👋 Welcome to r/GenealogyDisasters - Introduce Yourself and Read First!

Hey everyone! I'm u/bjm19047, a founding moderator of r/GenealogyDisasters.

A long time ago, there was a wonderful resource called GenDisasters. It focused on a wide range of historical accidents and disasters in the U.S. and Canada, especially those documented in newspapers from the 1800s–1950s. Genealogists found it to be a valuable source of information.

Sadly, it no longer exists. I decided to start this website in an attempt to recreate and recapture some of the items that were lost on GenDisasters. I am hoping to build up a database here of news articles, genealogies, and maps that will help future genealogists. https://genealogydisasters.substack.com

Please feel free to message me with story suggestions, by providing me with the date the incident, where it occurred, and names of those involved. I will research it and pull in what news articles there are of the incident. Anything that produced a news story about deaths, injuries, or dramatic near misses will be considered, from large scale disasters like major hurricanes down to single fatality local accidents.

For now, until suggestions come in, I will be focusing on my area of the U.S., Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

How to Get Started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments below.
2. Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.
3. If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.
4. Interested in helping out? We're always looking for new moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave. Together, let's make r/GenealogyDisasters amazing.