Personal Life Media

Transcript

Census Records

Remember the old childhood story of Hansel and Gretel and how they left a bread crumb trail to try to find their way back out of the forest?  Well, the U.S. government created a sort of bread crumb trail for your ancestors as well – it’s called the Federal Census. You can follow that census trail from 1930 possibly all the way back to 1790. 

The most current census available for searching is the 1930 census.  That’s because there is a rule in place meant to protect the privacy of citizens.  Since 72 years is considered an average life expectancy, the census can only be released after that amount of time has passed since the census was taken. The 1930 census was released to the public in 2002 and will remain the most current available census until April of 2012 when the 1940 census will become public. 

But the 1930 census is great because chances are you’ll be able to find either your parents or grandparents in it. That gives you the starting place for following your census bread crumb trail back in time.

You can find the complete 1930 census index and scanned images of the original documents at Ancestry.com.  It’s part of the U.S. Records Subscription. 

The 1930 census is also available through the National Archives on microfilm at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC as well as one of 13 regional archives. I will have a link to their webpage that walks you through the process of locating the microfilm roll that you need along with links to the 13 regional archives. 

It’s very likely that you don’t live in close proximity to one of the regional archives. Otherwise you would be much more inclined to want to research the 1930 census from the comfort of your own home and be able to view and print the original records. 

I use the Ancestry 1930 census and it’s a breeze to work with. The time you will save using the online subscription should more than justify the expense.  As I’ve said before, you’ll be saving driving time, gas money, copying costs, and you won’t be restricted to very limited hours.  But the number one reason I search the census online is that it’s ten times faster than locating and scrolling through rolls and rolls of microfilm. 

So let’s say you have your Ancestry subscription. Sign in and go to the homepage and scroll down until you see Browse our Collections. There you’ll find the U.S. Census collection and click on 1930. Or you check your Quick links box and select U.S. Census. The home page will change depending on how you’ve used Ancestry to this point. Finally you can click the SEARCH tab and select the Historical Records Search tab. Then click advanced search. If you use this method, you’ll have to specify that you want to search just the census and not other types of records.

Now you find yourself on the 1930 census search page. Go to your family tree and find the youngest person you have that was alive in 1930. Is that one of your parents or grandparents?

You might be wondering why I’m not just filling in all the search fields. The key to genealogy search is to enter just enough to find who you’re looking for. Every piece of information you enter must be found in the record in order for it to be returned to you as a search result. And of course some things may not have been included. Remember that even census takers occasionally made mistakes.  So while I may know his father’s name, they may have misspelled it, or he may have been living with an uncle. It’s just better to start with the minimum and add the best facts you have until you find the person.

Date of birth is a great way to hone in on the right person, but again, it’s very likely his age may not be totally accurate if someone else in the household gave the information. Or you might not be sure of the exact year. feel free to use the plus or minus years field to give yourself some leeway.

Finally, the more common the name, chances are the more specific info you’ll have to provide in order to keep the results you get to a reasonable amount. The more unique the name, the less you need because there will be much fewer matches to the name.

So we have the first and last name, state of residence, and birth year. Just click the orange search button at the bottom of the search box.

Now we get back a lot of results, and if none of them stand out as the right person. Click on "Refine Your Search" at the top of the list and make some adjustments.  Be sure and click on "Show Advanced Search Options".

You have two options here: on the left you can click the link that says View Record. On the far right you can click to the view the image. Let’s go straight to view the image and see what the census looks like. 

Just click the magnifying glass icon. It may take a few moments to load. There you have the original hand-written census record in front of you. You’ll notice that when you hover over it, your mouse pointer looks like a hand. This means you can just click and grab the page to move it around.

You can click the magnifying glass to enlarge it so it’s easier to read. As you can see there’s a ton of great information!

In the very first column, many census takers made note of the street they were on.  Remember: the census takers, also known as Enumerators, were literally walking door to door and talking to a family member. They were most likely to speak with the mother or wife who was home during the day and asked the questions and wrote down the answers. We have to bear in mind that the data is as good as the memory (or dare I say honesty) of the person being interviewed as well as the accuracy and handwriting skills of the enumerator.

Let’s take a moment to meet the enumerator. Scroll back up to the top of the page on the right hand side.  Here you will see that the enumerator has written in his name and the date he completed the page. That’s an important date because it means that the ages given are as of that month in 1930. 

We can see in that first box the street they lived on. By looking again at the top of the page you’ll find the city, county, and state as well.

The next column gives you the actual house number. Now you have their street address and could look up the exact house on a map. Pretty cool!

The next column is where the enumerator keeps track of the number of houses he’s visited. 

Then we get to the main event" the names of the folks living in our ancestor’s household. 

The next column indicates if they owns the house or rent, showing the value of the house beside it.

The next column is kind of fun. 1930 was the first census where the government asked the question “Do you own a radio?” The government was beginning to realize that citizens could be reached quickly on a mass scale.

The next column asked if they lived on a farm. The government wanted to keep an eye on the migration of farmers to the cities.

The columns move right along after that. We have the person’s sex, race, age (which you can use to calculate an approximate birth year), marital status, and the age they were when they first married. You can also use that age to calculate the approximate year they were married.  Then they were asked:

• If they had attended school or college any time since Sept 1929
• Whether they were able to read and write
• Their place of birth
• Their parents' place of birth
• Their native language (this will probably only be filled in if it’s other than English)

Then the next column is terrific if your relatives were immigrants to America. They are asked what year them immigrated, whether they were naturalized citizens, and if they could speak English. That year of immigration will be invaluable in finding passenger list records later on. 

Next come questions about their occupation. When I searched my great grandfather he stated that he’s a train conductor with a steam railroad, so there’s a possibility of records there. The next column asks whether they actually worked the day before or whatever the last regular working day was, trying to determine if they were currently employed or not.

Then finally they are asked about military service. This gives us a great lead on whether to be looking for military records. 

Remember that this family was not an island. They lived on a street, in a neighborhood, and they probably knew everyone listed on the pages on either side of their page. For all we know there are possible relatives living near by, maybe a future spouse of one of the daughters. So take some time and look through the neighbors. You’d be amazed how many times another ancestor will be staring you right in the face that you overlooked the first time through.

Not only can you find relatives and future relatives, you have another clue here to pursue.  Remember what Charles' occupation was? He worked for the railroad. Chances are some of his co-workers are in the neighborhood too. At quick glance I spot at least five who do.

Right there you now know more relationships even beyond family. You’ll want to make note of these names for when you delve into railroad records later on. 

As you can see, there’s a LOT to the census. You can take it at face value or you can interpret and analyze what you see to reach additional conclusions or theories. To me, that’s one of the really fun things about doing family history research.

Now you have a good feel for the kind of information you can find in the census, and yet we’re just getting started. Next week we’re going to follow the trail further back in time. This week is a great time to start a free trial subscription and try to locate a 1930 census record for someone in your family. Remember: you can always check with your local library or Family History Center for free access to Ancestry.

Interview: Bill Maury

The census is such an important tool for the family historian. It’s worth learning the history of it – when and why it was started and how it’s evolved over the years.

In March of 2008 the U.S. Census Bureau launched a brand new website within the existing U.S. Census Bureau website that gives you the back story on the census, which you can find at www.census.gov/history

Since the launch they have added a lot of fascinating information and in this interview with Bill Maury, Chief of History Staff, we’re going to learn more about the website, the kind of information we can find there, and how it can help us learn more about our ancestors.  

Bill and his team have made a few additions to the site since we recorded that interview. Of primary interest to us is their new "Tips for Genealogist" section. It provides some helpful hints for those just getting started in genealogy as well as for those who require census data for personal and business reasons.

They have added lots of pictures and maps and have updated their "Through the Decades" section to make it easier to search. They have also added a census questionnaire and an index of all the questions that were asked.

The Census Bureau is in the process of adding links to several repositories that are free to the general public. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on their website you can contact them directly through their email address listed on the site under the "Contact Us" box on the right side of the front page.

Listen to Lisa's Other Podcasts

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Speaking of not missing a thing, you are not going to want to miss my other family history podcasts. First, there is The Genealogy Gems Podcast which you can find at  www.GenealogyGems.TV. It’s published twice a month and features more advanced research strategies. 

I also host The Family Tree Magazine Podcast for America’s #1 genealogy magazine. It’s a monthly half-hour show that is packed with tips from upcoming articles and the best tips from past issues of the magazine. We also highlight the best libraries and websites for family history research. It’s a lot of fun so I hope you’ll join me.