Showing posts with label Family Search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Search. Show all posts

Friday, April 22, 2022

1950 Census - Reviewing names on Family Search

     The 1950 Census has been available now for 21 days. After the excitement of finding ancestors on the NARA site, the focus has now been on indexing and reviewing names. It's amazing how fast this is all going. Thanks to the new software being used by NARA and Ancestry, names are being indexed faster than previous census records. And especially thanks to all the volunteers who are reviewing all the data over on FamilySearch.org. They have been working around the clock to complete this project. You can help too!

How Do You Do It?
    I've dabbled a little bit in helping review names on FamilySearch.org, but yesterday I jumped right in and went crazy reviewing names. You see, Missouri became available yesterday! Yay!! While I have found pretty much everyone on my list, there were some I hadn't found yet. So I dove right in.

1950 Census Community Project
Reviewing Names & Indexing
FamilySearch.org

    As you can see they are coming along fairly nicely. You can choose which state you want to work on either from the drop-down menu or the map. After that, you a box comes up giving you a couple of options. As of right now, the only choice available for Missouri is "Review Names" at the bottom. Once the indexing process gets a little further, other options will be made available. See the images below. Utah is further along in the indexing process so they have more options available.

1950 Census Community Project
Review the Census in Missouri
FamilySearch.og

1950 Census Community Project
Review the Census in Utah
FamilySearch.org

    Since the only option available is "Review Names" that's what I clicked on. And it brought up another box that gives you the options of either searching for specific surnames or just diving into the state. I did both. First I started with the surnames in my family. I wanted to review my family names and I wanted to see if any missing family members popped up.

1950 Census Community Project
Review Individual Names
FamilySearch.org

    When I searched for the surnames in my family, many pages were brought up that were NOT my family, but that's ok. I was happy to review the similar names and help other families. I was pretty impressed it picked up hard to recognize surnames like "ILG". If not written correctly, it could resemble other words. 

Read my blog post:

    Searching the surname "ILG" brought up my great-grandparents Joseph and Margaret Ilg in St. Louis, Missouri. I had already located their census page on the NARA site with the help of the SteveMorse.org site. But I was so happy to be able to review the name and identify that it was correct.
    I was able to continue to review the page they were on if I wanted. A continued search of the surname "ILG" brought up other people with that same last night, but no other families like I thought it would. That either means one of two things: 1) The surname wasn't recognized as being "ILG" or 2) The other "ILG" families were already reviewed. Which works for me. We are all working together to help each other and get this project done faster. You can see below what it looks like to review names.

    

1950 Census Community Project
Reviewing Names
FamilySearch.org

    Right now, they are only reviewing first names and surnames on the census for Missouri. If it matches, you click match. If it's incorrect, you can edit it. If you are unsure (and that's ok) then click unsure. Better to be honest than to be incorrect. There are other options to choose from such as if there are other words besides names or if something has been scratched out or other anomalies. I have not worked with the other options available to other states yet such as reviewing groups, but when I do, I will write another blog post.
    There are still some bugs to be worked out in the system so be patient. If you have any questions or want to know about updates to the project, click the link below.

    As of this date, Missouri is at 2% for reviewing names. But I know that won't last for long. I will be contributing more as will so many other volunteers. Maybe I will come across some more surprises. Check out a couple I have already found.

Surprises
    As I said above, there are still some family members I have not found yet for various reasons. So I'm waiting for the indexing process to be complete. While waiting, I searched for their surnames for reviewing. I came up with a couple of surprises but not the ones I was expecting.

    First, I searched for the "Rickards" surname to see what would come up. I did bring up my father-in-law and his parents, which I had already found. So I verified their names while I was there. But there was one person missing from that census, which I knew would be. My father-in-law's brother, Keith Rickards. Due to some complications during birth, he was born with severe mental disabilities. He was at home for a few years, as shown in the 1940 Census and in some photographs I have from my father-in-law. But he was not with them on the 1950 Census. As I said, I already knew he wouldn't be.
    I was informed years ago that Keith had spent most of his life in a special facility for his mental disabilities. He thrived well as far as I understood. Lilly, his mom, worked at the facility in the gift shop. According to a newspaper article, Keithie (as his mom would call him) lived at Bellefontaine Rehabilitation Center. I wrote about him for the 52 Ancestors prompt: Bachelor Uncle.

    Even though I knew the name of the Facility, there was no way for me to track it down in the 1950 Census. And I learned why while I was reviewing names. While searching for "Rickards" surnames, a page popped up with a whole bunch of unrelated names in alphabetical order. And there he was, right on that page. I scrolled to the top and noticed the name of the facility was not the same as what I had. It's possible they changed the name sometime in the years he had lived there.

1950 Census Community Project
Reviewing Names
FamilySearch.org

    The name of the facility was St. Louis State Training School in St. Ferdinand, St. Louis, Missouri. Oh, I feel some more research is going to happen soon and another blog post going more in-depth. That is if I find more information. So I was excited to find this surprise. But this wasn't the only one.

    While still reviewing "Rickards" surnames, I came across a name I recognized: Len Rickards. I know that name because he contacted me a few years ago. We are distant cousins on my husband's side. I didn't realize he would appear on this census! So I downloaded a copy of the census and emailed it to him. Can't wait to hear back from him.

    Going from my hubby's family to my family, I searched for the surname "Strawhun" to see what would come up. My Grandma Fuchs' brother and his family popped up! Wilbert Strawhun was a fireman in Rock Hill, Missouri for years and I hadn't located him yet on the 1950 census. So that was a fun surprise. I continued searching but no other Strawhuns showed up.

I know as the days go on, I will find more surprises popping up as names get indexed. What surprises have you found? Are you helping index? Who are you hoping to find once the index is complete? 



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Tuesday, April 5, 2022

1950 Census - Who Have You Found?

     Everyone is all abuzz over the release of the 1950 US Federal Census. Many of us were up late waiting for the midnight release. I joined Amy Johnson Crow for a release party on YouTube. We were visiting with friends and preparing for the moment the Census was released on the National Archives website. When it finally hit, we all scattered and went searching. Almost like an Easter Egg hunt. You can watch the video below.



Mom, Dad, and Their Parents

    That first night, I only planned on looking up my parents since I had to get up early the next morning for a doctor's appointment. Mom's family, I was able to find them right away thanks to the Enumeration District. I knew where they were living when the census came through so that helped a great deal. 

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Gravois - 95-279
National Archives
Wheeler Family

    Mom has given me the information that she was told. She was only a month old when the census came through. Later that year they moved to another location, but that was after the census came through. I wrote about them in previous posts here:

    Now, Dad's family was more tricky. They were moving around a lot during this time, so there were a couple of places they could have been, and I only had addresses for two of them. While Dad was still alive, he had told me about the places they lived. He had an impeccable memory. The first two places were in Kirkwood that my grandpa built. I had addresses for them and looked them up right away. Nope, they weren't there. Next came the places I DIDN'T have addresses for. Only some details.
    Dad told me after Kirkwood they lived temporarily in Arnold. First at a Gas Station that my Papa was trying to acquire and then at Bridge Inn that doubled as a cafe and Inn. Dad said Papa ran the business while Grandma was the cook for the cafe. Dad said they lived either above the cafe or in one of the buildings on the property. But he couldn't remember where the Bridge Inn was exactly located. I had planned on taking him for a drive around the area to see if that would spark some memory, but he had passed away before I could do that.
    Unfortunately, the deal fell through at Bridge Inn for some reason, dad couldn't remember why, although he was just a kid. Now at this point they were homeless. They ended up moving to their clubhouse on the Meramec River near Eureka. That was yet another location they would have been living when the Census came through. And this was also another location I had no address for. So this was going to be tricky.

    Like I said, I tried Kirkwood first but they weren't there. So the next part was searching in Arnold which was in Jefferson County. I had no address or location of where to look, so I was going to have to rely on the preliminary index that was created from the National Archives. Oh, and am I glad they had that. I did a search in Jefferson County for my Papa's name and it came up. I couldn't believe it! Based on the information given, my Papa was a Cafe Operator and Grandma was a cook. Just like my dad told me. So this must have been for the Bridge Inn. I have now been pouring over maps to try to find the exact location of where the Bridge Inn was located. I know I will be working with my Aunt on this, who was also alive at this time and on the census. So you know I will be writing more about this later.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Rock Township - 50-34
National Archives
Fuchs Family

Great-Grandparents

    I had three sets of Great-Grandparents and one Great-Grandma to look up in this census. Not to mention my husband's family, which we will discuss later.

  • Nellie Fuchs
  • Robert & Louise Strawhun
  • James Benjamin & Pearl Wheeler
  • Joseph & Margaret Ilg
    I had addresses listed from all of them, but only one set was questionable. Nellie along with Robert & Louise lived at the same address in Kirkwood for years before and after the 1950 Census so that was an easy find. Joseph & Margaret were living at their location with their daughter (My grandma) before she married my grandpa, and according to records were still living at this address after 1950. But while I had the address, the street couldn't be located on the Census map, so it was a little tricky tracking down that information. But there were right where they were supposed to be.
    The only set I have not found is James Benjamin & Pearl. I had a couple of addresses for them based on sources I had, but they were not living at those addresses; other people were living there. I did a search for them, but St. Louis is a huge area, so that didn't narrow anything down. I know at some point, James Benjamin was put into a nursing home, but don't know when. So they are going to have to wait until the index is more complete.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Kirkwood - 95-75
National Archives
Fuchs Family

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Kirkwood - 95-84
National Archives
Strawhun Family

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, St. Louis - 95-315A
National Archives
Ilg Family

Other Family Members

    Not only did I have Great-Grandparents, I had some 2nd Great-Grandparents to find on my Maternal Grandmother's line. Oma Mae Caldwell and her ex-husband, Edward Buer. Oma lived in her mother's old house, so she was easy to find. But Edward and his new wife, Alice were a little more difficult to track down. Their address was just outside of town limits, so it was hit or miss for the Enumeration District. But they were located.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, St. Louis - 96-791
National Archives
Caldwell Family

1950 US Fed Census
Illinois, Will County - 99-112
National Archives
Buer Family

    One family I still have not found in the census is my 2nd Great Aunt, Ruth Kelley and her husband James Howard. I knew this was going to be my most difficult couple. James Howard Kelley worked as an architect, at least that's what I was told, and he traveled around a lot. He lived in Missouri, Illinois, Washington and even Alaska. Mom told me she remembered him sending her a little Eskimo doll from their when she was little. It was also rumored that he helped design the Seattle Space Needle. Since they moved a lot, it is unknown where they were living in 1950 when the census came through. So they will have to wait until the indexes are complete then hopefully I will be able to track them down.

Mark's Family

    Not only did I look up my own family, but I also looked up my hubby's family. I'm the one who has done the research on his family so why wouldn't I? I found both his parents and grandparents easily at the addresses I had for them. This is the first year for both of our parents to be on the census. It was neat to see what Mark's grandfather did for a living.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, St. Louis - 96-1494
National Archives
Rickards Family
1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Kirkwood - 95-362
National Archives
Swope Family

    Moving back another generation, one set of Great-Grandparents had lived in the same location and were easy to locate, but the other two were a little tricky. Rev. Hudson Taylor & Sadie McGrew lived in Breckenridge, Missouri, but I had no address for them. Breckenridge was a small town with only two Enumeration Districts and, luckily, they were on the first district. Found them fairly quickly. Rev. McGrew was retired at this point and they were enjoying time with each other and visiting family. Thanks to the census I learned they lived on Maple. Sadly, Rev. McGrew passed away later that year.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Breckenridge - 13-1
National Archives
McGrew Family

    The only other Great-Grandparent that was living at this time was Mary Alice Swope. She lived on a farm in rural Clinton County, Missouri. She was a little difficult to track down. Their family lived on the farm for many generations & later, her children lived nearby as well. Mary Swope's husband passed away in 1935, but she still lived on their farm in 1940 with two of her daughters, Ethel & Irene. They were right next to one of her sons, James, and his family.
    Now for the 1950 census, they were not next to each other. It probably has to do with the enumerators and which farms they visited in the order they did. Enumeration District lines appeared to be the same as in 1940 so that had nothing to do with it. Whatever the case, thanks to maps, I was able to locate where they should be on the 1950 Census. I explained this in more depth in another blog post: Maps of Clinton County - How Galen & Pearl Met. This time on the census, Irene was the head of the household and her mother, Mary, and sister, Ethel, lived with her. But their brother, James, was not listed in this Enumeration District. Is it possible they moved? Unsure at this time. It will require a bit more research. I do know we will be making another trip up to Clinton County maybe this summer. The good news is I found them on the census.

1950 US Fed Census
Missouri, Lafayette - 25-13
National Archives
Swope Family

   Spreading wide now in Mark's family tree, two ancestors I was excited to find were Ruth & Scottie Rickards. Ruth moved to Iowa from Illinois sometime in the 1920s and after their father died, Scottie moved in with her. Scottie has been a curious ancestor for a while. I wrote about him in a blog post for the 52 Ancestors Challenge: Week 4 - Curious. As you read in the post, there was a lot unknown about him. I've been putting together some information about him as I learn it. The most recent I wrote about in two Friday Finds posts. Westminster College and Update on Scottie Rickards.
    So I was looking forward to seeing the 1950 Census to try to get an idea of when his condition started. I found their address in a 1950 City Directory, so finding them wasn't hard. But I got my answer by looking at the census. Scottie was listed as Unable to Work. So whatever happened, it happened before he moved and sometime after college. Interesting. Another piece of the puzzle is found.

1950 US Fed Census
Iowa, Des Moines - 102-29
National Archives
Rickards Family

    The last ancestor I wanted to find on Mark's side is a living 1st cousin, once removed. I've been in contact with her and her family for a few years now. I got their address directly from her, so I knew it was correct. But finding the Enumeration District was tough. I had to go through a couple of different maps to find it. Read about it here: What If I Can't Find a Street? But I did find the Enumeration District and I did find the ancestor. 

1950 US Fed Census
Texas, Houston/South Side - 101-5
National Archives
Rickards Family

    These are not all the people I looked up in the 1950 census, but the main ones. I did look up ancestors for friends and just for personal fun. Having the Enumeration Districts beforehand really did help locate our ancestors in the 1950 Census. There were only a few times I had to use the preliminary index on the National Archives site. And I am grateful for it as I wouldn't have found my Dad without it. Now that I have found the census pages, it's time to analyze them more closely for clues and information.

    I will also be helping index the census as time goes on. You can help index now on the National Archives site and you can help on Ancestry & Family Search but only on the states they currently have available. I put in for a notification when Missouri is ready to be indexed. 

Who Have You Found??


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Friday, February 25, 2022

Friday Finds of the Week

     This post of Friday Finds of the week combines two weeks worth of research. Research has kind of been all over the place which tends to happen. I put feelers out sometimes and the information comes in sometimes all at the same time. Also, with Root Tech comings up soon, I've been making connections with supposed relations through the Family Search Connect page. Are we related? Click the image below to find out!



3rd Great-Grandfather Paul Bunch

    One of my closest connections is related through my Strawhun/Bunch line. I had not done a whole lot of research on the Bunch line, so I decided to tackle that connection. I have come across quite a bit of information for my 3rd great grandfather, Paul Bunch. I plan on writing a separate post all about him at a later date, but I will share a couple of things I did come across.
    Paul Bunch was married a couple of times. I only had two marriages listed in my tree, but thanks to Newspapers.com, I was able to find another marriage.

Paul Bunch weds Mrs. Thompson
Rolla Herald
Rolla, Missouri
25 Nov 1886

Paul Bunch divorces Argentie Bunch
Rolla Herald
Rolla, Missouri
13 Aug 1891

    This next article is about Paul Bunch's youngest son and is such a tragedy. Hugh Bunch was engaged to his school sweetheart, but her parents were against the union. Hugh could not stand the thought of them not being together so he murdered her and then committed suicide. I'm only sharing a part of the article, but if you wish to read the whole thing, click on the image.

Hugh murders fiancee
Rolla Herald
Rolla, Missouri
21 Jun 1894


 Update about Scottie Rickards 

    About two weeks ago, I had a surprise call from a distant cousin: Sara Poston. She is the daughter of W.F. Rickards, Mark's grandfather's brother. We have been in contact for a few years now sharing family info back and forth. Well, she decided to call us on Facetime so we could "meet" face to face. We had such a wonderful chat. During that call, she revealed some information about Scottie that she had learned from our other cousin. If you remember, I have been curious about his life and his health for years. Well apparently, Scottie had epilepsy. 
    This is a huge discovery! He had appeared to have had a normal life growing up, but then only attended college for one year, moved in with his sister when their father died, and was in a nursing home by the time he was 59. In letters written between Ruth, his sister, and her friend, DeWitt, they had mentioned he had been sick for a while. Sick with what? Well, now we know.
    This is something family more than likely wouldn't have talked about. There were stigmas surrounding Epilepsy during this time. How he came to have it is still a mystery. As I said, he appeared to have a normal childhood growing up. I would say I don't think he would have graduated High School if he would have had Epilepsy as a young boy. But the fact he only attended College for one year, leads me to believe something happened around that time. There might have been an injury of some sort or he may have gotten an infection that led to it. By the time of the World War II draft, he listed on his Draft Registration Card that he was unemployed. He was living with his father. Nothing would have been written on the card itself, but when he went for the Health Screening, it would have been made known that he had epilepsy and he wouldn't have been able to serve. Granted a lot of information I have shared here is only speculation. The only thing we know for sure is he had Epilepsy. I still have to send off for his Death Certificate, so we will see what that comes back saying.


Obituary for Edward Schmidt

    If you haven't noticed yet, I'm going crazy with finding Newspaper Articles on Newspapers.com. I've been dying to get a subscription for their site for a while. So glad I did. I am finding so many items. LIke this next one. While it doesn't provide any elaborate or ground-breaking information, I found the obituary of Edward August Schmidt, the husband of my grandma's cousin, Anna Marie. 

Edward Schmidt Obituary
St. Louis Post Dispatch
St. Louis, Missouri
30 Jul 1988


Jewell Lawless Birth Certificate

Not only do I love doing research on my own family, but I also love finding things for my friends' families. I recently completed some research for my best friend and sister, Sarah about her dad's Hribar line. They loved what I was able to track down. Recently, I came across a document that wasn't part of that research because it was about his Mom, which I didn't research. I came across her Birth Certificate! I wasn't sure if they had a copy or if they had ever seen it, so I downloaded it and shared it with them. 

Jewell Lawless Birth Certificate
16 Mar 1915
Reynolds, Greene, Arkansas
Source: Ancestry.com


    That's all I have for now. But more will be coming I'm sure with Roots Tech just around the corner. Have you signed up for it yet? Head on over to RootsTech.org and join us! It's all virtual this year and is free. I already ordered my swag, which included these awesome Roots Tech Earbuds, that I will be using during the live streams. 

What exciting finds did you 
discover this week? 
Share in the comments below!


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Sunday, April 11, 2021

The 1950 Census - Everything You Need To Know


President Truman & wife taking the 1950 census
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

      The time has come for the 1950 census to be released to the public from the US Census Bureau. Genealogists and Historians have been waiting for this release, well, since the last census (1940) was released in April 2012. This census will have many people on it including our parents and grandparents, and you may even find yourself on it! Now you may have some questions: 

  • When will it be available?
  • What questions were asked?
  • How do I find my ancestors if they are not indexed?
  • How do I access the ED maps associated with the census?
  • What can I do to prepare for the release?
  • and many more!
     To help answer these questions, I have put together a list of links all about the 1950 census. I am by far not an expert but have compiled a list of those who ARE experts. This will be an ever-growing list of links as more information becomes available. If you have any helpful links you would like to share, please leave them in the comments. I hope these help you in your research! And thank you to all the YouTubers, bloggers, and researchers who have taken the time to share their knowledge and the information they have acquired with us.  

History and Helpful information 




Family Search Blog - 1950 Census Main Hub:

Volunteer to Index the 1950 Census:
 
Climbing Your Family Tree - Are You Ready for the 1950 Census?:

History Hub - Countdown to the 1950 Census:

History Hub - 1950 Blog Series

NARA Blog - Preparing for the 1950 Census:

NARA - Information about the 1950 Census

Ancestry.com - 1950 Census Main Hub

Ancestry.com - Information about the 1950 Census

Lisa Lisson - What To Know Before The Release

MyHeritage - 1950 census page: 
https://myheritage.com/census/us/

MyHeritage - Blog post sharing more details about the release of the 1950 census: 

Family History Fanatics - Prepare for the April 2022 Release of the 1950 Census


The 1950 Census




Blank (fillable) 1950 Census Form - Population (Scroll to the bottom)


Instructions transcribed:

Enumerator's Manual for the 1950 Census (Original):

Supplement to the Enumerator's Manual for the 1950 Census (Original):

Urban & Rural Enumerator's Workbook Population Housing & Agriculture:

Infant Cards:



Enumerator talking with family
Photo courtesy of Census.gov


Research 

Helpful tools through SteveMorse.org – Maps, Enumeration District info, In-depth Census info, etc.: 

Enumeration District Maps: 

Wards, Tracts, and Block Maps:

Enumeration District Locator: 

Deciphering Occupation Codes: 

Finding Ancestors Addresses Beforehand

Enumerator at mobile home park
Photo courtesy of Census.gov


Instructional & Helpful YouTube Videos

Lisa Louise Cook: 
The 1950 Census for Genealogy
Show Notes: 

Questions asked in the 1950 Census
Show Notes:

JDW Talks: 

Genealogy TV with Thomas McEntee: https://youtu.be/LaeK3GLbCsM

Family Search

I've created a playlist on YouTube of videos that have to do with the 1950 Census. The videos above are on the playlist along with some other special goodies. Check it out!


Images & Other Documents

Official Census Bureau Operations & Activity Photos
1950 Census Photos start on Page 9

Flow Charts from the National Archives

Advertising Campaign for the 1950 Census

Portfolio Control Label

Population Cards per State


There is so much you can do to prepare for the coming release of the 1950 census.
You better get on it now!


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