great-grandmother's brother Paolo buying a ton of bread to feed his kids. The same story was repeated over and over again word for word. I swear it was a meme of its day. One day I'll talk about it. Just not today. I have something a bit more interesting in mind!

    This short story comes to us from the Holyoke Transcript Telegram on January 16th, 1947. The story talks about how an ambulance couldn't get to a pregnant woman and her husband due to a ton of snow being on the ground. Extraordinary measures had to be taken and so the cops placed the woman and her husband on a toboggan and delivered her to Hale Hospital where she gave birth to a bouncing baby boy.

    The couple in the story were Paul Coppola Jr, son of Paolo and his wife, Marie Thais Leblanc.

    It shouldn't surprise anyone that the Coppolas had car trouble at that time of year. Ask anyone who lives in the Northeast US and they could tell you just how hard it is to get a car started on a winter morning. You might even hear stories about the infamous Blizzard of 1978 around here. Yes, I know it mainly struck the Midwest US. However, we apparently felt the effects here in the Merrimack valley. It was that huge.

Joe and his mom.

    Once in a lifetime blizzards aside, the story was about the birth of Joseph Coppola, my second cousin twice removed. Unfortunately, the only information I gathered about him came from his obituary in 2010 and from various relatives including his great-niece Cynthia.

    Cyndi told me Joe was in the U.S. Navy. I think you all probably guessed that from the picture. Now, now. He could have been in a play or a movie. Yeah, right. He was in the Navy and looked quite spiffy in that uniform. 

    After the Navy, he became a mentor to many people and from the looks of his obituary he really loved animals.  He seemed like a cool guy and animals can sense that about people. If you want to check out his story, check out his page on Find a Grave.

    There's no biography. At least the obituary is there detailing his life. It's not a bad story for a man whose very birth made the news!

    I have to wonder. Did Joe know he made the news that early in his life? Does his family know? I'm going to link this week's blog to Cynthia and maybe she can show it to the family. It's an interesting story and it's a lot more upbeat than the one about the car crashing into the Soterakopoulous house. 

    I really like human interest stories like this one because far too often we have negative stories in the media. Even back then you had stories where someone was hurt or involved in a bizarre case. I have some other strange stories to talk about and one day I'll probably share them here. For now, we have this cool story about a couple trying to get to the hospital after the storm. In New England. I have to feel for the family. The scenario seems like it should be a scene in a movie. I'm glad Joe had a great life. I just wish I could have met him. 

 See ya next time!

P.S. Here's hoping Haverhill's newspapers get digitized soon!