Yesterday, I used my Godfrey Library card to take another look at their databases. I see that they now have EBSCO's Newspaper Archives, and that it includes the Jamaica Gleaner, past and present! I found many articles about my mother's parents and other relatives, including photos.

I found the death notice and obituary of my grandmother, Una Crosswell, as well as the obituaries of Dr. Louis Oliver Crosswell, my grandfather's brother, and Noel A. Crosswell, my uncle. The obits were pleasantly chatty, listing many who attended the services and their relationships to the deceased - providing clues for piecing together the extended family.

Cutting and pasting the articles into Word was a disaster - they are not readable. Transcribing them into Word while reading the pdfs online is a pain, and can't be discretely done at work. The best option is to save the page to the hard drive, and use Acrobat Reader to look at them offline. Then you can zoom and transcribe to your heart's content.

Godfrey Memorial Library is a genealogical library that sells "scholar" memberships for $35 per year. You then get a library card that entitles you to use all the wonderful resources they make available online. The list of genealogy-related databases is extensive and expensive - so your local library may not be able to provide them. I highly recommend that anyone who wants to do research online should become a Godfrey Scholar!