E is also for Extended Family

Chain migration, 3(or 4?) generation households, the maiden aunt in the back bedroom, the maiden aunt, or sister, or cousin, who stepped in to tend the household and the children when the wife died, the orphan children who joined the household when their parents died.  

1950-60 was all about the nuclear family - mom, dad & 2.5 kids, and now?  Propose a combination, and it will likely be found, not just one place, but many.   Current society may not want to label it as such, but the pendulum has swung and again, people are living in extended families - choice, economics, a combination of the two.

OK, back to historical genealogy.

Extended families, the ones genealogists are tracking, the historical ones, usually were the result of some sort of family connection.  Let your ears prick up at the outlier in the record, whether the pointer be difference in age, name, where born, or occupation, follow and make that picture, and you may well find another branch or collateral relations. 

Additionally, let your imagination roam a little.  People were (and are) where they were (and are) for a reason.  The reason may not be self-evident to us 21st century people, but the reason made sense to them (time travel time again). 

My husband's grandfather, Quill, married and moved in with family of his new wife; now two surnames in the household.  Quill also went to work for his new father in law, James, in his linoleum store (1930).  By the 1940 census, the store had closed and Quill was selling baskets (one up from apples?), but he & wife were still living with the in-laws, but now the two families in a two flat.  Probable reason? Quill's couple was now three (enter child).  James' couple was now also a three-some; James' mother-in-law, now widowed, AND the mother-in-laws mother, had both moved in with his family.  Now there were four surnames at the one address, and no apparent connection without the back story, but with the backstory, lots of places to look for husbands and more information.

Another ancestor of mine, Nathan Taylor, moved from eastern New York to northern Illinois between the 1860 & 1870 census.  I've not done much with that line.  I know the "what happened," and my TODO list includes developing a more specific time line, and hopes of information that suggests reasons for the move.

Why worry about extended families?  Often it is the clue to finding out about your direct line.   And you find some very good stories.

Till next time

Liz

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2018 begins with an "ABC-darium," a walk through the alphabet expanding into short comments on matters genealogical.  Published on Tuesday and some Fridays, a letter may be visited more than once before moving on.  

© 2018, SE Ross

CENSUS FRIDAY - 1850 US Population Census

The 1850 US population census is a wonderful gift, a watershed in reporting that opened up that population and all those after it. Thank you US Government.

For those of you who may have stumbled onto this blog without being genealogically inclined, the 1850 census was the first census in which every member of the household was listed by name.  I can almost hear the discussions about the increased costs of taking the census in this manner, not only in hours spent taking the census, but also the greatly increased cost for massively more paper and ink. 

The 1840 census enumerates 29 or 30 families on one page. 

Three sequential pages of the 1850 census pages chosen at random and from Iowa, Clayton Co, Boardman Twp include, respectively, six, nine and eight households. Admittedly, the last household on the first page appears to be a boarding house; lots of different last names, but that happened.

1 page of 1840 > 3 pages of 1850.  That's the ratio for this very unscientific comparison.  It would be interesting to find the statute stating how the 1850 census would be taken. 

And I wonder how and if this difference seeded or reflected the change in how each person considered themselves?  As a member of the family, certainly, but also an individual with personal rights and duties to themselves.  Horatio Alger was still 30 years in the future, but the Civil War only 10.  Future explorations for me, or if anyone would care to comment from their knowledge?

Additionally, for all of you who have gotten to 1850 and then cried "Uncle," do a little math and go again. 

• Everyone who was 10 or older in 1850 was alive in 1840.
• Everyone who was alive in 1840 should have been counted.
• Use maps (etc.) to determine where your 1850 family was in 1850.  Since farms don't move, and most of the country farmers, it's likely they are on the same piece of ground, even if the name changed. That can be a challenge.  (Hint: check county boundaries.)
• Look for matching last names.  Do the math, allowing for deaths, older children leaving the home…
• Celebrate -- or put the results in your "halfway" folder, as in "this is part of the answer, and I will get back to it."

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2018 begins with an "ABC-darium," a walk through the alphabet expanding into short comments on matters genealogical.  Published on Tuesday and some Fridays, a letter may be visited more than once before moving on.  

© 2018, SE Ross

E is for Era

E is for ERA – as in when did this ancestor live.  (Where is also a consideration, but for the moment considering only folks on the North American continent.) 

Bottom line: Just as in mysteries, follow the money.  The further back in time, the more you will depend upon records that concern MONEY, because those are the records that were preserved.  Within the last year I heard a lecture about a person in the 1770's.  Walking through the proof, the speaker tied in Y-DNA evidence and 127 off-line records, all but a few records having to do with land, tax, wills and probate. 

Remember, until 1850, even the census' only listed the name of the head of household, and the earliest census, 1790, is a full century plus from the first English arriving.  Land, tax, will and probate records were made as soon as "non-natives" arrived; one had to keep track of the money.  These same tax, land, will and probate records can supply the threads to tease out relationships; Michael Bates leaves only 6 silver teaspoons to his eldest daughter, Olivia, as she has already received her wedding portion, and begs that his son John will welcome Martha into his household for the remainder of her life (read wife/mother), and for this consideration gets an extra portion of land. 

A century later, in 1870, the full family will be on the census.  Names and activities can be verified with those wonderful county histories, as well as land, will, probate and tax records.  Fingers crossed that the folks you are researching had enough scratch that they made these records.  However, other changes in the 1870's impacting research in 1870 was the growth of newspapers, which, with the technology of OCR are now incredible sources for fleshing out family history, as well as finding the elusive facts. 

Happy finding…

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2018 begins with an "ABC-darium," a walk through the alphabet expanding into short comments on matters genealogical.  Published on Tuesday and some Fridays, a letter may be visited more than once before moving on.  

© 2018, SE Ross

C is for Census (United States)

 Go Census !!! Go FamilySearch.org!!!  Go Ancestry.com!!!

Digitizing the US Federal Census put Ancestry.com on the map those many years ago. 

Wonder if there should there be a club of people who used microfilms for census research -- MCRers… ?

Ok, basic census facts.  The US Federal Census was taken every 10 years on the even 10 years from 1790 to the latest taken in 2010.  The next will be taken in 2020.  The most recent census that can be examined by genealogists (and anyone else) is the 1940 census.  Each enumeration (again, great word) is held private by the government for 72 years before being released/published. 

72 was an arbitrary number at the time, with the presumption that after 72 years, few people enumerated would still be alive.  Surprise, surprise when in 2012 the 1940 census was released, and a fairly large crowd could go "look, it's me." The 1940 census was also notable because rather than being indexed by a firm with paid folk, it was crowd indexed, and done in months.  Amazing.

For anyone looking for ancestors who lived in the US, it is the second stop.  (First is house documents; natch.)  Questions asked in each census differ, but the basic format is the same -- a heading detailing census year and geographic boundaries of this piece of the whole, and also the name of the person who was the census taker. Rows and columns below include names, ages, assets, occupation, schooling, and on and on. 

If you have an ancestor who ever lived in the US, the basic assumption is that you, the researcher, will work very hard and search very creatively to find every ancestor on every census within their lifespan and residence in the US.  Often comparing different census years tells chapters in a  story.  Gent moves from electrician to manager to owner of business through the course of 30 years. 

And even if an ancestor was only in the US for a short time, friends and relatives could have been in the US longer, and….

The census is such a big topic.  Watch for Census Friday during the next months ….

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2018 begins with an "ABC-darium," a walk through the alphabet expanding into short comments on matters genealogical.  Published on Tuesday and some Fridays, a letter may be visited more than once before moving on.  

Copyright 2018, SERoss