Baylor County Banner
 

The Baylor County Banner

 

The Baylor County Banner, issues from 1906 to 1922, has been an excellent resource for me to learn more about my father's family. For those with family in Baylor County, Texas, the Banner reveals a great deal of valuable material. Information is also found about those residing in nearby counties, especially Knox County.

 

In addition to birth, marriage, and death records, I have found  much about my grandfather's business transactions, various jobs, real-estate transactions, home improvements and even his move to another county. The newspaper revealed facts about my grandparent's church and community activities and their children's school activities.  I have found extended family members living with both my grandparents and great-grandparents and information about cousins who moved to or visited family in Baylor County.

 

 

I originally obtained copies of  the Banner through interlibrary loan from the Texas State Archives and Library.  The Center for American History at the University of Texas in Austin also has copies of the Banner on microfilm and the Baylor County Banner office lists some films available for viewing in their office.  I was spending so much time at my local library viewing the films that I finally purchased my own from  Southwestern Micropublishing http://www.swmicropublishing.com/.  I now view the films at home on an old microfiche machine purchased on e-bay.

 

The Baylor County Banner continues its publications from Seymour, Texas.  Thank you to Matt Gwinn for allowing me to publish information from past newspapers on this site.

 

 

Each issue of the Banner contains a massive amount of local names and events. To transcribe entire issues would be an impossible task. I have transcribed articles or parts of articles containing information about my grandparent's families.  Names include BRYAN, LATTA, HAMMETT, HAIRSTON, NOAH, and THOMPSON. I also transcribed articles about my family's neighbors, cousins of cousins, articles that I thought were interesting or amusing, and articles about my home state of Virginia. As I see obituaries and articles about marriages or births of others residing in or near Baylor County, I have made note of them, but have not typed entire articles. The names in bold are family names or names of interest to me.  There are many other names on these pages. Use your "find" function to locate names that interest you.  I have many films to read and will continuously post new information.

 

 

Lookups

 

I will lookup any obituary, marriage, or other article if I have posted it on these pages.  If you request information, I will try to get it to you as soon as possible. I work part-time, have two teenagers, and just moved into a new house. I read the Banner only a few nights each month.  I am unable to make copies of the articles, but will type them or if an article is short, I can take a picture of it with my digital camera.

 

 I am not able to look for obituaries or articles that I have not already posted or search for names of those who have lived in Baylor County. The Banner was a weekly paper and issues were long. Obituaries and other events were not always posted the week or even month of the event. Some events were just included in the community news without a title to mark it as a marriage or an obituary.

 

 

My father's birth announcement, from the Baylor County Banner issue published on      December 30, 1920, is my favorite find.

 

 

 

Family notes from the Baylor County Banner

 
 
1905
 
           1906 updated
 
1907
 
1908
 
1909
 
1910
 
1912
 
1913
 
           1916 updated
 
1918 
 
1919
 
1920
 
 
The Scrapbook
This is a scrapbook of newspaper clippings from Baylor County and the surrounding counties. I have been told that the original can be found in the library in Seymour. These clippings are not dated, but appear to be from the 1930s and 1940s.
 
Obituaries from the Scrapbook
 
Marriage Announcements from the Scrapbook
 
Miscellaneous Clippings from the Scrapbook
 
 
 
Other Baylor County Banner and Newspaper Links
 
The Baylor County Banner, Golden Jubilee, issued September 5, 1929, Subject Index
This is found in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University. When you go to the site, click on SWC Newspapers and the Banner can be found listed under "S" for Seymour.
I have this most of this issue on Microfilm and will look-up people listed in the index as I have time.
 
United States Newspaper Abstracts
Many newspaper abstracts from Texas, including some from Baylor County, can be found on this site.
 
The North Texas Genealogical Association has indexed the Seymour Weekly Cresset for the years 1886 to 1888. Other Baylor County information, including census records, can be found at this site.
 
The Olden Times.com: Historic Newspapers Online has two articles mentioning Seymour citizens; Society news dated 1914 and the Roach Anniversary Celebration, also in 1914.  The Olden Times.com: Historic Newspapers Online is a wonderful site where you can fine old obituaries, birth & marriage announcements, old news stories,  old advertising, recipes, cartoons and humor, and more. All are scanned from original issues of 18th, 19th and early 20th century newspapers from the U. S., England, Scotland, Australia & Ireland. 
 
 
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