Last week, the UPS man brought me a new genealogy toy, and of course, with the new toy, comes the "new-genealogy-toy-happy-dance." For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the "new-genealogy-toy- happy-dance" is similar to the "genealogy-happy-dance" that we do when we find something of significance in our family history. It is a bit more subdued, with a little less arm flailing, but a involves a lot of jumping up and down. Both dances are enough to send the UPS man running back to his truck at a much quicker than normal pace. (They just don't understand!)

The package I received contained the new 1880 United States Census and National Index from FamilySearch. Created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is currently the only nationwide index to the 1880 U.S. Federal Census. (There is a Soundex for 1880 that was created as part of the WPA in preparation for Social Security identification, but it only covered households that had children ten years old or younger. Households without children that fit in this age bracket, and individuals living alone were not included.)

Thanks to some really lousy weather, I didn't even have to make up an excuse to not mow the lawn and do the other yard chores. "Grass is just too wet. I'll have to stay inside and check out my new toy. Oh, darn!"

So there I sat, with Disk Four that covers the New York Metropolitan area firmly embedded in my CD drive, wildly plugging in name after name, and emitting the occasional triumphant shouts of glee as I found one after another of my ancestors.

Although I had previously found a good number of my families in the 1880 Census Images Online using addresses, maps, and the enumeration district (ED) descriptions that accompany many of the Brooklyn Wards, I still had some families that I had either not yet found, or hadn't retrieved images for. As I set to work, some of the finds brought to mind many of the things we remember when using any index. But my first obstacle to overcome was how to use this particular index to locate individuals in the Ancestry.com Images Online since it did not list the enumeration district.

Using the Index to Locate Images Online
One of my first searches was for Thomas Howley and family and I was quickly successful.

Census Place: 1st Ward, Brooklyn, Kings, New York
Source: FHL Film 1254840 National Archives Film T9-0840 Page 86A

Relation --Sex --Marr --Race --Age --Birthplace
Thos. HOWLEY Self M M W 35 ENG
Occ: Gas Pipe Maker Fa: IRE Mo: IRE
Jane HOWLEY Wife F M W 48 IRE
Occ: Keeping House Fa: IRE Mo: IRE
Mary HOWLEY Dau F S W 17 NY Occ: Coffee Packer Fa: ENG Mo: IRE
Jane HOWLEY Dau F W 15 NY Occ: Coffee Packer Fa: ENG Mo: IRE
Margaret HOWLEY Dau F S W 7 NY Occ: At School Fa: ENG Mo: IRE
Thomas HOWLEY Son M S W 5 NY Occ: At School Fa: ENG Mo: IRE

OK, I have the basics here, but how do I find the Census Image without the ED? Well, my first step was to visit the National Archives Census Microfilm Catalog at: www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/census/census.html
Choosing "1790-1890 Federal Population Censuses," I then selected the link to the 1880 Census and scrolled down to New York. The FamilySearch index above lists the National Archives Film that the Howleys should appear on as: T9-0840 Page 86A.

T9 is the catalog number for the entire 1880 U.S. Federal Census and as I scrolled down to New York in the NARA catalog, I located the roll number 0840. The description is listed as:

840. Jefferson County (part: ED 148, sheet 47-end) and city of Brooklyn, wards 1 and 2 (part: EDs 1-12, sheet 42)

Well, that narrows it down some, but we also have a page number--Page 86A. This is not the same as the sheet number that is written, but rather a stamped number that is found on the pages for that roll of microfilm. This stamped number also shows up in the digitized Images Online. I quickly brought up Kings County, and started looking around. I tried the 4th ED first and noted that it began with 57A. I skipped to the last image by changing the image number from "1 of 45" to "45 of 45" and clicking "Go to Image." The last image was 79A. Close! I clicked on the 5th Ward and made a guesstimate or two as to the location and within a few minutes I had located them on image 13. I'm having some real fun now!

Last week we talked about putting a little meat on the bones of our ancestors using information found in "those other columns." (www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/compass/3982.asp) Thomas's entry gave us a little example of that. I like to use the downloaded Census Extraction forms (www.ancestry.com/save/charts/census.htm) and fill them in with the information I find in the census entries. I keep these in the sleeve with the actual image and find that for quick reference, my reading is easier to read than the census takers (well, at least most of the time!). As I transcribed the Howley entry, I noted that Thomas had been unemployed for three months in that Census year. In these days, there was no unemployment insurance and we can surmise that being out of work for that period of time put a definite strain on the family budget.

Don't Give Up If You Don't Locate It In the Index
Moving on with some confidence, I decided to look for my great-great- grandmother, Emma. I knew by this time she had married her second husband, Emil Chouanniere and that they were in Brooklyn. Several searches for Chouanniere and several variants didn't turn up anything in the FamilySearch index, so using an address I had for them at 154 Nelson, I checked an 1891 map that showed Nelson near 12th Ward Park. What a nice clue! Skipping ahead in the Images Online to the 12th Ward and using the descriptions of the districts, I located the family in ED 102, with Emma's daughter, Emma listed as a niece and bearing her mother's maiden name--Emma Tobin. (Hmm, it could really be a niece, or it could be a family scandal--but that's a story for another day.)

Going back to the index, I plugged in Emma Tobin and located her entry, with the Chouannieres who were listed as Chouamnere, which explains why I couldn't find it using the index. (You'd think with a name like that the enumerator would have asked them to spell it.)

Location, Location, Location
After locating my Emmas, I decided to really get brave. Yes, I searched for name that could strike fear into the heart of even the most seasoned genealogist--Elizabeth Kelly. I did the search which came up with 146 hits. Ouch! But since I thought her to be the sister of my third great-grandmother, I could narrow this down by year of birth to somewhere around the 1820s. There were only five that were listed with a birth date in the 1820s so I clicked on the entries to see who was listed with them.

One of the entries was for an Elizabeth Kelly that appeared to be living in some kind of boarding house or institution. Since I knew that my Elizabeth died a few years later, and the entry before hers was for a nurse, I thought at first maybe she was in a hospital. But as I scrolled down the list of occupations, I saw a number of them listed as "clerk in hotel," "steward," "hotel carpenter," etc. Since the index did not give the name of the institution, off I went to the Images Online again. I located the entry (although her entry was on the page following the one that was listed in the index), and as it turned out she was a resident of a hotel on Madison Avenue in New York City. Pretty snazzy digs! I still didn't know if this was our Elizabeth though, until I noted the girl listed just under her entry- -Kate Doherty. That sounded really familiar. I paged through some notes on related families and Voila! I found a K. Doherty listed as a witness in a family wedding. In addition, a note from an aunt stated that K. Doherty, the witness in her mother's marriage was a cousin, Katherine Doherty. Time for a quick break now to do the "genealogy happy dance!"

Another family member, Ann Eliza Tobin, that I located in a similar manner, turned up as a Sister of Charity at the Academy of Mount Saint Vincent. There was no indication of the name of the institution on the index, only Sister of Charity listed as the occupation. These findings really underscored the need to not just rely on indexes, and follow up in the original records.

In Closing
I now have a number of new leads to pursue and am anxious to follow up with other records. My husband sat wondering how I could get so excited working on this, when I spend eight-plus hours a day immersed in genealogy. But I couldn't help but be satisfied with my exploits on this rainy Saturday. I almost hope it rains again next weekend!

More Information:
"1880 United States Census on CD-ROM," by Dick Eastman (Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, 31 May 2001)

Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records, edited by Kory Meyerink
(There is an excellent chapter on "Censuses and Tax Lists" by G. David Dilts in this book, that talks about what indexes are available, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to overcome some of the weaknesses. It also contains a "Phonetic Substitutes Table" and "Frequently Misread Letters" table, both of which are very helpful when looking for misspelled names. Printed Sources is on sale today in The Shops @ Ancestry.com for only $39.95.)

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: www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/compass/d_p_1_archive.asp