Wedding announcements indicate that a marriage took place. If you can find more than one wedding announcement for an individual, then you know that a second marriage took place, either due to a divorce or to the death of a spouse. The nice part about finding out about a second marriage through the newspapers is that it will also give you a few details about the new spouse. However, finding a second wedding announcement can be tricky unless you already have an idea of when the second wedding took place. Otherwise, you will have to search through many years of newspapers.

The directories listed below will help you find the current owners of old newspapers from the time and place when the wedding announcement was published. If the individual spoke a foreign language, check to see if there was a newspaper in that language, too. Once you have located the current owners, you can request to search the appropriate copies. The current owners should be able to direct you in your search.

Ayer Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals, available at most community libraries.

Winifred Gregory's American Newspaper, available at community and genealogical libraries.

The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) microfiche. The OCLC has a database of the U.S. Newspaper Program National Union List. You can access the OCLC at most university libraries and some community libraries.

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