New York Indexed in 1940 Census at Ancestry.com

New York is now indexed for the 1940 census at Ancestry.com! 

From Ancetsry’s webpage about this: “From upstate to downtown, New York was a busy place in 1940. The 11th state was number one in population with 13 million people. The eyes of the world were watching, too, as the World’s Fair landed here in 1939, and planes were landing at the new LaGuardia Field. What were your Empire State relatives up to in 1940?”

I know how I’ll be spending my Wednesday!

NGS 2012 Day 2: AM

Day 2 (Thursday) of the NGS conference began in a much nicer fashion than day 1: not much actual gridlock on the highway and I arrived in time for the first session, which was on BCG certification.  As this is on my 5 year plan, I thought I should get some basics.  I only stayed for the first half of the session (it ran through 2 session times), but learned a lot.  It is time to go through the manual with a fine tooth comb, up my research reports and work on friends research so that I can practice writing “client reports”.

After this, I headed to Indexes! Indexes! Indexes! How to Find People Who Don't Seem to Be There! with Elizabeth Shown Mills.  This was my first time seeing her speak and I was quite impressed by her presentation.  My favorite part was when she mentioned that “Cassell” can be indexed as “Cafell”, which I am hoping will help me with my Casell (but often spelled Cassel or Cassell) ancestors.

The best strategies she gave, in my opinion, was to use wildcards for vowels whenever possible and to consider ethnicity as a surname.  I never would have thought to look for Italian, Marco or German, Nicolas in my search, but if the person taking the information couldn’t understand or figure out the last name, they put it down like this, instead.  If you have had problems finding people in indexes (who hasn’t), I recommend purchasing this lecture CD.

I ended my morning by starting in a session, but by that 3rd hour of sitting, I had had enough, so I went to the expo to index the 1940 census and wander around.  I actually got so caught up in indexing (my favorite part was the indexer who put Long Island as a foreign country from the Bronx-indeed it sometimes seems like it is…), that I was a few minutes late to my lunch lecture.  I will write about this lecture and my afternoon sessions in the next post.

FamilySearch Media/Bloggers Dinner

On Tuesday night FamilySearch sponsored a Media/Blogger dinner.  It’s not every day that you get to eat dinner with Paul Nauta of FamilySearch, the AncestryInsider, Leland Meitzler, Pam Schaffer, Sandra Benward and Denise & Scott Richmond (who I met on the Legacy Cruise in October).  I also met Ruth Blair, who shares my blogiversary and DearMyrtle said my business car was pretty (I can die happy now).

The main discussion was on the Community 1940 Census Project.  There are over 460 blog ambassadors for this program (including myself) and they are looking for more!  If you are interested and at the conference, there is a special offer where you can sign up and write a blog post and receive a very nice gift.

Over 101,000 people have volunteered as indexers and arbitrators, which is how 30% of the census has already been indexed.  This is likely the largest community indexing project and we can only hope to see more of these in the future.  Remember, if you index two batches while at the conference, you get a free t-shirt!

FamilySearch also told us that they have  collections from over 60 countries and over 1 billion indexed records.  I am most excited that they now have a contract with the Italian government to digitize and index for preservation purposes all civil records through 1940.  Having searched many of these records, I can say that having then online where you can zoom in and out and play with the coloring, will be tremendously helpful.

Thank you for such a wonderful experience FamilySearch!

1940 Census: Maternal Grandmother

My main goal for the 1940 census was to find all of my grandparents, as this is the first time any of them were listed on a census record.

Last, but not least, is Grandparent number 4 (according to my pedigree chart), Marlyn Whitehead.  She was also the last one I found, which is pretty ironic considering she was the one I most wanted to find.  My Gramma Casell has been with me every step of the way on my genealogy journey and I was very excited to find her on a census and show it to her. 

She took a while to find as the address I had for her parents in 1943 from a SS-5 form was not where they were living in 1940.  After asking her for other recommendations (after all, she should totally know where she lived at age 4), I learned that Ancestry.com’s personal subscriptions have city directories that library subscriptions do not.  One 2 week trial later, I had an address: 87 Ullman, Buffalo, Erie Co., NY.  She is listed with her parents, William and Vera (Gress), her five sisters and her grandmother, Elizabeth (Fink) Gress.

Source:

1940 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, Buffalo, enumeration district (ED) 64-472, sheet 12B, dwelling 87, family 257, Wm. H. Whitehead household; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02837.

1940 Census: Maternal Grandfather (aka He’s Everywhere)

My main goal for the 1940 census was to find all of my grandparents, as this is the first time any of them were listed on a census record.

Grandparent number 3 (according to my pedigree chart) and the third one I found (after failing at finding grandparent #4) is my maternal grandfather, Robert Casell.  He took a bit longer to find than he should have, as I had The Evangelical Lutheran St. John's Orphan Home where he lived as being on Mineral Springs Road in Buffalo, Erie Co., NY.  Turns out it was a town over, in West Seneca.  Once I had that knowledge he was tremendously easy to find, as the orphanage is written in the enumeration district descriptions.



He is listed as 9 years old, with his brothers Alfred and James.  Their sister Beatrice is located 2 sheets later as “Beatrice Cassel” (the list is broken down by male and female).

While talking to my mother and grandmother last night, they asked if I had found my great grandfather yet.  Since I had not looked, but was certain I could find it easily due to having the house address, I was on the search for Alfred Casell on South Division Street in Buffalo.



I was rather surprised when listed below Alfred were all four of his children!  I have read about other people finding their relatives in two or more places at once in the census, but I have never had this with my family (they were a stay-put kind of people), so this made me very excited.

How does this happen?  I know for a fact that my grandfather and his siblings were in the orphanage from 16 Oct 1939-26 Jun 1947, as I have the paperwork from the orphanage.  It is possible they were visiting home on 1 April 1940 (or the day the census taken arrived, if directions were not followed properly) and were therefore included in both.  According to the sheet, one of the people Alfred was renting space in the house to provided the information, so it is also possible that he did not understand the directions on the census or was unaware that the children had moved to an orphanage after their mother died.  They also may have been confused as to the permanent location of the children.  Either way, it is pretty cool to see my grandfather not once, but twice on the census.

Sources:

1940 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, West Seneca, enumeration district (ED) 15-179, sheet 6A, p. 2898 (stamped), dwelling St. John's Orphan Home, family (blank), Robert Casell; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02532.

1940 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, West Seneca, enumeration district (ED) 15-179, sheet 7A, p. 2898 (stamped), dwelling St. John's Orphan Home, family (blank), Beatrice Cassel; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02532.

1940 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, Buffalo, enumeration district (ED) 64-60, sheet 15B, dwelling 469, family 240, Alfred M. Casell household; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02824.

 

Mrs. R. Donald Coppola and Miss Dorothy H. Dehn, C.G., editors, Records of St. John's Orphan Home 1865 - 1961 (Buffalo, New York: Abilgal Filmore Chapter, DAR, 1981), 20.

1940 Census: Paternal Grandmother

My main goal for the 1940 census was to find all of my grandparents, as this is the first time any of them were listed on a census record.

Grandparent number 2 (according to my pedigree chart), and the first that I found yesterday is my paternal grandmother, Agnes Nuwer.  She was 2 years old and living in a house of Westwood Road, Alden, Erie Co., NY, with her parents Albert and Edna (Roll), siblings Richard, Marilyn and Albert, Jr., and cousin Henry.  According to my Uncle Al, Henry was actually living with them as a paid farmhand, which shows why the earlier you become a genealogist the better, as I would have never known this otherwise. 

Three families before them, Albert’s parents, my great-great-grandparents, John and Anna (Zeapfel) Nuwer, are listed with their daughter Charlotte.

Sources:

1940 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, Alden, enumeration district (ED) 15-2, sheet 1A, p. 115 (stamped), dwelling (blank), family 2, John Nuwer household; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02526. 

1940 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, Alden, enumeration district (ED) 15-2, sheet 1A, p. 115 (stamped), dwelling (blank), family 5, Albert Nuwer household; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02526. 

1940 Census: Paternal Grandfather

After not being able to look at any images of the 1940 census yesterday, I made a lot of progress today, finding all 4 of my grandparents!  The fastest way I found to search the images was to download the entire enumeration district and then flip through it in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Grandparent number 1 (according to my pedigree chart), and the second found today, is my paternal grandfather, Theodore Acquard.  In 1940 he was 6 and living on a farm on Alleghany Rd. Bennington, Wyoming Co., NY.  He is listed with his parents, Florian and Stella (Karpinski), younger brothers Daniel and Ronald, grandfather Joseph Acquard and uncle Walter Acquard.  His name is misspelled as “Theadore”.

Source: 1940 U.S. census, Wyoming County, New York, population schedule, Bennington, enumeration district (ED) 61-8, sheet 7B, dwelling (blank), family 150, Florian Acquard household; digital images, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 Census (http://1940census.archives.gov/ : accessed 3 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 02816. 

Family History Day: Census Mortality Schedule

After attending Family History Day, I had a list of sources to look for.  At the top of this list was checking to see if any of my ancestors would have been listed on a census mortality schedule.  My 4th great grandfather, John George Zeapfel died 17 Oct 1879 in Lancaster, Erie County, NY.  Searching for him on Ancestry did not yield any results, but reading mortality schedule did:

This shows he died of consumption and that there was not a doctor present at the time of his death.  It also gives his birthplace (Alsace, France), occupation (retired farmer) and marital status (widow).  Since NY state did not have death certificates this early in most cases, this is the only place to find some of this information.

1940 US Census: Boarders in the Household

Less than two weeks until the release of the 1940 US census!  When searching census records, it is easy to just focus on family members and the other people living in a household.  After all, boarders were just people passing through, helping pay the mortgage, right?

While in some situations, you will see a boarder in a census one year and never see them in relation to your family again, sometimes boarders will actually be far more important to your research.  Here are a few examples from my family tree:



In 1910, my 3rd great grandmother, Sophia (Passel) Gress, had been a widow for 11 years and all of her children were grown and living with their spouses, raising children of their own.  Sometime between 1900 and 1910 she had begun taking in boarders, and as of census day she had 6 young men renting space in her home.  One of these men, George Eddy, was a 28 year old house painter.  I like to picture Sophia telling her granddaughter Elsie about this kind, hard working, handsome young man living there, as by the 1920 census Sophia was living with George and Elsie Eddy and their 3 daughters (as well as a new boarder) as “grandmother-in-law”.



In 1871, Benjamin Hayman was listed as a lodger in the home of my 3rd great-grandparent’s Charles and Mary Ann Whitehead’s home.  Further research proved Benjamin to be Mary Ann’s older brother whom she named her firstborn son after.  Why was he listed as a lodger and not as brother-in-law?  Perhaps the census taken felt that lodger was a more appropriate relationship or he was not told that there was a blood relationship or he just assumed Benjamin was a lodger.

Have you ever researched the boarders listed in your families census records?  Did you find they were more than just someone passing through?

Sources:

1871 census of England, Kent, Halstead civil parish, village of Halstead, folio 132, page 5, Charles Whitehead household; digital images, The Generations Network, Inc., Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Aug 2008); citing PRO RG 10/921.

1910 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, Buffalo, enumeration district (ED) 179, sheet 13B, dwelling 219, family 263, Sophia household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed Aug 2008); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T624, roll 946.

1920 U.S. census, Erie County, New York, population schedule, Buffalo, enumeration district (ED) 201, sheet 15B, dwelling 254, family 346, George Eddy household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed Aug 2008); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T625, roll 1107.

39 Days and Counting!

I am very excited to have been chosen as a 1940 US Census Blog Ambassador!

In 39 days the 1940 US census will be released to the public.  If you are anything like me, most (all?) of your census research has been through on sites such as Ancestry.com.  These census records have been digitized and indexed and make it tremendously easy to find your ancestors.

When the 1940 US census images come online on 2 April, they will just be images, no index, no ease in searching.  This is where you can help!  Sign up to be an indexer and you will help create an index for all researchers to use.  Sign up now to get some practice by indexing other records through FamilySearch Indexing.

Who Will You Look for in the 1940 Census?

Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog asked "When the 1940 census becomes available in April, who will you look up first?"

Since this is the first census my grandparents will be on, I will search for them first.  The very first person will be my grandma Casell, as she has been with me every step of the way on this genealogy journey and I know how excited she will be as well to see herself on the census.  After that, I will look for my paternal grandparents, which will probably be easiest to find, since they lived in small towns and then my grandpa Casell, who was in the orphanage by this point, so should be very easy to find as well.

After this, I will start looking for my great-great grandparents who were still living at this time: Elizabeth Fink Gress, Joseph Acquard, jr., Francis and Josephine (Szydlic) Karpinski, John and Anna (Zeaphfel) Nuwer and Edward and Lidwina (Pautler) Roll.  I will probably wait on other relatives until the indexing is done, at least in the city of Buffalo.  For some of the small towns, I expect to come upon them a bit easier, but we shall see.

I have also signed up to help transcribe the census through the 1940 Census Project and hope you will, too!

Wishing for the 1890 Census in NY?

The destroyed 1890 census is a bane of many genealogist's research.  Those of us with New York state ancestors in 40 counties (not Chenango, Columbia, Franklin, Fulton, Jefferson, Livingston, New York (the Bronx and Manhattan), Oneida, Orange, Putnam, Rensselaer, Richmond, Schuyler, Seneca, St. Lawrence, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster, Westchester, and Wyoming according to FamilySearch) are lucky - we have a state census that was taken in 1892.

Not only is this census available on microfilm, but it is now searchable with images for most counties at FamilySearch.  It may not have households differentiated or relationships listed, but it does have

• Name


• Gender


• Age


• Color


• Country of birth


• If citizen or alien


• Occupation

One example in my research was trying to figure out if Maria Tross' husband was living in Buffalo when she immigrated with her children in 1884 from Germany.  There was no 1890 census for me to check, but when I learned about the 1892 state option, I looked there.  There was "Mary" with her two youngest children, but no Wenzel Tross to be found.  This made me want to check further into German records for his death prior to 1884.

If you have not checked the 1892 NY census for your ancestors, go to FamilySearch and check today!

Census Day 2010

It is Census Day 2010!  Make sure you fill out and mail in your census form so you can be counted and future generations can find you.  This is the first census I am in, that I am not at my parents house, so having this is very exciting.  Before you mail it in, make a copy so that your descendants do not have to wait until 2082 to see it.

Amazing New Genealogy Spreadsheets

Dick Eastman posted about CensusTools Spreadsheets today.  After reading the post, I want to check them out, as I love spreadsheets for data tracking.  I was not disappointed!  In fact, I can not express enough how impressed I am with this site.

Gary Minder writes "Ever try entering extracted census data into your genealogy program's primitive text editor? The mess and frustration led me to create my first spread sheet in 2001 so I could elec tron i cal ly preserve my data in an easy to view format."  I can not agree more and am loving the spreadsheets he created, particularly the research log, census trackers and the cemetery data form.  After downloading them and going through a few I donated his recommended $10 through PayPal.  This is the best $10 I have spent on genealogy organization material in a long time.

I highly recommend you go and check out his spreadsheets, as they will make your life much easier organizationally.  The research log lists over 125 types of sources to check for each person with a box next to each that you can check yes, no or not applicable.  If these sources aren't enough it is easy to change or add more, such as changing the US censuses listed to those in the country they lived in.  I would also recommend adding in Footnote, GoogleBooks, WOrldCat and a blog search for each ancestor under online sources.  I look forward to using this to make sure I have found all I can about each ancestor.

What is your favorite census?

NARAtions wants to know:  Which U.S. decennial census is your favorite and why?


This is quite a question.  I think I would have to say 1900, as this is the first census that all of my ancestral lines are on (we were a late group coming to the US).  This could have been 1890, but, well, we all know how that turned out...


What is your favorite and why?

FamilySearch Update - 1892 NY Census beginning to be indexed!!!

The following ennouncement made by FamilySearch is very, very, very exciting to me!  I can't wait to jump on and help index the 1892 NY census and can't wait even more for Buffalo to be put online.  I have searching it on my to-do list, but I always seem to come up with something else to research when I get to the library in Buffalo (about once every couple months).  This will make my life so much easier, as well as so many others.  Off work tomorrow, so indexing here I come...

There are many new, upcoming, and completed indexing projects to report in this update. There are 12 new projects (see Current Projects chart below). These include three Belgian and two Argentina projects. The New York 1892 State Census project will be of great interest to many people. FamilySearch could not do all of these great initiatives without the great time and effort contributed by so many terrific volunteers. Thank you for your continued support.

Current FamilySearch Indexing Projects, Record Language, and Percent Completion

d style="color:rgb(38,38,39);vertical-align:top;font-size:12px;margin:0;padding:0;">English

Argentina, Buenos Aires 1855 Census	Spanish	(New)
Argentina Censo 1869–Catamarca y La Rioja	Spanish	(New)
Argentina Censo 1869–Corrientes y Entre Rios	Spanish	44%
Arkansas County Marriages V	English	20%
Australia NSW Newspaper Cuttings	English	88%
Belgium–Antwerp Foreigners Index	Dutch, Flemish	27%
Brandenburg Kirchenbücher	German	49%*
España, Lugo–Registros Parroquiales [Part 1]	Spanish	16%
España, Ávila–Registros Parroquiales	Spanish	78%
France, Coutances, Paroisses de la Manche	French	9%
Germany, St Petersburg Church Records 1833-1885	German	1%
Illinois, Cook County Birth Registers	English	(New)
Italy, Trento Baptism Records, 1784-1924	Italian	60%
Mexico Censo de 1930–Sinaloa	Spanish	(New)
Mexico Censo de 1930–Sonora	Spanish	88%
Mexico Censo de 1930–Tabasco	Spanish	70%
Mexico Censo de 1930–Tamaulipas	Spanish	(New)
Minnesota 1895 State Census	English	74%
Missouri–1920 US Federal Census	English	(New)
Nevada–1920 US Federal Census	English	89%
New Mexico–1920 US Federal Census	75%
New York 1892 State Census	English	(New)
Nicaragua, Managua Civil Records	Spanish	13%
Norway 1875 Census part 1	Norwegian	10%
Perú, Lima–Registros Civiles	Spanish	10%
Rhode Island 1925 State Census	English	(New)
UK, Cheshire–Land Tax	English	58%
UK, Cheshire–School Records	English	44%
Ukraine Kyiv 1840-1842	Russian	10%
Venezuela Mérida Registros Parroquiales	Spanish	1%

(*This percentage refers to a specific portion of a larger project.)

Current FamilySearch Partner Projects

Arkansas Marriages IV	English	(New)
Australia–Victoria Probate Records	English	31%
Belgique–Registres des Décès - Charleroi 1851-1900	Dutch, Flemish	(New)
Belgique–Registres Des Décès (Français)	French	21%*
België–Overlijdens Registers–In het Nederlands	Dutch, Flemish	74%*
België–Overlijdens Registers–Kalmthout 1851-1900	Dutch, Flemish	(New)
België–Overlijdens Registers–Mechelen 1851-1900	Dutch, Flemish	(New)
Bremer, Schifflisten	German	42%
Flanders Death Registration	French, Dutch, Flemish	76%*
Indiana Marriages, 1882 to Apr 1905	English	82%
Indiana Marriage Returns, 1882 to April 1905	English	31%
Nova Scotia, Antigonish Church Records	English	72%
Ohio Tax Records–2 of 4	English	71%
Vermont Militia Records	English	37%

(*These percentages refer to a specific portion of a larger project.)

Upcoming Indexing Projects

Look for the following projects coming in the near future (Note: These projects are currently being created. Dates when indexing is scheduled to begin will vary.)

• Arkansas Marriages VI
• Arkansas Marriages VII
• Australia, Bounty Immigrants, 1824-1842
• Australia, Greenwich, Genealogical Records
• Austria, Vienna Population Cards
• Brazil, Pernambuco Civil Register 1900-1920
• Brazil, Rio de Janeiro Marriages 1900-10
• Canada, British Columbia Birth 1854-1903
• Canada, British Columbia Marriages
• Chicago Archdiocese Cemetery Records 1 (1864-1989)
• Czech, Litomerice Church Records - Part 1 1552-1905
• Freedmen Marriages
• Germany, Baden Church Books 1810-1869
• Germany, Mecklenburg 1890 Census
• Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates 1
• Indiana, Allen County Marriages 1811-1959
• Jamaica, Trelawny Births
• Peru, Lima Civil Register Index 1910-1930

 
Recently Completed Projects

(Note: Recently completed projects have been removed from the available online indexing batches and will now go through a final completion check process in preparation for future publication.)

• Argentina 1869 Census–Cordoba y San Luis
• Arkansas Marriages III
• Michigan–1920 US Federal Census
• Nayarit–Censo de Mexico de 1930
• New Brunswick 1871 Census
• New Hampshire–1920 US Federal Census
• New Jersey–1920 US Federal Census
• Nova Scotia–1871 Census
• Ontario–1861 Census
• Rhode Island 1915 State Census
• UK – Cheshire Parish Registers part 1

 
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