All the excitement over the release of the 1930 U.S. Federal Census
has not yet subsided. Ancestry.com has been the first to digitize 1930 census
records, making the first images available on the very day they were released.
They also announced that they will be scanning twenty-four hours a day, six
days a week in an effort to get the 1930 census images online as quickly as
possible.
I wait as patiently as possible for the images for the states and counties in
which I have an interest to be placed online. Yet, I am caught up in the census-mania
myself. My subscription to the Ancestry.com Images Online has paid for itself
time and time again. I have access to census records around the clock, many
of which are unavailable in the great genealogy collection at our public library.
Over the years, whenever I hit a brick wall, I've developed an approach to help
minimize my frustration and maximize the possibilities of working my way around
it. Sometimes it takes a lot of creative thinking and consideration of possible
alternative records and sources that might net me the information I need. Before
heading down that path, though, I always go back to basics. I look at all the
material I have collected on an individual and start by simply re-reading every
single word. I consider the document type; when, where, and why it was created,
and think about what rules or laws might have governed its creation.
Census records are a confounding record source. Certainly the most important
piece of data a census population schedule can provide is evidence that a person
was in a specific place at a particular point in time. Every other piece of
information on the form is questionable and subject to verification. However,
they can be used as pointers to locate other records. In "Along Those Lines
. . ." this week, I'd like to focus on this subject.
First Go Back to Basics
Two weekends ago, I sat down again with the records I had concerning one
of my great-grandmothers, Caroline Alice WHITFIELD. (You may recall that I wrote
about my search for her in my column of 14
December 2001). This time, however, I was determined to locate Caroline in
the 1860 U.S. census in North Carolina and to try to determine why, when her
court-appointed guardian was her much older half-brother, then living in Tennessee,
she ended up living with another family (VELLINES or Villine) in the 1870 Federal
census.
Where Shall I Start?
Whenever I look at census records for a particular year, I always go back
and refresh my knowledge by reading about that particular census year. Every
U.S. Federal Census was different. The questions asked, the amount of detail,
and the supplementary census schedules that were also completed vary from decade
to decade and could conceivably lead to new discoveries. The resources I use
for boning up on a specific census are in the following bibliographical citations:
Szucs, Loretto Dennis and Matthew Wright. Finding Answers in U.S. Census
Records. Orem, UT: Ancestry Publishing. 2001. www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=P2461
Thorndale, William and William Dollarhide. Map Guide to the U.S. Federal
Censuses, 1790-1920. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1987.
-----. The 1790-1890 Federal Population Censuses: Catalog of National Archives
Microfilm. Reprinted. Washington, DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board.
1997.
Szucs, Loretto Dennis and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, eds. The Source: A
Guidebook of American Genealogy. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, Incorporated.
19997 www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=P1026
I also tend to visit Ancestry.com's collection of Census Extraction Forms,
and download and print a copy of the form for the census with which I will be
working. This visual aid is, for me, a place on which I can make notes as I
read through my "boning up" materials.
Taking each of these in turn, let me explain what they buy me in my research.
The Map Guide helps me focus specifically on what the county was when
the census enumeration took place. Next, the NARA microfilm catalog (for 1790
through 1890) is an older resource, but it tells me specifically what census
records existed and were microfilmed. For example, if I were looking for New
Jersey census materials for 1810, the state is missing from the catalog. Why?
Because the census records were lost. The Source describes in detail
the contents of each census, and Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records
provides a great detail about the enumerations and what you will find there,
as well as copies of extraction forms.
What'll I find?
The little mini-refresher course I put myself through helps me understand
just what I'll find in the particular census. I can easily remember that the
1850 census was the first to list more names than just heads of household, and
that slave schedules were created in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. However, I
can never remember off-hand which census would be the first to tell me the place
of birth (1850), relationships of members in the household (1880), year of immigration
(1900), or in what years there were veterans information collected (1840-90
and the question on the 1910 census regarding whether a person was a survivor
of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy). And what information would I be likely
to find about my farming ancestors in the agricultural schedules (1840-1910)
or the manufacturers schedules (1820 and 1840) and the similar industry schedules
(1850-70)? It was not until I did some in-depth reading that I discovered that
there were social statistics schedules compiled from 1850 to 1880 that include
listings of:
All municipal cemeteries, regardless of whether they were active or closed
(along with addresses and maps)
Churches in the county with a brief history, denomination description, and
membership figures
Lodges, trade groups, clubs, and other social organizations, complete with
addresses, officers' names, membership figures, and financial information.
It really is essential that you become a student of the census records. Not
only will you become knowledgeable about what you CAN find in their records,
but you will learn the procedures used for enumerations and the reasons why
some included information may be far less reliable than other. Let's examine
some specific items.
Examples
Certainly, in the censuses beginning with 1850, the inclusion of the names
of every member of the household was helpful in finally identifying female ancestors
and children. However, the inclusion of relationship notations in 1880 brought
whole family groups into sharp focus. When I located my great-grandmother with
the Vellines (or Villine) family in 1870 (and also then in 1860), it would have
helped considerably to know if there was any relationship between Emily Vellines
and Caroline Whitfield. It was a decade too soon.
Personal data included in the census can help you verify the identity of an
individual. The gender, age, race, and marital status in later censuses help
you to differentiate one person from another, one generation from another. An
1860 census notation in the last column of the population schedule might tell
you that your ancestor was blind, insane, an idiot, a pauper, or a convict.
In some cases, family stories tell me there were idiots in my family and I needn't
have a census record to have communicated that fact.
Place of birth, the parents' places of birth, occupation, year of immigration,
whether naturalized or an alien, year of naturalization— all of these questions
on the 1910 census provide a wealth of pointers to immigration and naturalization
documents, ships passenger lists, and the place of origin of foreign-born ancestors.
Census records indicating ownership of real estate should point you to look
for land and property records, tax records, and probate and estate records.
What a difference another look makes?
All of this sounds all well and good, but did it make any difference? You
bet! Using both the AIS Census Indexes and Images Online at Ancestry.com, I
spent less than two hours and my re-examination of the 1860 census for Person
County, North Carolina, netted me several significant pieces of information.
First, I was able to relocate the Vellines family although the name this time
was spelled Villine. They also had moved between 1860 and 1870 to another location
in the same enumeration district, which is why I had been unable to locate them
in 1850 before. I had been looking in the wrong place.
I first looked for the Vellines family in the AIS database without success.
I knew Dolphin Vellines had to be there somewhere. After all, he'd been bondsman
and witness at the wedding of Caroline's parents in 1842 and Caroline was living
with him and his wife in 1870. I took another tack, however. I began individually
searching the 1860 slave schedules in the county, which had far fewer pages
than the population schedules.
On page 10, I located Dolphin Vellines, Emily Vellines, Frances Whitfield and
Caroline Whitfield, all listed as owning slaves. As detestable as I find the
revelation that my great-grandmother was a slaveholder in 1860 (at the age of
six!), I rejoiced in having located her with the Vellines family (spelled correctly).
Using the surrounding surnames on the slave schedule, I went back to the AIS
index and quickly found two persons on either side of Dolphin Vellines. At that
point, I simply went to the earlier census page and started browsing. Dolphin's
extended family was right there on image 41, although his surname was spelled
Villine, which accounted for not having found him. He was age 64 and his wife,
Emily, was 62. Living with them were Sarah Vellines, age 84, probably his mother,
and Frances Briggs, age 81, most likely Emily's mother. In addition, there was
Caroline Whitfield, age six, and Frances Whitfield, Caroline's sister by the
same marriage, at age sixteen.
As a result of taking another look at the 1860 Federal census, and using a
combination of the Images Online for the population and slave schedules, and
using the AIS Census Index, I now had a much better idea of my great-grandmother's
history. She had been orphaned, and she and her older sister were both taken
in by the Vellines family. In addition, the presence of old Mrs. Briggs leads
me to hypothesize that Emily Vellines' maiden name was Briggs and that Caroline's
mother, Sophia D. Briggs, was Emily's sister. Now I have another set of records
to seek to prove that relationship. I'll look for a marriage record for a Mr.
Briggs and a bride whose given name was Frances, and then I'll try to locate
a will or probate packet for Mr. Briggs who died prior to 1860. Gee, I have
more work ahead!
Look Again!
If you are at an impasse with an ancestor, go back to basics and recheck
places you may have missed. Take the time to re-read the "how-to" information
and expand your knowledge. And never, never give up!
Happy Hunting!
George
George G. Morgan would like to hear from you at atl@ahaseminars.com
but, due to the volume of e-mail received, he is unable to answer every message.
Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual research. Visit George's
website at ahaseminars.com/atl
for information about speaking engagements.
Copyright 2002, MyFamily.com. All rights reserved.
"Along Those Lines"
