Validation: Using Birth Years to Qualify Ancestors in the Census

Women will be obliged to give their correct age in the coming census. The new law says:"Women who refuse to tell their ages or indulge in inaccurate statements thereof, as well as all other persons refusing to reply to questions or making false statements, shall, on conviction be fined one hundred dollars."
Manitowoc Daily Herald, Manitowoc, Wis. Saturday, May 27, 1899 P.2¹

In general, the censuses asked how old a person was as of his or her last birthday, not the specific year he or she was born (the exception was the 1900 Census, which asked for the month and year of birth). The phrasing of that question has predictably led to a number of errors in birth year listings in census indexes. Add to that human error, or as implied above, human vanity, and you can see why birth year listings vary slightly from census to census.

One of my clients’ great-grandmothers, coincidently from Wis., had a different birth year in every census. She got younger every time, so that by the 1930 Census, she would have been 15 years old at the time of her marriage.

Birth years may be off plus or minus a year or two from census to census and still be the right person. However, if a birth year has changed by more than seven to 10 years since the previous census, even though the name might be the same, it is most likely not the same person.

 Check the names and birth years of the other family members listed. Are they similar to what is listed in previous or future censuses? Reviewing birth years in the census is another key step in validating your family members.

Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.

pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com

For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on Family History Research.

¹http://www.2manitowoc.com/

Validation: Using the Census to Track Names and Confirm Relatives

The census is usually the easiest place to start family history research, especially if you know where your family lived during a specific time period. On the other hand, not everything in the census is going to be correct or the same from census to census, so you will need to find other documentation to resolve conflicts and prove this is the family or individual you’re looking for.

Names

Names, both first names and surnames, can be misspelled or just plain wrong in the census, and yet it can be the correct person or family. Check the rest of the names and birth years in the family. If they are the same (or similar) to those listed on previous or future censuses, you probably have the same family.


Here are three of many examples of wrong name, right family I’ve come across in doing family history research:

In the Mecklenburg church records and on a Hamburg passenger list, a client’s great-grandfather’s sister is named Frederika. In one and only one census, she is listed as Bridget, with Frederika’s birth year. Everyone else’s names are the same as they were on the other records.

 Born in 1858, my great-grandfather Augustus Kniss is listed in the 1860 Census as Albert Kneiss. His name is correct in the 1870 Census. Comparing the two censuses, his birth year stays the same and his siblings’ names stay the same. In looking back at the 1850 Census, his father’s and older siblings’ names and birth years are the same as in the 1860 and 1870 Censuses.

 Another client’s grandfather appears in the 1900 Census (the first census he is in) not only listed under the wrong first name, but listed erroneously as a she. In the 1905 Minnesota State Census, he is listed under a totally different name than in the 1900 Census, but at least he is listed as male. By the 1910 Census, he is listed under the name he went by for the rest of his life. His birth year (1900) is consistent throughout the censuses, as are his father’s and siblings’ names and birth years. His mother, on the other hand, is listed under a different though similar name in every census.

Locating and tracking names through the census is one of the first things you should do when trying to find an ancestral individual or family. Keep an open mind.  Look for consistency in family members’ names, birth years and place of birth. This is one of several steps you should take to help you validate your findings. 

Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.

pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com

For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on Family History Research.

The Importance of Validating your Research

Validate: to confirm truthfulness of something: to confirm or establish the
truthfulness or soundness of something¹

How can you tell if the Andrew Johnson you found is the Andrew Johnson you’re looking for? 

If you’re trying to find an Andrew Johnson that lives in a primarily German area of Wisconsin, he will probably stand out from all the Johann Schmidts and Friedrich Kemps that live in the community. On the other hand, if you’re searching for an Andrew Johnson in an area full of Swedes and Norwegians, you better have more information than just his name.

In family history research, finding the correct family connection is imperative; otherwise you’ll end up adding complete strangers to your family tree.  Once you start down the wrong road, it’s often difficult to get back on course.

Validation

There are a number of validation steps you should take that will help you prove or disprove that you have found the right person or the right family. Never just accept what someone else tells you or has in their online family tree. Find documentation.

As an example, someone else’s family tree on Ancestry.com includes my great-great-great-grandfather Johann Ernst Theodore Landt and all of his children; however, his spouse is listed as someone other than my great-great-great-grandmother, Johanna Frederika Carolina Schroeder.  

I’ve tracked my maternal grandma’s family back to this generation through the census, birth records, death certificates, obituaries, cemetery records, passenger ship records and German church records. I know this is my family and I can prove it.

Make sure you have proof before adding someone to your family tree.

Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.

pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com

For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com
and click on Family History Research.

¹http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/Search?q=validate&FORM=IA10HR

Unusual Names: A Blessing or a Curse for Family History Researchers?

Having an ancestor with an unusual or unique first name can be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because a unique first name makes it easier to follow your ancestor through the censuses, particularly if his or her last name is fairly common.  A curse because the odds of the name being misspelled increases the more unusual the name is. 

My great-grandfather’s first name was Ormel, like Hormel but without the “H.” His last name was Lawrence.  I didn’t know his or his wife’s name when I first started researching my maternal grandfather’s line. But I knew when my grandfather was born and where the family lived, so I searched the 1900 Census, which would be the first one he is listed in. Finding my grandfather, I also found his parents’ names (Ormel and Ellen) and approximate ages in the process.  I then followed Ormel back through the censuses, and found his parents’ names and approximate ages.

While I very much appreciated Ormel’s unique first name, I don’t think he felt the same.  Beginning with the 1905 Wis. State Census, he began going by his initials, O.H., rather than his name.  Even his obituary called him O.H.

Regarding the spelling errors I mentioned earlier, the first census Ormel is in (the 1880 Census) lists his name as Ormet, but I knew it was him because his parents’ and sister’s names were listed with his. Ancestry.com’s Family Data Collection shows his name as Pimel Lawrence on his marriage record, but again, I knew it was him because his bride’s name was Ellen Branshaw, my great-grandmother. 

I have no idea where the name Ormel came from (it doesn’t appear to be a family name) or how to pronounce it correctly.  But it certainly makes him stand out from all the other Lawrences in Eau Claire County, Wis.

Tracking down ancestors requires a lot of patience and the ability to think outside the box.  Names are not always going to be spelled the same way. Birth years are bound to change from one census to another. Validating each individual record with other sources can help you determine if this is the same family member or even the right family.

Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.

pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com

For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com
and click on Family History Research.

1790 Census, Part II

The first U.S. Census was approved by the Senate and House of Representatives on March 1, 1790, and assigned to 17 marshals of the new nation’s several judicial districts, plus their estimated 650 assistant marshals. ¹ 

 

The states had been united as a country for such a short time that people had little grasp that “Federal authority should be unquestioned and instructions promptly and fully obeyed.”¹ Congress gave the states nine months to count the country’s inhabitants. However, the census actually took 18 months to complete.

 

Where We Counted 
If you think the inhabitants of the 13 original colonies were the only ones counted in the first U.S. Census, you’re close, but no cigar. The states and territories represented by the first U.S. Census were:¹

·         Connecticut

·         Delaware

·         Georgia (included what is now Alabama and Mississippi)

·         Maryland

·         Massachusetts (included what is now Maine)

·         New Hampshire

·         New Jersey

·         New York

·         North Carolina (included what is now Tennessee, which was soon to be
      organized as the Southwest Territory)

·         Pennsylvania

·         Rhode Island

·         South Carolina

·         Vermont

·         Virginia (included what is now Kentucky)

·         Northwest Territory (included present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
      Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as parts of Minnesota)

Where were your ancestors living in 1790?

Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.

pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com

For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com
and click on Family History Research.

¹The U.S. Census Bureau website:  http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/1790.html

1790 Federal Census, Part I

Exploring the 1790 Census can be a very frustrating process for family history researchers. Only heads of households were named in the first U.S. Census; additional household members were categorized simply by gender, age, and whether free or slave. If the ancestor you are searching for was a child, a spouse, indentured servant or slave at the time, he or she is counted but not named.  It can make validating that you have found the correct family more difficult.

While family history researchers would appreciate the same amount of information available in later censuses, it’s important to keep in mind why the census came into being in the first place. In Article I, Section 2, the U.S. Constitution directed that a Federal Census be taken every 10 years as a method to determine the number of Representatives allotted each state based on a state’s population (“The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative …”).

A Steep Learning Curve for Both the Government and the People
Some states had conducted censuses prior to this; however, the U.S. government had no experience in preparing for or conducting a census on a national level. For example, standard, consistent census forms were not furnished by the government; those charged with taking the census provided their own. 

“Indeed, up to and including 1820, the assistant general marshals generally used for the schedules such paper as they happened to have, ruling it, writing in the headings, and binding the sheets together themselves. In some cases merchants’ account paper was used, and now and then the schedules were bound in wall paper.

“As a consequence of requiring marshals to supply their own blanks, the volumes containing the schedules vary in size from 7 inches long, 3 inches wide and ½ inch thick to 21 inches long, 14 inches wide and 6 inches thick. Some of the sheets in these volumes are only 4 inches long, but a few are 3 feet in length, necessitating several folds.”¹

The people, also generally unfamiliar “with census taking, imagined that some scheme for increasing taxation was involved, and were inclined to be cautious lest they should reveal too much of their own affairs. There was also enumeration opposition on religious grounds, a count of inhabitants being regarded by many as a cause for divine displeasure. The boundaries of towns and other minor divisions, and even those of counties, were in many cases unknown or not defined at all.”¹

The 1790 Census was the original U.S. Census. What was the first U.S. Census that your ancestors were listed in?

Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.

pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com

For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on Family History Research.

¹The U.S. Census Bureau website:  http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/1790.html

October is National Family History and Fire Prevention Month

October is National Family History and Fire Prevention month, two themes that run through my historical fiction book, “The Memory Quilt.” The book follows the experiences of a 14-year-old girl on the day of the Cloquet/Moose Lake fire, October 12, 1918.

The story is loosely based on my maternal grandmother’s family and their experiences during the fire. The family of seven survived by lying in the bottom of a shallow gravel pit they had dug to make the foundation of their new barn, while covering themselves with wet blankets and rugs.

Doing the research for “The Memory Quilt” is what first got me interested in family history research. There was so much I didn’t know about the fire or my dad’s family history when I started. Once you begin looking, it gets in your blood and you want to find out more and more.

What will it take to get you interested in your family’s history?  For those of you who find research tedious and time-consuming and don’t want to spend the money to buy a subscription to Ancestry.com or one of the other pay-subscription databases, I will be happy to do the document searches for you:

— Census records
 —  Birth records
 — Death certificates
 — Obits
 — Grave site photos
 — Ship passenger lists
 — Marriage records
 — Declarations of Intent/Naturalization records

Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.

pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com

For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com
and click on Family History Research.