How can a newspaper article from 100 years ago help with your family tree?

One of my favorite resources in Indianapolis Recorder.

I have been finding my ancestors in the Indianapolis Recorder for years & each time I find a new article with my ancestors name in it, I feel like it's Christmas.  

1915-03-13 Indianapolis Recorder

For almost 120 years, the Indianapolis Recorder has documented the history of not just Indianapolis' residence, but a few of the surrounding states, such as Kentucky.

The Recorder is not only full of stories regarding my family, I have gotten a sneak peak into what they were going through at that time.  

I have over 800 pictures & articles uploaded to my Ancestry.com tree.  Most of the articles, I have found on the IUPUI website.  The university's library has digitized this paper & a few other of my favorite research sites.

So far, I've been able to find both of my grandparents obituaries:

I've also found some cool birth records & some very interesting articles like the one at the top.

Were my grandparents cousins?

Kissing cousins from Kentucky

Isn't that what they call it?  

My grandfather is a Wickliffe from birth. My mother & her first cousin told me long ago, that somehow, my grandparents were cousins. Since I started working on my family tree, I've been trying to figure out how my grandparents were related.

I know that my great grandmother Odie's (Oddie)maiden name was Wickliffe.  Her grandfather was Alney Wickliffe, but I don't know much about him.  Alney & my three times great grandfather Yost may have been related, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how

Several possibilities are running through my mind.  First of all, it's possible that they aren't related at all.  The surname came from the original slaveholders family.  Which means Yost & Alney may have gotten the names from their original owners.  Which would mean they may not have even known each other, let alone have been related to one another.

Secondly, having the same last name, living in the same city/town doesn't make them related, but it's more that just a coincidence.  (If it were a name like Martin or Williams, maybe, but not Wickliffe.)

Lastly, how do you even figure out how one family is related to the other? I can't imagine how I would even begin to solve this mystery.

Can anyone help?

Familysearch vs Ancestry....Do you get what you pay for?