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:

Using Photos to Help Find Addresses

Who Do You Hope To Find?

    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??

Maps of Clinton County, Missouri (How Galen & Pearl Met Cont.)

    The recent 52 Ancestors Prompt, Courting, took me down a road where I found more information than I was expecting. On my quest to learn more about the area where Mark's Grandparents met, lived, and were married, I came across some sources that opened up a new perspective for me. While researching the area trying to get an understanding of where everything was located (The School, the Church, the Swope Family, the Berryman Family, and the town), I discovered some maps of the town from that time period. I had mentioned that the town was small and surrounded by farms. I was curious how close everyone was to everything. Well, I was in for a surprise.

    To recap, Galen Swope would stay with his parents when he would come back to town from Kansas City and Pearl McGrew was renting a room from the Berryman family while she worked as a teacher for the Martin School. The 1930 Census shows where they lived.

1930 US Federal Census
Mildred Mcgrew
Platte Township, Clinton County, Missouri
Source: Ancestry.com

1930 US Federal Census
Galen Swope
Lafayette Township, Clinton County, Missouri
Source: Ancestry.com

    I found these maps online after doing a Google Search. The first map shows the Plats of land that belonged to J.A. Swope and R Berryman. The 1930 Census told me that they both owned their properties, so that told me to look at these maps. Look how close the Swope Farm and the Berryman Farm were to each other. 

    The second map shows the location of buildings. Black squares were houses. There were a couple of houses right near each other that could have the Swope's house and the Berryman's house. 

Map 1

Plat book of Clinton County, Missouri
Lafayette Township
Missouri Plat Books cir 1930
Source: Missouri Digital Heritage

Map 2

Plattsburg, Missouri
cir 1926
Source: Old World Maps
Courtesy of USGS

    There are a couple other things written on Map 2 that caught my attention. First, Martin School. That's the school that Pearl taught at. Map 1 does not have the school listed because the first map is for Lafayette Township only. Map 2 has Lafayette Township and Platte Township, where Martin School was located. So I found the Platte Township map & combined it with Lafayette. See Map 3 below. If you look in square 11, you will see a dark square which is labeled "school". Looking back at Map 2, you can see that is where Martin School was located.

Map 3

Plat book of Clinton County, Missouri
Lafayette Township & Platte Township
Missouri Plat books cir 1930
Source: Missouri Digital Heritage

    There was something else I noticed on Map 2. West of the Martin School is Lebanon Church. That would be the Lebanon Baptist Church that they attended. Now when you look back at Map 1, I circled a cross on that map. That would be the location of Lebanon Church. Do you see where that's located? Right next to the J.A. Swope property! So everything was right there along the same road.

    This is really neat! And helpful. I now have a better understanding of the area. Mark and I plan on making a trip out to this part of Missouri hopefully this year. When we traveled out there a few years ago, it was tricky trying to find where the old farmhouses were and where the location of the Church used to be. The cemetery used to be opposite the Church. While the church is gone, the cemetery is still there and that's where a lot of Mark's family is still buried... including Galen & Pearl Swope.

Lebanon Cemetery
Stewartsville, Missouri
Google Maps

Galen & Pearl Swope Headstone
Lebanon Cemetery
Stewartsville, Missouri
July 2014

    It's amazing what else you can learn about family when you start looking a little deeper. I never planned on looking up maps for the area. I never thought about looking up the location of the farms, the church, or the school. Just goes to show you, just when you think you can't research anymore, there is always something. 

Read the post about the Prompt that started this all here: Week 8: Courting (How Galen & Pearl Met)

Week 8: Courting (How Galen & Pearl Met)

Week 8:
The Week 8 theme is "Courting." Is it courting as in the law or courting as in romance? You decide! 

Courting: to engage in social activities leading to engagement and marriage - Merriam Webster Dictionary

    Dating as we know it today, did not really exist in our grandparents' day. Most of the time, instead of dating, courting took place. This involved two people getting together in social activities to get to know each other better in the presence of friends and family. Most of the time it was family. That was the case with my husband's Grandparents. 

    Samuel Galen Swope was born on August 15, 1895, in Clinton County, Missouri. He was the firstborn child of James Albert Swope and Mary Alice Hoover. The Swopes were a prominent family in Western Missouri around the Kansas City area and in the county where Galen was raised. Looking through the newspapers for the area, I found quite a few mentions of the Swope family in the "Happenings" or "Society" sections.

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
2 Jan 1914

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
9 Nov 1917

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
17 Dec 1920

    Pearl Mildred McGrew was born on June 6, 1907, in Kansas. She was the fourth child born to Reverand Hudson Taylor McGrew and Sadie Emma McCullough. As you can see, her father was a Reverand in the United Brethren Church (which eventually became a sect of the Methodist Church). The United Brethren Church had traveling ministers that were appointed to different churches in their area for a specific time. So Pearl's family moved around quite a bit.

    Since Pearl's father was a respectable man in the United Brethren Church, his children were also expected to be on their best behavior. Rev. H.T. McGrew was mentioned in the newspapers quite a bit as well. From the new appointments to the families he would visit and many other circumstances. 

Wichita Daily Eagle
Wichita, Kansas
15 Sep 1889

The Times
Clay Center, Kansas
3 Aug 1911

Lecompton Sun
Lecompton, Kansas
18 Jul 1902

Lecompton Sun
Lecompton, Kansas
5 Apr 1901

    Since both of them belong to very prominent families and their lives were documented publicly in the paper, they would have had to have been on their best behavior. When Mark asked his mom about his parents courting, she said she wasn't told much about that time except that they met in church and that they were not allowed to "date" so to speak in private. All their meetings would have been in public with family present. Thanks to newspapers, I was able to track some of the meetings.

    Mark's mom said they met in Church. This would have been the Lebanon Baptist Church in Clinton County, Missouri. The area consisted mostly of Farmland and the nearest town was Stewartsville. Plattsburg is about 15 miles south of Stewartsville and Lebanon Cemetery, where the Church used to be, is about halfway in between the two towns. Pearl moved to Stewartsville to be a teacher in the Martin School District. Mark's mom said this was a one-room schoolhouse. Pearl did such a great job as a teacher, they elected to keep her for three years. 

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
15 Mar 1929

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
13 Sep 1929

    As you can see, there are only eight students in this school, all ranging from different grades. We are talking VERY small town. So it would have only been a matter of time before Galen and Pearl met. Galen worked in Kansas City for a time, but he would frequently visit his family.

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
11 Jan 1929

    When Galen was back in town, he would stay with his parents, James & Mary. Pearl did not originally live in Stewartsville when she was hired as a teacher. So she rented a room from Rae Berryman and his family. When school was closed for the season, she would go back to visit her parents in Guilford, Missouri. As stated, this was a small town, so almost everyone knew each other. Everyone would make visits to each other's houses, they would attend church together and even celebrate occasions with each other. This would be perfect for Courting situations. As would be the case for Galen & Pearl. And it would then be published in the local paper for everyone to read about.

    Thanks to Newspapers.com, I was able to track down these articles. Articles mentioning dinners, reunions, health & well-being posts (who was sick, who was recovering), and who was visiting who. This made the courting process more apparent.

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
17 Apr 1931

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
6 Feb 1931

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
2 Jan 1931

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
13 Nov 1931

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
29 Apr 1932

    Soon after that last article, this one appeared in the newspaper.

Maryville Daily Forum
Maryville, Missouri
2 May 1932

    As you can see in the articles, Pearl was invited to many gatherings at the J.A. Swope house (Galen's father). They were also invited to dinner at the Hoover's house (Mrs. Mary Swope's family). As stated before, they both attended Lebanon Baptist Church where Rev. H.T. McGrew preached at least once. 

    When I first saw these articles, I didn't think much of them. But this prompt caused me to look at them in a different way. In the way of Courting. You can actually see the courting process. The families were coming together for meals, celebrations, worship, etc. Then to the wedding shower and eventual marriage. I am looking forward to presenting this to my Mother-in-Law to give her a small glimpse into the lives of her parents and how they got together.

Something special to close out this blog post. A picture of Galen and Pearl on their wedding day & the newspaper article about the day.

Galen & Pearl Swope
1 May 1932

Plattsburg Leader
Plattsburg, Missouri
6 May 1932

This prompt also caused me to do some more research on the area they lived. If you want to see what else I found out, check out my next blog post: Maps of Clinton County, Missouri - (How Galen & Pearl Met Cont.)

Do you have any stories about your parents or grandparents courting??

Week 17: At Worship

     This post is coming a little late this week. I have to admit, I struggle with writing some of these prompts as it takes more time for me to research some things. I would love to just have so much time to just sit and go through everything and exhaust every resource in a week's time. Sadly, it's just not possible. So I am going with what I have. This week's prompt is At Worship. While we have family that has attended many churches in their day, this particular ancestor stood out for this prompt. I think you will see why.
     I first heard about this ancestor from my Mother-in-law as this was her grandfather. She told me some stories that she remembered about him. He was very good with his hands. Had great talent. She still has a cuckoo clock that he made. I also found a newspaper clipping mentioning his ability to weave beautiful carpets with his new Deems fly carpet loom. He was a very proper man who held a lot of respect in the community. Well, in his main calling, it was to be expected. That's because H. T. McGrew was a traveling Minister for the United Brethren Church.
     Rev. Hudson Taylor McGrew was born February 29, 1872 in Warsaw, Indiana to Zachariah Taylor McGrew and Anna Eliza Rolston; the second born child out of six, but the first born son. His father was farmer his whole life. I don't know what led him into the ministry, but he made it his life's work.       Let me tell you, knowing he was a "traveling" minister, sure made it more difficult to trace every where he would have went and preached. The best place for me to look was in the newspapers. Wow, I did not expect to find all I did. Newspapers were big on reporting every detail in their communities. So when Rev. H T McGrew would make a visit, it was known. Then when he wanted to invite people to services, he posted in the newspaper himself. When United Brethren Conferences were held, and new appointments were made, it was in the newspaper. Thanks to them, I was able to put together some sort of a list of where he was when.

• 1907 -- Lebanon, Kansas
• 1908-1910 -- Fairview, Kansas
• 1910 -- Ionia, Kansas
• 1911-1913 -- Green, Kansas
• 1913-1914 -- Maitland, Missouri
• 1917 -- Westland & Kern, Missouri
• 1920 -- Downing & Fabius, Missouri
• 1922 -- Chillicothe, Missouri
• 1923 -- Bogard, Missouri
• 1929 -- Turney, Missouri
• 1930-1933 -- Guilford, Missouri
• 1933-1934 -- Locksprings, Missouri
• 1935-1938 -- Callao, Missouri
• 1939-1940 -- Millville, Missouri
• 1941 -- Ored, Missouri
• 1944 -- Hamilton, Missouri:

     These are all locations he was at according to the newspapers. It's amazing that kind of information you find in the newspapers. The articles that mention him wasn't always business,but also personal. When he visited family, when family visited him, vacations, dinner parties, etc. In one paper, he was listed in the "Society" column. Honestly, it gives me a little more insight into the family and why they always expected "proper" behavior. Their every move was documented by the newspaper. Even my husband's mom (Hudson's grand daughter) was mentioned many times in the local newspapers.

     He was a Minister until he officially retired in 1945, although he continued performing certain ceremonies as needed. he was very dedicated to the work of the Lord. Right around the time he officially retired, there was a merger in the church. 

"Until the 1940s, two denominations used the name “Church of the United Brethren in Christ.” The other (much larger) group, after a merger in 1946, became the Evangelical United Brethren Church. In 1968, they merged into what is now the United Methodist Church." United Brethren Church website - www.ub.org/contact/genealogy

     He mostly identified with the United Methodist Church. When he married his daughter, Pearl McGrew (My husband's grandma) to her husband, Samuel Galen Swope (My husband's grandfather) he listed himself as a "Pastor, M.E. Church". And then Pearl mostly attended the Methodist church in her life.
     Sadly, the stresses of life would be too much for him as he would die from a heart attack at the age of 78. In his life though, he affected many people and lived as best as he could in dedication to the Lord. My husband never got the chance to meet him, but has enjoyed learning about everything I have found out about him. I still have leads to follow, hoping to fill in a few gaps in his service. I was surprised to learn that the Methodist Church has records available for genealogy purposes. I found Rev. Hudson T. McGrew's name was listed in the records. I am going to have to wait to pursue this lead though as they charge for the research. No matter how much you think you know about someone, there are always more records to be found. Well, in closing I will share a few newspaper articles along with the obituary that was posted.

Nov 22, 1922 - Chillicothe Tribune, MO; Oct 9, 1947 - Chillicothe Tribune, MO

Feb 25, 1950 - Chillicothe Tribune, Missouri

Click on these to enlarge

Jan 25, 1912 - The Times, Kansas         Jan 6, 1950 - Obituary

Sadie & Hudson Taylor McGrew