Don't assume your ancestor would not be in a paper, because "our family didn't warrant any mention." You never know when your ancestor might have been in an organization that caused him to get mentioned, got into legal trouble, received a pension, or any of a number of things that might have caused his name to appear in print.
He might have even written a letter encouraging his fellow farmers to grow more winter wheat as the United States approached the first World War.
One of my great-great-geandaunts was the town drunk, and made regular appearances in the newspaper's police reports. One time she got realeased from jail at 3:15pm, and was back in jail - drunk again - by 4pm.
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