Lies!

The 1940 US Census just lied! Well, actually, it simply didn't speak the whole truth. As a newbie I need to remember that any document, even a trusted one -- and I'm not so sure how trusted any document is -- can mislead because the people providing the information were not able to render an absolute version of the truth. So I am reminded that I need to keep asking myself: How truthful is this document likely to be?

Here's the case in point. Was looking at the 1940 US Census for Frostburg Maryland and wanted to see where Mom and Dad were living at that time, just after their marriage. I found Mom right away. There she was living with her parents on Bowery Street in their family home. And here's the shocker... it said that she was single!

So I called Mom. "It says that you were single!" I urged. Oh my! The reply on the other end of the phone was a tad flustered. And yes maybe I had put Mom on the spot;) Was there a mystery to be had? Not so much.

She then told me another chapter in her life, even if a short one and just a footnote to the US Census entry in Family Tree Maker. It seems that Mom and Dad were very much in love and ready to get married and all, but they were just a couple of working kids with not enough money to get set up in married life. So undaunted they forged ahead and got secretly married over in West Virginia where the waiting period and age limits weren't so strict as they were in their home state of Maryland. They went home and kept it all hush-hush for a while.

The census taker must have appeared at Mom's parents' door inquiring, and that put Mom on the 1940 US Census as single. Which she was not. Ha!

Photo of the day from the Archive:

Mom and Dad, about 1942.

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/12/lies.html

A Thrill! My First Look at The 1940 US Census!

Was hot to take a first view of a page, any page, of the 1940 US Census so I popped on over to Ancestry.com and just drilled down to a random page from Washington DC. And yup, I was thrilled! The image is clear and has good contrast which gives a girl half-a-chance to read it clearly. Plus the new reader interface let me drag the image all over the place... and... drum roll... use the mouse wheel to zoom. Nice!

I'm ready to index and ready to look up. More pages, if you please:)

Photo of the day from my archive:

Mom and her sister, Dot.

Hey, Mom, what year is this?

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/04/thrill-my-first-look-at-1940-us-census.html

Index THAT!

I've been doing some indexing to get ready for the 1940 US Census. I'm jazzed about indexing the 1940 census... well who knows what can happen in 10 years time when the 1950 census comes around!

These "practice" indexing jobs are small and fun. And I know that if I can't finish in what I consider a timely manner I can return it. Which I did to one this morning. There's a lot on my plate this week and I didn't feel comfortable holding on to the batch all week. Like to get them and return them in 24 to 48 hours. It's fill-in for me so I enter a file every now and then during the day and before I know it the job is done and returned.

I had a run at indexing a sample page of the 1940 census and messed it up. Got confused about "same house" and how to go back to the previous page... well if you've done the practice page you know what I'm talking about. And if not, never mind, just know that I messed up. But I also learned and that's what matters:)

I like indexing death records. Have had a bunch of batches for Texas. 1912, 1921, and 1953. The handwritten ones were extremely difficult for me to read but in the end I managed.

While watching Who Do You Think You Are last Friday, noticed the mention of historical record keeping when it came to African Americans. The researcher indicated that white recorders often didn't take the detailed approach with black citizens that they did with white ones. I could see that played out in the death certificates I indexed, especially the ones from the first two decades of the last century.

On a lighter note, I got one batch of death certificates from 1912 and found two individuals who died from a gunshot wound to the heart... and the notation of "family argument" ... and the notation "suicide"! (Maybe that's not a lighter note.)

Picture of the day from my archive:

The five of the six daughters of Samuel Albert House and Mary Elizabeth Farrell.

Sadie Reckley, Nan Long, Molly Davis, Nora Kaseycamp, and Kate Whetstone (front).

Year unknown.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/03/index-that.html

1940 US Census Indexing: I Took The Plunge!

After seeing all the hoopla about volunteering to index the upcoming release of the 1940 US Census, I threw my insecurities out the window and signed up to go a-indexing! It took about ten minutes total to download the software app, watch the video, sign in to my FamilySearch account and give it a whirl. It's kinda fun.

My hesitation was that I'm still a newbie and have been known to screw up stuff now and again... OK, regularly. But all the big kids were singing its praises so I jumped on the bandwagon. (Too many metaphors there, but you know what I mean;)

The video is so simple and straightforward, even I could understand it! And then they give you a test batch to try out. If you make a mistake or get confused they help you.

I'm working on some birth records now for somewhere in Texas and it's so very moving to see these records and know that my keystrokes could lead to someone finding their ancestor. OK, I'm hooked.

Plus, I get to pick from a list of records I want to index. That's really nice. I took a look at some handwriting on records from the War of 1812 and I'm not there yet. But Texas births... I'm all over that!

It comes to you in little batches so I don't feel like I've got this gigantic job to to. It's just filler work for me. Do a couple every now and then. Writing this blog post is taking longer than the batch I just finished.

Yeah, I can do this indexing thing... and I bet you can too. To sign up to index the 1940 US Census, go to http://the1940census.com/

And to get all warmed up and try your hand at indexing, go to http://the1940census.com/getting-started/

Photo of the Day from my archive:

My GF, John Lee Kelly (1892 - 1969) and his mother,

Christiana Eckhart Kelly (1861 - 1932)

ca. 1910.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/02/1940-us-census-indexing-i-took-plunge.html