Using the 1885 Nebraska State Census

Searching for Tamme Tammen in the 1885 Nebraska State Census was not the easiest thing to do. Fortunately for Nebraska in 1885 there are farm schedules and population schedules. While each schedule does not contain the exact same set of names (the farm schedule contains only heads of household who were farmers), the order of the names should be the same.
The problem was that Tamme's name was written in a nearly impossible way to search for on one of the schedules. Tapping Tamme Tammen discusses how I searched for Tamme in these schedules, some general techniques, and samples of the actual census schedules showing Tamme's entry.
And if anyone is related to Tamme...let me know mjnrootdig@gmail.com. His older sister Tjode Anna Focken Tammen Goldenstein is my 3rd great-grandmother.

Articles on French-Canadian Research

I've posted a few articles on French-Canadian research on my site, particularly focusing on my wife's family who came to upstate New York. One series focuses on census analysis of a French-Canadian family from 1850 until 1900. The others discuss beginning your French-Canadian Research.

From now until 31 March 2007, Ancestry.com is offering free access to
its Drouin Collection--used extensively by French-Canadian researchers.

Can You Read It?

This also comes from an early 18th century Amherst County, Virginia deed.

However, this is not exactly someone's name, but a phrase that one will often see on old deeds that describe property in metes and bounds.

It is not all that hard to read.

Can You Read It?

While not a signature, this name comes from an early eighteenth century deed in Amherst County, Virginia. The tail on the first letter of the name got a little long, hence the inclusion of the "said."

This one should not be too hard.

Drouin Collection at Ancestry.com

Ancestry is offering temporary free access to its digitized version of the Drouin Collection. This is an excellent source for those researching French-Canadian ancestors. My only problem is finding time to use the
Drouin Collection--my wife is 1/8th French-Canadian with families that left Canada in the 1840s-1850s to settle in Clinton County, New York. Her great-great-grandfather eventually spent time in Chicago, where his daughter Marie starting meeting husbands.

Name Games

First and last names can create all kinds of problems for the genealogist. Two older articles on our site discuss concerns family historians need to keep in mind with both last names and first names. Phonetics can be a problem with either one, but there are differences--particularly if your ancestor came from a country where they practiced patronymics as late as the nineteenth century as my Ostfriesens and my wife's Swedes did.

The Last Name Game

The First Name Game

1900 Census--Ty Cobb

The future baseball player is 12 years old and living at home with his parents in Georgia. Like many census enumerations, this one is split over two pages. View the complete image to see what his father's occupation was and other information about Cobb's family. If memory serves his wife was a census taker in one of Cobb's later enumerations as an adult.

The 1900 Census can be searched at Ancestry.com.

New Brunswick Newspaper Database

The Database of Vital Statistics from New Brunswick Newspapers is available on the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick website. The database contains genealogical extractions from New Brunswick newspapers from 1784-1896 and can be searched at the Provincial website. It might have been there for a while, but today was the first time I noticed it. My Neills were in New Brunswick for a short time so I was glad to see it online.

It is wonderful source. Read the background and what it contains before you search.

Rev. James Bennett--St. John, New Brunswick

I have a copy of it, but it's buried in my filing cabinet and admittedly never been computerized--the transcription of the marriage announcement of Samuel Neill and Anne Murphy


From the St. John Globe--17 November 1865, which indicates that Samuel Neill and Miss Anne Murphy were married on 9 November 1865 by the Rev. James Bennett and that they were both of Simonds Parish (St. John).

I found this on the New Brunswick Provincial Archives website. This database may have been on there a while, but I never noticed it until just right now. Pays to go back and look.

Now to find out if there are any church records.

Alfred Hitchcock arrives in the US in 1937

Sailing on the Queen Mary, the family of Alfred Hitchcock arrived in New York in 1937.

You can search for your relatives--who probably had less "direction" that Hitchcock-- in passenger lists--just remember that the earlier ones are not typed and were written in nearly invisible ink ;-).

Online Registration for FGS 2007 Ft. Wayne

Online registration for the annual Federation of Genealogical Societies' 2007 conference in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, this August is now operational. Yipee! I'll be there and hopefully I'll find a few ancestors in the library (Well not their actual bodies--although they did dig a pretty big hole for the library's new parking garage, so you never know--but that would give whole new meaning to the phrase "open stacks").

Learn more about the program, the speakers, and FGS at

http://www.fgsconference.org/

We always have a good time, always learn, and always share. Join us and learn more about your ancestors, genealogical research, and FGS in Ft. Wayne late this summer.

Michael
FGS Board Member

Presentation in Princeton, Illinois 29 March 2007

Due to a scheduling conflict on my part, the Bureau County folks have graciously changed their meeting date to the 29th of March 2007 at the usual location and the usual time in the evening.
The topic "Discovering Your Own Migration Trail and Establishing Your Ancestor's Neighborhood" and everything else remains the same.

The Bureau County website contains more information, but the date might not be changed on the website yet as we just confirmed the new date late this afternoon.

Pickles in 1900

We can't always locate the ketchup in our house, but I did manage to find Henry Heinz in the 1900 census. H J Heinz and his oldest son are enumerated as pickle manufacturers. The "0" behind the occupation means something, but not how many pickles they made during the year. The column headings on the original indicate the intent.

If your ancestor was in a pickle in 1900, that may be shown when you search the 1900 Census.

Chances are you may find pickles in your refrigerator, but not your ancestor. And if your ancestor is in the refrigerator...well that's another problem entirely.

1900 Willa Cather

In 1900 Willa Cather was a newspaper reporter living in Phildelphia. The author of O Pioneers, My Antonia, and other novels of the western frontier had yet to pen her well-known works.

Philadelphia was probably a big change from rural Nebraska where Cather grew up. Her migration trail was little bit atypical. She was born in Virginia, lived in Nebraska and moved to Pennsylvania where she is shown here in 1900.

The 1900 Census can be searched at Ancestry.com--but keep your ancestor's migration path in mind.

1920 Census--Grandma from the Waltons (Ellen Corby)

Did you know that Grandma from the Waltons (Ellen Corby) was born in Wisconsin of Norwegian parents and grew up in Pennslyvania? I sure didn't.

Her maiden name was Ellen Hansen and her 1920 census entry is partially shown here with her mother and step-father in Philadelphia.

The 1920 United States Federal Census can be searched for your relative--no matter where in the US they were born or were living. Of course, sometimes we search but never find them.

1920 Census-Anthony Quinn

His real name was Antonio Quine (at least in the 1920 census). Those of us with ancestors for whom English was not their native language must always be on the lookout for the "original" name of our ancestor or how their name might have sounded to the census taker. The rest of the image can be viewed on our site, along with the year the Quine family came to America. They were living in California in 1920 where Antonio was a little too young to be an actor.

Search the everyname index to the 1920 United States Federal Census for your ancestor--and keep those alternate spellings and names in mind.

The Voice of Snow White in 1930

Her father was a voice teacher, so I guess Andriana Caselotti got her talent naturally. Fortunately the apple that didn't fall far from the tree in this case was a good one, not one like Snow White (for whom Caselotti provided the voice) ate in the movie.

The 1930 census finds the 13 year old living with her family in Los Angeles, where her father is employed as a voice teacher.

Some occupations and talents tend to run in families. Some are re-developed every generation. And some are just stuck. You can search of the 1930 census at Ancestry.com and see what category your relative falls into.

Harry Houdini didn't escape from the manifest

Harry Houdini returned to the United States on board the Imperator in 1920. Obviously he didn't escape from the manifest and hopefully no one tried to throw him overboard with chains or leg irons on.

Indexes to these records are a part of the Ancestry.com's set of databases. Search for your own relative in ship manifests--hopefully he wasn't thrown overboard in leg irons either.

Can You Read It?

This comes from a 1860s era probate in Chariton County, Missouri. It is the listing of a person who purchased property at the estate sale.

Federal Land Patents

An article I wrote several years ago about the Bureau of Land Management website is still accurate--thankfully they leave the search interface alone for the most part.

A search for William Newmans in Indiana resulted in one match for my William. The legal description for his property is as shown in the image below.

The legal description is available on the patent image, but the quarter section can be viewed on the BLM site as part of the database entry for William's patent.

Then using the legal land description of William's 40 acres, I searched the BLM database of patents again. This time I searched for patents granted to people for property in the same section of the township.

I was excited when I viewed the names. One last name was the same last name as William's wife, Rebecca Tinsley. Viewing the patent for William Tinsley indicated he was living in the same county William was when William purchased the land in Tipton County. Both men were listed as residents of Rush County, Indiana.

Patents are not only for "early" or pre-statehood settlers. There were federal land sales in many states long after statehood. After all, these sales are in Indiana in 1850.

The article goes into more detail on using these patents. I would view the BLM website's information on patents and the rectangular survey system descriptions before I did extensive searches.

Can You Read It?

From an estate settlement in the 1860s in Chariton County, Missouri.

Feel free to post a guess--it's not too hard.

Looking for Images of Farm Implements?

I just had a thought...

Those who are looking for images of those items mentioned in an estate settlement from the 1800s or so might want to consider searching for the item on the US patents database at Google. While search for patents with a location of the town where I grew up, I happened upon an 1871 patent for a hand corn husker. There are images of every patented item on the website and Google's US Patents Database may be a good way for researchers to locate images of items with which they are unfamiliar. The patent description may also provide some information on what the item was used for.

Patent Searches at Google

Don't forget that US patents can be searched at Google.

A search of one of my wife's surnames turned up a relative of hers being a witness on a patent for a feeding trough put together by Chester A. Barnes of Blue Grass, Iowa.

The full text OCR search is really neat and as can be seen in the image, the search term is highlighted on the results. Fun stuff at http://www.google.com/patents

Candy is Dandy, but Ogden's Not Legal

Ogden Nash penned "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker," but he probably had not written it at the time of this 1920 census enumeration in New York. The 17 year old is living with his parents on 5th Avenue in Manhattan where his father worked in the export business.

You can search the 1920 United States Federal Census for your relative.

1920 Census--Jazz Great Louis Armstrong

The 1920 census found Louis Armstrong living with his mother in a boarding house in New Orleans. The 19 year old is listed as being employed in the "theatre" as a musician. Armstrong was not too difficult to find, but common names in large cities combined with bad handwriting always makes for a challenging search.

You can search the 1920 United States Federal Census for your relative.