Genealogy 101+: Using the 1940 Census

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Genealogy 101+ series starts at this link.

Long before biblical times, humans kept records of people's names.  These early "genealogies" bring to mind the 'begats' in "Matthew" in the New Testament and the treasured entries of births, marriages and deaths found in family bibles owned by my ancestors.  Whether they were for lineage purposes, for government use, or kept for other reasons, records of who lived where and when have served as valuable resources throughout history and continue to be invaluable for genealogists today. 

The United States census records are among my favorite sources of information for family history research.  The U.S. Federal Census began in 1790 and, for the first time, in the 1850 census, each free person's name was listed and his or her age as of June 1st of that year was recorded.  With the release of the most recently available census information allowed by law, the 1940 census, researchers now have a treasure trove of information available to them.

Initially, at the time the 1940 census was released, the data was only searchable if you knew the city your ancestor lived in and area or street they lived on.  The data is now available to search by a person's name at this link (free for a limited time).  This access will make it much, much easier for the novice genealogist to have success in locating the records. 

Questions in the 1940 census included those you would expect:  name, age, gender, and race, education, and place of birth.  But the 1940 census also asks many new questions.  The following details about the 1940 census are from the National Archives website. 



1940 Blank Census Page

The instructions ask the enumerator to enter an [a circled x] after the name of the person furnishing the information about the family; whether the person worked for the CCC, WPA, or NYA the week of March 24-30, 1940; and income for the 12 months ending December 31, 1939. (The 1940 also has a supplemental schedule for two names on each page. The supplemental schedule asks the place of birth of the person's father and mother; the person's usual occupation, not just what they were doing the week of March 24-30, 1940; and for all women who are or have been married, has this woman been married more than once and age at first marriage.)
 
The complete list of the questions follows:

Location:

• Street, avenue, road, etc.
• House number (in cities and towns).

Household Data:

• Number of household in order of visitation.
• Home owned (O) or rented (R).
• Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented.
• Does this household live on a farm? (Yes or No).

Name:

• Name of each person whose usual place of residence on April 1, 1940, was in this household. Be sure to include:
  • Persons temporarily absent from household. Write "Ab" after names of such persons.
  • Children under 1 year of age. Write "Infant" if child has not been given a first name.
  • Enter X after name of person furnishing information.

Relation:

• Relationship of this person to the head of the household, as wife, daughter, father, mother-in-law, grandson, lodger, lodger's wife, servant, hired hand, etc...

Personal Description:

• Sex - Male (M), Female (F).
• Color or race.
• Age at last birthday.
• Marital status - Single (S), Married (M), Widowed (Wd), Divorced (D).

Education:

• Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940? (Yes or No)
• Highest grade of school completed.

Place of Birth:

• If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession. If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937. Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland.

Citizenship:

• Citizenship of the foreign born.

Residence, April 1, 1935:
IN WHAT PLACE DID THIS PERSON LIVE ON April 1, 1935? For a person who, on April 1, 1935, was living in the same house as at present, enter in Col. 17 "Same house," and for one living in a different house but in the same city or town, enter "Same place," leaving Cols. 18, 19, and 20 blank, in both instances. For a person who lived in a different place, enter city or town, county, and State, as directed in the Instructions. (Enter actual place of residence, which may differ from mail address.)

• City, town, or village having 2,500 or more inhabitants. Enter "R" for all other places.
• County.
• State (or Territory or foreign country).
• On a farm? (Yes or No).

Persons 14 Years Old and Over - Employment Status:

• Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Gov't. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No).
• If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No).

If neither at work nor assigned to public emergency work. ("No" in Cols. 21 and 22).

• Was this person SEEKING WORK? (Yes or No).
• If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No).
  
  For persons answering "No" to question 21, 22, 23 and 24.
• Indicate whether engaged in home housework (H), in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (Ot).
  
  If at private or nonemergency Govt. work. "Yes" in col. 21.
• Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940.If seeking work or assigned to public emergency work. ("Yes" in Col. 22 or 23).
• Duration of unemployment up to March 30, 1940 - in weeks.

Occupation, Industry and Class of Worker:
For a person at work, assigned to public emergency work, or with a job ("Yes" in Col. 21, 22, or 24), enter present occupation, industry, and class of worker. For a person seeking work ("Yes" in Col. 23): a) if he has previous work experience, enter last occupation, industry, and class of worker; or b) if he does not have previous work experience, enter "New worker" in Col. 28, and leave Cols. 29 and 30 blank.

• Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work, as frame spinner, salesman, laborer, rivet heater, music teacher.
• Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, retail grocery, farm, shipyard, public school.
• Class of Worker.
• Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks).

Income in 1939 (12 months ended December 31, 1939):

• Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions).
• Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary? (Yes or No).
• Number of Farm Schedule.

Supplementary Questions 35-50:

For persons enumerated on lines 14 and 29 [about a 5% sample of the population]

• Name.

For Persons of All Ages:
Place of Birth of Father and Mother
If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession. If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937. Distinguish: Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State from Northern Ireland.

• Father.
• Mother.

Mother Tongue (or Native Language):

• Language spoken in home in earliest childhood.

Veterans:
Is this person a veteran of the United States military forces; or the wife, widow, or under-18-year-old child of a veteran?

• If so, enter "Yes."
• If child, is veteran-father dead? (Yes or No)
• War or military service.

Social Security:

• Does this person have a Federal Social Security Number? (Yes or No)
• Were deductions for Federal Old-Age Insurance or Railroad Retirement made from this person's wages or salary in 1939? (Yes or No)
• If so, were deductions made from (1) all, (2) one-half or more, (3) part, but less than half, of wages or salary?

Usual Occupation, Industry, and Class of Worker:
Enter that occupation which the person regards as his usual occupation and at which he is physically able to work. If the person is unable to determine this, enter that occupation at which he has worked longest during the past 10 years and at which he is physically able to work. Enter also usual industry and usual class of worker. For a person without previous work experience, enter "None" in column 45 and leave columns 46 and 47 blank.

• Usual occupation.
• Usual industry.
• Usual class of worker.

For all women who are or have been married:

• Has this woman been married more than once? (Yes or No)
• Age at first marriage.
• Number of children ever born (do not include stillbirths).

Having this extensive and detailed information provides more than a glimpse of your ancestor's life.  It's equivalent to many hours of personal interviews!  It will give you so many clues to help you in your search for earlier information about your family.   

For those who are searching for their family history and have followed the suggestions listed in my prior postings, the 1940 census (and then sequential earlier censuses) is clearly the place to go next for more information about who their ancestors were.  Don't forget to observe clues on the pages about who lived with or near them.

For help in understanding census entries, read more at the linked websites or consult with the Brown County Library Family History Center, the UWGB Area History Research Center, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library, or numerous books and websites on the topic. 

Old Echoes From a Family Reunion by Jane Carpenter

Friday, April 27, 2012

Around the festive board, old faces missed

Replace themselves with new ones: likeness-kissed—

The sweetness of a certain curve of cheek;

The tone of voice when one is heard to speak;

The grave regard of granite-colored eyes

Repeat the portraits on the wall;

Surprise the senses with a spurt of memory

That answers every questing enquiry,

As potent as the scent of a pressed rose!

How does a child reflect an aunt’s repose,

Who never knew her mentor, long at rest,

But read her yellowed diary, frightened lest

The pages crumble in her smooth young hand?

A boy who knew not his ancestral land

Still bears the stamp of mountains and fjords;

The music’s in his bones—the primal chords.

All that we have become, we owe the old

Who went before—their warmth would pierce the cold

Of this year’s end and gray December day,

Where past has more than present words to say.

Kewaunee County History

Monday, April 2, 2012

A shout out to author and historian Ginnie Johnson who recently posted a blog about the 160th anniversary of Kewaunee County and my ancestors De Wayne Stebbins, Jane Lovel, and George Wing.  Ginnie is an incredible wealth of knowledge about all things Kewaunee County.  Click on this link to check out her blog!

Genealogy 101+: Interview Your Elders

Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Genealogy 101+ series starts at this link. 

Having defined your genealogy question and brainstormed what you already know, it's time to take the next step in research.  Ask your elders. 

If you are fortunate to have elderly relatives, don't miss an opportunity to learn about your family's history from them.  There are good ways and bad ways to approach this.  I've done both.  Learn from my experiences.

To avoid what you should not do, here are 10 TO DO when you interview an elderly relative.

1)  Ask if they are interested and willing to help you with your genealogy research.  Why?  Some parents and elders don't want to talk about their family history.  Some are very eager to do so.  You'll know how they feel if you simply ask.  And, if they agree to be interviewed, respect if they choose not to answer a question during the interview.  Don't push.

2)  Schedule a convenient time when preferably more than one elder can meet with you.  It's also a good idea to have someone take notes for you so you can conduct a comfortable, uninterrupted conversation.  The second elder person may also be able to confirm or refute what you are being told.

3)  Suggest that they bring any old photographs or documents they have to the interview.  It's amazing how a photo can help people recall information.  Bring old photos you have that you need identified.

4)  Make the session of a reasonable duration.  Consider the health and well-being of the elder.  For some an hour will just get them warmed up; for others, 15 minutes might be taxing.  Don't over do it.  Schedule a second session if they are willing rather than a marathon single interview.

5)  Start by introducing your purpose for studying your family history.  Tell them your genealogy question.  Review your brainstormed list of facts and ask them to affirm them or clarify what you might have wrong.  This is a good way to get "warmed up."

6)  Recording--video and voice--are optimal and will be treasured years from now, but doing so could inhibit your elderly subjects.  Ask if they are comfortable with this BEFORE you set up a recording device.

7)  Come with a list of the questions you want to ask related to your research objective.  To get inspired, search websites for "family history interview questions."  While you want your questions answered, what you should really aim to achieve is LISTENING to what they have to tell you.  Allow them to share other things they want to say.  Sometimes that turns out to be as interesting or more interesting than what you think you want to ask about. 

8)  Be prepared to record information during the interview on two basic genealogy tools:

*First is the family group sheet.   This single page lists one family--a husband and wife and their children.  Dates of birth, marriage, and death for all family members can ultimately be included when they become known.  Having plenty of copies of this form can give you structure to keep information straight when taking notes. 
   
*The second is the family tree diagram.  It can be a simple T starting with you and branching off to include your parents, then their parents, and so on.  This will help you keep the relationships straight.  Ultimately you may use any fancy tree.  A simple one works beautifully to get started. 

9)  Ask if your relative knows if anyone in the family has compiled any family history already.  Written family histories are a fabulous place to start and many, many families have already had someone do some genealogy work. 

10)  Thank your relative.  Doing family history research is very rewarding and satisfying and they have given you a precious gift of their time and knowledge.

If you are not fortunate enough to have a parent, aunt or uncle, or grandparent still living, all is not lost.  This same interview process could apply.  Did your deceased elders have good friends or longtime neighbors who are still living or friends who attended the same church for a long period of time?  These are all great alternatives to relatives.  Don't discount them as interview possibilities!

This interview process will certainly yield you several pieces of information that will set you on the way to solving your family history puzzle.

Go to the next blog in this series here.

Genealogy 101+: What Do You Know?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

This blog series is my effort to share my genealogy research experience with novice researchers who wish to study their family's history.  The series begins at this link.

If you read the first blog entry you learned that, in my experience, you will have the most success with your genealogy if you focus your interest to a single question when you begin.  What exactly do you want to know?  If your answer is that you want to make a great big family tree that includes all of your tens of thousands of ancestors, you're getting way ahead of yourself.  And, names and dates without knowing something about them is really pretty worthless.  Refocus!  Why are you studying your family's history?

As an example, I'll use a question that I wanted to know something about when I started.  Why does our family live in Wisconsin?  By this I mean, how did it come to pass that my ancestors moved here and stayed in this state rather than Missouri, Illinois, or Texas?

When I began my family history study about 25 years ago, the oldest known (known to me) ancestors had all lived in Wisconsin for as long as I knew and we still did.  Why did they live here?  Who came here first and why did they stay?

I was ready to begin my search.  Now I could start with myself and identify what I know.  This would hopefully give me some clues to answering the question.

Here's what I knew.

1) I would be focusing on my father's side of the family because I knew that my mother came to America in the 1950s and my other relatives were already living here then.
 
2) My earliest ancestors I knew about were my great-grandfathers.  One was a veterinarian who lived with my great-grandmother in Green Bay and he had a sister who lived in Fond du Lac.  It was believed he was Irish.  I remembered my great-grandmother and "Auntie".    

3)  The other great grandfather had lived in Wausaukee.  I knew he was Irish.

4) None of them were still living.
 
5) I had some old unidentified photos I found in a box in the basement that included pictures of these great-grandparents and some idea of the time period in which they lived.

Essentially, that is all I knew then.  But, I was fortunate because it was probably more than some people know about their family.

What could I do with this knowledge toward answering my genealogy question?  Using this information and the pictures, I could ask my relatives what they know about these ancestors.  I could start by asking my parents, aunts and uncles, and any other older relatives.  The trick to good success is in how you approach this next step. 

But before you do that, your "assignment" is to brainstorm what you already know to be true relative to your question.  Just write it all down.  You don't have to use any special forms or software programs to do this.

Next post I'll give you great tips to make the most of those interviews of your relatives to guarantee that you won't put them in a dazed, glassy-eyed stupor.  Go to the next post here.

Genealogy 101+: Get Started!

Friday, March 9, 2012

I love when people ask me genealogy questions or give me suggestions for articles for my Family Times blog.  This suggestion came from my daughter.  She wrote:  "I have friends who are interested in genealogy, but don't really know where to start, etc. You know what would be really cool? If you wrote an article on your blog to help people get started. What to look for, where to go, who to talk to. (tricks like always remembering to consider alternate spellings, etc) You could keep adding to it, like talking about your experience with the library in DC, Germany, etc..."  I think it's an excellent idea.  So I will begin tonight with Genealogy 101+.

A novice researcher can get help with genealogy in so many different places including, obviously, the internet and numerous great books on the topic.  These resources will tell you to start with yourself and then ask your parents and other relatives what they know about the family's history.  That's just so obvious.  Of course, you'll want to do that--and sooner rather than later because nobody is getting any younger!  But, make your search fun and purposeful.  I suggest you ask yourself first, what do you want to know and secondly, why do you want to know it.  I'll revisit how to effectively ask questions of all those relatives in a future segment.

The reason I believe it is important to narrow your focus to a question is because researching can become very, very time consuming.  If you don't focus you will find yourself, like I often did many years ago when I began, going from tidbit of information to tidbit of information, here and there, and, pretty soon, you will become lost in a sea of dates and details and confusion.  That's no fun; it's discouraging.

When you focus your interest on a particular question or a particular person you want to know more about, you will likely have more success, greater satisfaction in the process, and ultimately more fun.

A perfect example of what I'm talking about is the genealogy research process you will observe on the TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?"  This show features famous people who want to know something in particular about their family's history.  For instance, on tonight's show, Jerome Bettis asked, "Were my mother's ancestors slaves?"  The people on this show receive plenty of professional research help and you will notice that they focus on one subject or family line when they seek out the answer to the question.  You will want to do the same thing.  Define your interest.  What is your question?

Here are a few of the genealogy questions I have worked on over the course of my many years of family history research:       

1)  Why does my family live in Wisconsin?  In my research, I learned that my earliest ancestor to come to Wisconsin was a friend and personal secretary to the first territorial governor of Wisconsin, James Doty, and that he, George W. Elliot, brought his family here in 1839 to survey land for the capital.  We've lived here ever since!  This is an example of a simple question I focused my research on and successfully answered.

2)  Who were my earliest ancestors to come to America?  My g-g-g-grandfather George W. Elliot, when interviewed, said that his Elliot ancestors were descended from Jacob Elliot who came to America in 1630.  I still need documented proof of that.  I do have proof that my Benjamin ancestors arrived in 1632 in Governor Winthrop's colony.  This question is much more complex and perhaps can never be fully solved.

Periodically, when time permits, I focus on many other questions--one at a time. They are the puzzles yet to be pieced together that make studying my family's history so much fun!  Here are two questions that I have not yet begun to research.

3)  Was my great-grandfather in Germany a musician on a cruise ship?  What was that experience like during that time period?  This will require research in Germany that I have not yet undertaken.   

4)  How and when did my g-g-grandmother Elizabeth "Louisa" O'Brien Tracy die or disappear, leaving her young sons to grow up without her?  What impact did it have on the lives of her boys?  I already know much about this family and, when time permits, I will revisit this question.     

What is your question?

Click here for the next genealogy post.

Jane Nelson McDonald Lovell Redden

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Among my female ancestors was a feisty Scotch-Irish pioneer settler, my great-great-great-grandmother, Jane Nelson McDonald Lovell Redden. 

Jane Nelson was born in Ireland on October 31, 1810 to Andrew and Catherine Lennox Nelson.  She came to America in 1829.

In New York state, she gave birth to six of her eight children:  Catherine "Katie" (b. about 1832); John (b. 1837); Andrew "Andy" (b. 1838); Mary Jane "Molly" (b.1840); Margaret "Maggie" (b. 1843); and Michael, my great-great-grandfather (b. 1845).  (Information about one child is unknown.)  The family left New York and came west where Elizabeth "Lizzie", her youngest child, was born in Wisconsin, in 1847.

In 1850, Jane lived with her children in Racine.  Her first husband, Patrick McDonald, the father of all of her children, died sometime after 1847 and before July, 1850.  Between 1850 and 1855, Jane married John Lovell.  John, Jane and the children came to Wolf River, later named Algoma, in 1856.  The next year they acquired a dwelling on First Street originally called the Ahnapee House Hotel (near the southwest corner of First and Steel Streets).  It was the second or third framed building in the town.  It was later renamed the Lovell House Hotel.

This original plat map of Ahnapee was drawn by
my great-great-great-grandfather George W. Elliot.
G.W. Elliot surveyed much of the land surrounding Ahnapee.

In 1860, Jane was 49 and John was 38 but they fibbed about their ages on the census, reporting his age as 43 and hers as 42.  John entered the Civil War and returned to Ahnapee after nine months, discharged with disease in January, 1863.   He moved out to the 160 acre farm in north Ahnapee on the Door/Kewaunee County line that he had purchased in 1858.  John divorced Jane in 1870 and married Caroline Matzke.  (Caroline had seven children with John Lovell but divorced him in 1887 on the grounds of cruel treatment, drunkenness and desertion.)

Zero in on the S of Steel. The first building is Graf/Fax/hotel.  
One property south (left) of the building is Jane's hotel, 
called Union House.  
(1883 birdseye view of Algoma courtesy of Virginia Johnson) 

By 1870, Jane had changed her name back to Jane McDonald and called her hotel the Union House.

She was a feisty lady who ran a tight ship. According to Virginia Feld Johnson's book, An-An-api-sebe "Where is the river?": Wolf River and Ahnapee 1851-1897, Grandmother Jane was a devout member of the Church of England and was known to use her "Scotch-Irish" brogue to maintain order, especially when the sailors came to town in the winter to work in the woods and sought a boarding place at her hotel.

On August 18, 1880, 70 year-old Jane and a 37 year-old stone mason, brick layer and plasterer named Patrick Redden were married by a Baptist minister at Jane's home.  Patrick was Canadian born and a boarder at her hotel.  The Ahnapee Record newspaper on August 19 stated "Although the report that they were married was not credited at first, it is nevertheless true."  Many of the stores, schools and other buildings in Algoma were the mason work of Patrick Redden.  Patrick was the son of Irish parents, Daniel and Ellen Redden.  Jane and Patrick divorced in the 1890s.  

Jane attempted to sell the Union House in 1883 "at a low price for cash" according to the Record.  There were no takers.  In June of 1884, there was a fire in the upper story of the building and it was heavily damaged but not a total loss.  She still owned the hotel at the time of her death. 

At age 90, Jane Redden died at her home in Algoma on July 12, 1901.  Among the first settlers, she had lived in the city for half of her long life.  

Jane Redden was buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Algoma.  This morning I saw her headstone there for the first time. 

At rest in the Evergreen Cemetery in Algoma, WI
Jane Redden

De Wayne Stebbins and Ulysses S. Grant

Wednesday, January 25, 2012



De Wayne Stebbins    1835-1901

 Local author and historian Ginnie Johnson, who blogs at http://kewauneecountyhistory.blogspot.com/ , recently posted a story about Senator De Wayne Stebbins and the Hotel Stebbins in Algoma, Wisconsin.  Her post reminded me of an interesting event in the life of this colorful character in my family's past. 

Wisconsin State Senator Stebbins, the husband of my great-great-great aunt Frances Elliott Newell Stebbins and a candidate for governor of Wisconsin in 1900, was among the most well-known citizens of Algoma.  His life's experiences were numerous and his pursuits varied enough to be those of several men.  During the course of his "dash", he was a gold miner (unsuccessfully), a Civil War naval officer, a real estate dealer, a government harbor inspector, a newspaper publisher, a banker, a legislator and later state senator.  He was credited with naming the pioneer town after the Indian word for wolf or Ah-ne-pee (later Ahnapee and now Algoma). 

At the age of 16, he received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated from that institution, serving for a time in the navy.  At the opening days of the Civil War, after waiting for naval orders that did not arrive, he enlisted as a private in Company K, 21st Wisconsin Infantry.  When De Wayne reached Louisville, Kentucky, the order came to transfer him to the navy as an officer in Porter's western flotilla.  He served on the Clara Dolson, steamer Mound City, steam ship Carondelet of the Mississippi squadron, Portsmouth and was second in command under Farragut on the double-turreted monitor Kickapoo.  Among the notable events of his Civil War experience was the time he most likely saved the life of General Ulysses S. Grant.

On a dark and foggy night in April, 1863, the Mound City ran the gauntlet past the batteries at Vicksburg.  Proceeding on the river, they participated in several attacks.  After running the batteries, Stebbins helped to transfer General Grant's army across the river.  De Wayne Stebbins shared a personal account of that night and his experience with General Grant, who later became our 18th president Ulysses S. Grant.  The story of the siege of Vicksburg was written in a 5/26/1955 article in the Algoma "Record-Herald" newspaper.  It read:

 "In the dark and mist from the river, a lookout challenged two approaching figures.  Stebbins, the deck officer, ordered his men to prepare to fire on the boat in the belief that Confederate spies might be floating downstream in a canoe or on a log.  While Stebbins delayed his command to make certain he did not kill his own men, a voice came from the darkness:  'General Grant desires to see Admiral Porter.'  A moment later the Union hero stepped aboard, saved from the fate of General Stonewall Jackson, Confederate leader who was accidentally slain by his own men.  Had circumstances been reversed there is no telling how American history would have been altered, so vital were each of these men to success of his own cause."

Emerging from the thick river mist on that foggy night, De Wayne's direct orders to his men to prepare but hold their fire upon Grant's unidentified vessel is attributed to saving the general's life.

The stories of our ancestors--like those of De Wayne Stebbins--are the true life adventures that bring America's history to life.