The Family History Compass
  Juliana Smith – 6/4/2001

Adding Interest to Your Family History

With the summer travel season getting into full swing, a lot of us may be looking forward to visiting family on vacation, and possibly a family reunion. Family historians everywhere are working feverishly getting their family history finds together to show off to relatives. We probably have some ulterior motives too—if we get them interested, we can get them talking and maybe even pry some new information out of them. But how do we spark their interest? If we pull out a pile of charts and start rattling off names and dates until their eyes glaze over, we may have them running for the doors (they just don't understand).

A few weeks ago, we talked about "Genealogy-In-A-Minute" and compared a family history based solely on names and dates, to one that put a little meat on the bones of the ancestors we are searching. I heard from a lot of you after that article, and it was brought to my attention that "some folks may not have a minute's worth of information on their ancestors." While that may be true of some parts of our family tree, I am betting that we may have a little more than we realize on a lot of our ancestors.

Some of you out there are probably shaking your head "no." You're thinking, "Nope, all I got here are a few census records, and some scattered vitals. Just a bunch of names, dates, and places." Well, let's take a look at some ways we can use those plain old names, dates, and places to put some interest in our family history.

Putting Dates Into Perspective
In the previous article, I mentioned that the Dooner family came to this country from Ireland in 1847. The date of immigration may not seem to be of importance until you put it into the context of what was going on in Ireland at that time—the Irish Potato Famine. Ding. Now there's something that's going to ring a bell and maybe generate some interest. Likewise the dates of other life events can be turned into interesting notes when put into the historical context. A family moving on to greener pastures after drought hits their farm; a child dying in the midst of an epidemic; the ages of the males in a household when a war breaks out; a baby born just after the father went off to fight in a war; or the marriage of a soldier to his sweetheart upon his return from the war—all add a whole new element to a simple date.

Historical elements can be easily found in a variety of sources. I have a copy of The Almanac of American History, edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. that is full of interesting events and facts listed in chronological order, and your local library probably has a ton of similar publications. Many resources can also be found online in places like the Library of Congress' American Memory Project. Others can be dug up using your favorite search engine.

Likewise, the dates we see for certain events can also be compared within the family. How old was a child when a parent passed away? How old was a woman when she married? Had her first child? Her last child? How many children in the family died at an early age? Think about the impact of any event on the family as a whole. Not only will the answers help build a compelling family history, they may provide clues as to other resources that can be checked for more information.

The sources of these dates will also give us other tidbits that can help. Besides the vital dates, age, and location of the decedent, a death record may tell us the cause of death, duration of illness, occupational information, residence at the time of death, and more. Each record should be analyzed and picked apart. Even information that is not consequential to further research can provide clues.

Location, Location, Location
Another valuable piece of information that we can pull more background from is the location of our ancestors. What kind of neighborhood did they live in? City, rural, or in between? Was it occupied predominantly by one ethnic group, or was it diverse? Working class or high society? Some answers to these questions can be found just by looking through the census entries around those of your ancestor, and local histories can provide even more detail.

The Census: Those "Other Columns"
Most U.S. Federal Censuses (particularly those from 1850 on) offer a lot more than the facts that we tend to zero in on like names, ages, relationships, and places of birth. Unfortunately these "other columns" are frequently overlooked when the information is extracted. By not studying this additional information, we may be missing a large part of the picture.

Financial information can give us insight into the lifestyles of our ancestors. Beginning in 1790, the number of slaves owned is included. Between 1850-70, U.S. Federal Censuses asked for the value of real estate. 1860 and 1870 also had a field for the value of personal estate. This information can give us an insight into their lifestyle. (For a comparison of the purchasing power of a dollar, check out Economic History Services' site, "How much is that worth today?" There is also one available for Great Britain from 1600 forward. In addition, censuses from 1900 on all include information on whether residents owned or rented and whether property was owned free or mortgaged.

Interesting information found in "other" columns also includes educational and occupational background, whether they could read, write, and speak English, disabilities, military service, immigration and citizenship info, how many months unemployed, number of children born to a mother, and how many of them are still living. There is a lot of data here if we just take the time to look at it.

More information on the questions asked in various census years is available here, and downloadable forms that contain all the fields for each census year are available at: www.ancestry.com/save/charts/census.htm

While information found in censuses is wonderful, it shouldn't be taken as gospel. However, when blended with other known facts that are consistent with the answers given, we learn much more about the names that fill our charts. As we organize and add the details we have found, we may find a fairly interesting and compelling story to share with our family this summer. Who knows, we may even be able to get those family members to take an active interest in our pursuits.

Further Reading:
Turning Paper into People Series
(Based on the chapter of the same name from, Producing a Quality Family History, by Patricia Law Hatcher, CG, FASG )

Family History: More Than Genealogy, by Lawrence W. Naukum 'Rochester History,' Vol. LII, No. 2, Spring 1990 (Thanks to Larry for sharing this article. Note: Requires Adobe Reader)

Timelines
Major Settlements, Immigration, and Naturalization: A Chronology
(Excerpted from The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, edited by Loretto D. Szucs and Sandra H. Luebking, Chapter 13, 'Immigration: Finding Immigrant Origins' by Kory L. Meyerink and Loretto Dennis Szucs)
1562-1697
1707-1798
1802-1848
1855-1890
1891-1900
1903-1950
1952-1990

The History Nut

Bibliography
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. ed. The Almanac of American History. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1993. ISBN 1-56619-069-X

Juliana Smith is the editor of the Ancestry Daily News and 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: editor@ancestry-inc.com, but regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research. An archive of her Monday columns, "The Family History Compass," are available on the Ancestry.com site at: http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/compass/d_p_1_archive.asp

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