The census was begun on 15 April 1910 and it’s important to note that answers to census questions were to reflect the status of the household as of that date. For example, those who had a birthday on April 16, would be listed with their age as it stood on April 15th, making them appear to be a year younger--regardless of the fact that they may have been counted on April 17 or later. Ages for children less than two years of age were to be “given in complete months, expressed as twelfths of a year.”

Marriage Dates and Status
Using the new index, I was able to find two previously missing siblings of my ancestors, one living in Massachusetts in the Puritan Hotel in Boston. A particularly helpful aspect of the 1910 is that it asked how many years couples had been married (current marriage). This is helpful in narrowing down marriage dates. Mae (Dyer) Hutchinson is enumerated with her husband Hiram and the census notes that they have been married for two years. I also found her brother Edwin, who had also evaded me in previous attempts, and have already noted microfilm numbers to search for both of their marriage records.

Another ancestor is listed twice, once in Brooklyn with his wife and family where both are listed as “married” and once in Idaho, where his marriage status, interestingly is “divorced.” Enumerators were instructed to indicate first marriages with “M1” and for a “second or subsequent marriage, write ‘M2’ (meaning married more than once).” This would suggest that an M2 designation could actually mean a third or fourth marriage.

Addresses
Make note of your ancestor’s address. This may help you to identify your ancestor in other records created around that time. In addition by plotting it on a map, you can zero in on where to search for other sources, such as church, school, or cemetery records.

Other Items of Note
Number of children born. The enumerator instructions read that “This question applies to women who are now married, or who are widowed, or divorced. The answer should give the total number of children that each such woman has had during her lifetime. It should include, therefore, the children by any former marriage as well as by her present marriage.”

It goes on to say that, “It should not include the children which her present husband may have had by a former wife, even though they are members of her present family. Stillborn children should not be included. If the woman has never had any children, write ‘0’ in this column and also in column 11.” (Column 11 notes the “Number of children now living” and also includes all children which the woman herself has had, whether in this household, district, or otherwise.)

These are important facts to know when you are trying to assemble and account for all members of a family, living and deceased.

Places of birth and mother tongue. There is a long list of instructions covering how places of birth and native tongues were to be listed. The birthplace was to be listed, but should be abbreviated for space, and the language was to be spelled out, such as “Russ.-Polish,” or “Switz.-German.”

Year of immigration to the United States. This is particularly helpful in finding passenger arrival records and possibly naturalization records as well. Enumerators were instructed that “If he has been in the United States more than once, give the year of his first arrival.”

Whether naturalized or alien. The instructions state that “This question applies only to foreign-born males 21 years of age and over. It does not apply to females, to foreign-born minors, or to any male born in the United States. If the person was born abroad, but has become a full citizen, either by taking out second or final papers of naturalization or through the naturalization of his parents while he was under the age of 21 years, write ‘Na’ (for naturalized). If he has declared his intention to become an American citizen and has taken out his ‘first papers,’ write ‘Pa’ (for papers). If he has taken no steps toward becoming an American citizen, write ‘Al’ (for alien).”

Other fields of interest include occupation and the character or industry in which they worked (e.g., merchant, grain; stenographer, dept. stores); whether out of work during the year 1909; and whether a survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy.

Reminders  

• Be creative with searches. If you’re unable to locate an ancestor, try using only given names and other information that is available. Wildcard searches can also turn up instances where names were misspelled or transcribed incorrectly. (For more on wildcard searches, see the Ancestry.com Library.)
• This is an every-name index, so you can look for any family member, possibly one with an unusual name, even if they’re not the head of the household.
• Check pages before and after the pages you find. You may find other family members living nearby. If you are looking at a page with all the odd numbers on a street, browse that district or a nearby district to find the other side of the street with the even numbers.
• Get everyone. Even if you think your research has progressed back beyond 1910, it is important to gather as much information as possible. Locating cousins, siblings, and other collateral relatives in the census may yield important information and lead to other records that can help you past those brick walls.
• Free printable forms are available for all census years at Ancestry.com.

About the Author
Juliana Smith has been the editor of Ancestry.com newsletters for eight years and is author of The Ancestry Family Historian's Address Book. She has written for Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. Juliana can be reached by e-mail at: Juliana@Ancestry.com, but she regrets that her schedule does not allow her to assist with personal research.

by Michael John Neill

Great-grandma’s death certificate is an excellent lecture example. Full of “unknowns,” it proves all of us have our research blanks. After one lecture, an attendee approached me and said I should not use the document as it was a secondary source. I indicated the document was not a primary or a secondary source, but provided both primary and secondary information. The attendee’s comment raised an issue that still confuses some genealogists: primary and secondary sources.

The death certificate used for the illustration is a grave disappointment. Ancestor Ida Sargent Trautvetter Miller is one of my brick walls. While the name of her father is listed on the document, all other parental information is listed as “unknown.” Like most records on my great-grandmother, it raises more questions than it answers. What is certain is that the document is not a primary or a secondary source.

Sources are not referred to as primary or secondary. It is the pieces of information they provide that are classified as either primary or secondary. Primary information is provided by someone who reasonably had firsthand knowledge of the event. Secondary information is provided by someone whose knowledge of data is not firsthand.

The death certificate is a source of many pieces of data; it states more than just one fact. Some facts took place a few days before the record was created. Some facts took place in another century.

To determine what information is primary and what information is secondary, it is helpful to know the name of the informant and his relationship to the deceased. Not all documents provide this information, but fortunately this one does. Only the informant’s name and address were listed: Carl Trautvetter, Loraine, Illinois. Carl’s relationship to Ida is not stated (he was her son). As I review the details provided on the certificate, I try and determine the likelihood that Carl had firsthand knowledge of the information given and how much time had passed between the event mentioned on the certificate and the recording of the certificate.

While the certificate does not provide the date the information was provided by Carl, it appears to have been no more than a week after her death and burial, and was probably recorded even sooner. Timing is key as memories can fade over time. Carl would have firsthand knowledge of his mother’s name, residence, marital status, occupation, color, and gender. The same is true for the name of her deceased husband, and her date and place of burial. He also probably knew at what point in time she stopped working as a “housewife” (probably the point at which her final illness truly incapacitated her). The other details are more problematic as they are things Carl likely did not know firsthand and either knew from what he had been told or conclusions he had reached.

Carl’s knowledge of his mother’s date of birth (and her age) was obtained because he learned it from somewhere. His knowledge of this date is not firsthand as he was not there. He also indicates Ida had been a housewife for forty years. I am always a little leery of time durations that could have been approximated (as many ending in a “0” are). This amount of time is very close to the number of years that had elapsed since Ida was first married. Again Carl’s knowledge of this information is secondary as well--people are not usually present at their parents’ first marriage.

The only parental information provided for Ida is the name of her father. Carl’s knowledge here is secondary as well. His memory of his grandfather probably was very distant and he only “knew” his grandfather was his grandfather because someone told him who is grandfather was.

The information Carl provided may very well have been completely accurate. Classifying information as primary or secondary is not the same as saying it is true or false. This classification must be done in concert with all other available documents, records, and sources. Primary information can be wrong and secondary information can be correct. This conclusion just cannot be made from one lone document.

On Ida’s death certificate there is one other person who provided information: the doctor. He is the informant for the date of death and the information about Ida’s medical condition and her cause of death. Hopefully the doctor is a primary source for this information. It was noted that the medical portion of the certificate (including the date and place of death) were filled out the day Ida died. It is difficult to get more contemporary than that.

Sources are not primary or secondary simply because they typically provide details that were known firsthand and those obtained elsewhere. Sources typically are classified as original or derivative. Ida’s death certificate is an original source. Her entry in the Illinois State Death Index, my transcription of her death certificate, and this article which discusses her death certificate are all derivative sources as they contain information extracted from the original source and in some cases contain interpretations as well.

Why All the Bother?
It boils down to accuracy and how much credence we give to information provided by a source. When we take time to think about whether bits and pieces of information are primary or secondary, it gets us thinking about the potential accuracy of the information--who provided the information, and the circumstances under which it was provided. And such an analysis can only strengthen our research conclusions.

Those who want to see a copy of Ida’s death certificate can click here.

About the Author
Michael John Neill is the Course I Coordinator at the Genealogical Institute of Mid America (GIMA) held annually in Springfield, Illinois, and is also on the faculty of Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois. Michael is currently a member of the board of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). He conducts seminars and lectures nationally on a wide variety of genealogical and computer topics and contributes to several genealogical publications, including Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. You can e-mail him at mjnrootdig@myfamily.com or visit his website at: www.rootdig.com, but he regrets that he is unable to assist with personal research.

Upcoming Appearances by Michael John Neill

• 18-19 August 2006: Galesburg, Illinois
  Michael is presenting a two-day workshop on using Genline for Swedish research at Carl Sandburg College

The following items were posted to the 24/7 Family History Circle blog over the past week:

• Free Three-Day Access to the 1930 U.S. Federal Census
• Ancestry.com Adds Every-Name Index to 1910 U.S. Federal Census
• ABCNews.com Story Features Ancestry.com
• Printer-Friendly Articles and Other Blog Stuff
• New Publication for San Francisco Research

from George G. Morgan

Take the time to reexamine information you have collected before. An analysis of the various pieces of genealogical information you have acquired for a subject before can reveal a great deal. Since we so often gather information from various places at different times and in different formats, sometimes it isn't until we look at it again and arrange it in chronological sequence that patterns emerge. Look at your ancestors' facts in context of a sequence of events that form a life story. By doing so, you may see details that point you on a path where you will uncover other facts.

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Google Earth Before a Cemetery Trip
Although its fun to play with on its own, I’ve recently discovered how useful Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) can be in cemetery research, and in preparing for visits. Aside from just finding how to get to a cemetery, the satellite photos are great for zooming in to maximum detail. Images can be printed to bring with and use as a guide map when traversing confusing cemetery grounds. I mark the locations of found ancestors and make notes of locations where I’ve seen related surnames that need more investigation later. It’s the next best thing to a plot layout when the cemetery doesn’t have one available.

Joe Mann

Initial Searches
In using censuses, although rare, you can sometimes find people using initials in place of given names, especially if the person is an apprentice, patient, or prisoner.

Leaving out all names and using place names also works. I found a Smallpage family quite by chance as the index listed them as Sinallfoge, and only the correct place name with nothing else, turned up this family.

It is trickier in the 1841 census, where my Greathead family continue to have amazing variations in interpretation, “Ger*” and “Cre*” being two search alternatives under which I found them.

Ann Shuttleworth

Screen Photography Tips
Niki Moore provided a good tip when suggesting that a library monitor screen can be photographed to save the data rather than using the library printer.

However, if it is an older monitor, and if you are using a film camera, the shutter speed should be set to 1/30 of a second to match the scan rate of the monitor. As well, the use of a flash should be avoided since the burst of light could be reflected by the screen and the photo wouldn't "take."

Before shooting, check for reflections from overhead lights (or of yourself) on the screen, so that the picture is as clear as possible.

J. Sarniaise

If you have a suggestion you would like to share with other researchers, send it to: Juliana@Ancestry.com. Thanks to all of this week's contributors!

Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry publications, so if you do not want your tip included in a publication other than the Ancestry Weekly Journal please state so clearly in your message.

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The year was 1910 and in the United States, it was a census year. As the enumerators went door to door, the U.S. population stood at 92,228,496. Urban residents represented 45.6 percent of the total and 54.4 percent of the population lived in rural areas. Twenty years prior, in 1890, only 35.1 percent of the population lived in urban areas and 64.9 percent lived in rural areas, and fifty years prior, in 1860, only 19.8 percent of the population lived in urban areas as opposed to 80.2 percent living in rural areas. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau.)

The growth of cities and industrialization was changing society and there was a feeling of inequality. William Howard Taft was President of the United States, which was in the midst of what is commonly referred to as the “Progressive Era.” Continuing what his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt began, Taft began eighty anti-trust suits, aimed at breaking up large monopolies.

Labor disputes pitted labor unions against factory owners in the Bethlehem Steel Strike, Chicago Clothing Workers' Strike, and the Cloakmakers' Strike. In Los Angeles, in the midst of a strike of metal workers, the Los Angeles Times building, which had taken an anti-union position, was dynamited and the building caught fire trapping many of its workers. Union activists later plead guilty to the crime.

On a sad note in U.S. immigration history, the immigration station at Angel Island opened its doors in January 1910 in an effort to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. It is estimated that more than 1 million persons coming to and leaving the U.S. were processed through Angel Island, including 175,000 Chinese immigrants and 150,000 Japanese immigrants, with some being held there for weeks or even months in horrible conditions. For more information, see the FAQ on the Angel Island website. Chinese exclusion records are available to Ancestry.com members online for San Francisco, New York, and Hawaii.

In other parts of the world, the Mexican Revolution began in November when Francisco I. Madero called for an uprising against President Porfirio Diaz. Six months later Diaz abdicated and Francisco Madero was later elected president.

In Paris, the Seine River flooded the city. Low-laying railroad lines and the unfinished underground Metropolitan railroad filled with water when the Seine rose 8.72 meters and overflowed its banks.

In the UK, suffragettes clashed with police in what is known as "Black Friday" in a protest outside the House of Commons.

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If you'd like to see your ancestor's photograph in the Ancestry Weekly Journal, send it to juliana@ancestry.com.

Contributed by Bill Scott Bill’s great-great-grandfather, Dewey D Andrews, ca. 1867 in Minnesota	Contributed by Donna Tougas, Warwick, Rhode Island Donna’s grandmother, Mary Rose Herbert (Rosie), ten years old and her two brothers--Orion on the left is eight years old and Joseph on the right is eleven years old, ca. 1897.

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Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records,
by Loretto D. Szucs and Matthew Wright

This book is a guide to help researchers effectively locate and use abundant and valuable U.S. Census records, whether it is population schedules, state and local census schedules, or special census schedules. The book primarily discusses each type of census and explores what specific points a researcher needs to keep in mind when working with them.

Normally this book retails for $16.95, but today you can buy it in the Ancestry Store for $12.95.