Budding Genealogists: 2015

Friday, August 28, 2015

US Census Records

The 1900 US Federal Census was a big improvement with regards to family information as it provided a number of new bits of information on one's ancestral family. A census take would ask the following questions as listed by CensusFinder.com.

Name
Address
Relationship of each person to the head of the household
Color/Race
Sex
Date of Birth: Month and Year
Age at last birthday
Marital Status
Number of years in present marriage
Mother of how many children
Number of these children living
Place of birth
Place of birth of their Father
Place of birth of their Mother
Year immigrated to the U.S.
Number of years in the U.S.
Whether Naturalized or not
Occupation
Months not employed
Attended school (in months)
Can read
Can write
Can speak English
Owned or Rented
Owned free or mortgaged
Farm or house
Number of farm schedule

This additional census information makes it easier to locate one's ancestors. The combination of immigration and naturalization information helps to locate any citizenship papers.

If the number of years married exceeds the time they were in the U.S., you know that the marriage took place perhaps in the country of birth.

We are definitely fortunate to have multiple locations to view these census records online. They are available from:

FamilySearch.org (free)
CensusFinder.com (free)
Ancestry.com (subscription)
FindMyPast.com (subscription)

Finding one's family in the U.S. 1900 Census can provide a gold mind of ancestral information!

Comments Are Always Welcome!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Beginning Research To Extend Family Lines

Starting with the above chart we first turn to the Scotland Census records as often parents are living with their children as a family. As stated in the previous blog, we are only working with transcriptions provided through Ancestry.com and FindMyPast.com as the originals are only available on ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk which is a paid site unless you wish to locate them on microfilm at a local Family History Center.

The 1841 England Census doesn't state where an individual was born, however, all the censuses from that point on do and so with Janet having died the latest, we should be able to locate her place of birth in both the 1851 and 1861 England Censuses.

It's valuable to establish and confirm what we have to begin the research, here is the 1841 Scotland Census for this family:

(1)

There are two children missing from this listing, William and Jessie. William is old enough to either be married or working as a servant, while Jessie is too young for either of those situations and could be staying with friends and/or other family members. The listing shows who was in the home on one specific night.

The 1851 Scotland Census provides additional family information:

(2)

At this time, Janet is a Widow as her husband died in 1849. She is here with 3 of her 5 children. James and Elizabeth are not with her and most likely married. Unfortunately she is listed as a "Pauper St. Cuthberts" which happened often when a spouse has passed away and circumstances were not the best for those left behind. Note that her daughter Jessie is a 'house servant' and her other son, Charles, is an 'errand boy' while her older son William is a 'day labourer'.

At this point, we know that Janet is stated as passing away in 1867 so she should be in the 1861 Scotland Census, we did locate her living with one son, James who is a labourer. It was thought he might have been married as he was not living with his mother in the 1851 Census so most likely he was away working.

(3)

Janet dies in 1867, unfortunately as a pauper, but here she is with her son James.

In the next blog, we'll take a look at the US Census records to show the differences between countries.

(1)Ancestry.com. 1841 Scotland Census [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Parish Edinburgh St. Cuthberts; ED: 24A; Page 6; Line: 1310, Year 1841. <http://goo.gl/Z9FMPj>.

(2)FindMyPast.com 1851 Scotland Census. Reels 1-27. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland. Parish: Edinburgh St. Cuthberts; ED: 29A; Page 21' Line 11; Roll: CSSCT1851_183; Year: 1851,<http://search.findmypast.com/record?id=gbc%2f1851%2f0018799499>.

(3)FindMyPast.com 1861 Scotland Census [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Parish Edinburgh St. Cuthberts; ED: 15; Page: 11; Line: 19; Roll: CSSCT1861_124 <http://search.findmypast.com/record?id=gbc%2f1861%2f0024206633>.

Comments Are Always Welcome!