Getting a Jump on the 1950 U.S. Census

Wait!  What's that?  We just got access to the 1940 census last year; I couldn't possibly be talking about the 1950 census already, could I?

Oh, yes, I can!  Remember the great finding aids that were available on the One-Step Website for the 1940 census before Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, and others created searchable indices?  Well, Joel Weintraub has announced the opening of the "One-Step 1950 Census Locational Tool Project."

"Project 1950" will prepare searchable Enumeration Distriction (ED) definitions and street indices in preparation for the opening of the 1950 census in April 2022.  It took about 125 volunteers to produce the tools for the 1940 census.

The work for the 1950 census will be in two phases.  Phase I will be the transcription of the ED definitions, and Phase II will create urban area street indices.  An explanation of the two phases and the work to be done is at http://www.stevemorse.org/census/project1950intro.html.  Joel said, "It may seem too early to be doing this, but it took us over seven years to produce the 1940 tools that were used by the National Archives, the New York Public Library, Ancestry.com, and millions of researchers."

Joel said they don't need "too many" volunteers, just enough dedicated ones.  If you are interested in helping, first read the information about the work to be done, then contact Joel at the e-mail address listed on the above page.

The 1950 census can't get here soon enough for me.  My mother was born in November 1940 so missed showing up, and my father's family moved around too much that year and were missed.

A Good and Bad Day for Genealogy

Saturday it was all genealogy, all day long.  First I drove to San Mateo to give a talk to the San Mateo County Genealogical Society:  "Following a Family's History for More than 100 Years through Newspaper Articles."  This was the first time I was giving the talk, and I always worry whether I've prepared enough, are they going to understand my points, are they going to enjoy it.  I was particularly concerned this time because I was taking a different tack with my approach on the talk.  I went a little long (what, me like to talk?), but other than that it went fine.  The attendees followed along quite enthusiastically and asked several interesting questions, giving me some new research ideas.

Then I prepared my lesson for the high school genealogy class I teach on Sunday.  That went smoothly, and I made copies of the lesson and handouts for everyone.  I'm all prepared for Sunday morning.

Then I had a little time for my own research, so I decided to try to find my father and his family in the 1940 census.  Boom!  Straight into a brick wall.  I really wanted to be able to show my dad himself as a four-year-old in the census, but it looks as though it just isn't going to happen.

In theory (theory being a wonderful thing), I should be able to find my dad, his two sisters, their father, and my grandmother together.  I did say in theory, right?  I have tried searching every way I can think of on both Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org, and they're just not there.  I've tried with names, without names, partial names, birth information, no birth information.  Can't find them.

Apparently the family moved a lot at that time.  My grandfather created a list of all the places he had lived during his life; there were three (!) for 1940, but no specific dates.  (He worked for the Civil Service, and they moved him around a lot.)  I've verified with my 87-year-old aunt that the locations my grandfather wrote are correct.  I used Steve Morse's "Unified 1940 Census ED Finder" (because my grandfather listed streets) and manually searched the enumeration districts.  And what did I find?  Zip.  Zilch.  Zero.  The big bagel.  My guess is that with all their moving around they simply were missed by the census takers in whichever city they were living in April.

So I decided to settle for finding my great-grandmother in 1940.  She was supposed to be living in the same house the family had owned for several decades.  I had the complete street address.  Piece of cake, right?

Nope.  I couldn't find her by searching, either.  I tried multiple approaches again, and nothing.  I went back to Steve's site, found the possible enumeration districts for her address, and went through them page by page.  And I found ... that her house address does not appear, not even on the "I missed them on the first go round, but got them again later" pages.

Maybe I should stick to doing genealogy for other people for a while.

Surprising Discovery in the New York Census

Meckler Family in 1915 New York Census

After my recent less-than-successful foray into the new New York censuses on Ancestry.com I decided to give it a rest for a few days.  Today I was ready to face the databases again, so I searched some more in the 1915, 1925, and 1940 censuses for family members.

The first ones I found were my mother's parents in 1940.  I knew my mother wouldn't be listed because she was born in November 1940, and the census was taken earlier in the year.  But my grandmother was pregnant with her at the time of the census, so she was kind of there.

I found my grandmother's parents in 1915 in Manhattan, and my great-great-grandfather (my great-grandfather's father) was living with them.  He had immigrated to the U.S. just one year earlier, in 1914.  He died in January 1925, so I know I won't find him in that census.  My great-grandparents did not yet have any children in the household in 1915; during that census, my great-grandmother was pregnant with my grandmother's oldest brother, who would be born in December.

I also found my grandmother's other grandparents in 1915, again in Manhattan (they lived on Madison Avenue).  Of their seven children, two were still living at home.  In the 1925 census, I found the youngest child married and with a family of his own.

I found my grandfather with his family in 1925 in Brooklyn.  Five of the six children were in the household; the oldest daughter was already married and had children (haven't found her yet).  But the really interesting find was for my grandfather's family in 1915.

It took me a while to find the family.  The name was Meckler, but no matter what wildcards I tried in my search they did not show up.  So I tried using first names only, and voila!  There was the "Macklin" family.  When I looked at the page, I agreed that's what it looked like.  I don't know if it was a communication problem or whether my great-grandfather was trying out a different version of the name.  Family members at various times used Mekler, Mackler, and even Miller.

I was always told that my great-grandmother had had seven children, four born in Europe and three here.  My grandfather was the first child born in the new country.  I was told that little Rubin had died as a young child before the family had immigrated.  But what did I find in 1915?

The family consisted of Morris, Minnie, Sarah, Sam, and Harry, all born in Russia, and Abie (my grandfather) and Rubie, born in the U.S.

What?!  Rubin was born here?

See, I had figured I would never find any records for Rubin.  The part of Russia these family members were from (which is now in Belarus) saw almost all of its Jewish records destroyed during World War II.  There's practically nothing left.  I thought the fact that I even knew Rubin had existed put me ahead of the game.

But I always tell people to try to get every record you can, because you never know what you will find.  And as most of my friends can tell you, I am not one of those "do as I say, not as I do" people.  I definitely follow my own advice in this.  And I'm so glad I did this time in particular.

When I found Rubin with the family in 1915, I figured the gist of the story was still true, and he probably did die very young.  So I went to Steve Morse's Web site and used his New York City death index search.  Little Rubin died on June 11, 1915, just ten days after the census was taken.  He was one year old.

Of course I'm going to order a copy of the death certificate.  I have no idea where Rubin is buried, and that should be on the certificate.  I've searched in all the cemetery databases listed on the Museum of Family History Web site, on JOWBR, and on FindAGrave with no success.  Now that I've found him, I want to make sure Rubin is remembered.

Oh, remember the two pregnancies I mentioned earlier?  In the 1915 census, my great-grandmother Minnie was pregnant with her next child, Florence, who would be born in December of that year.

My First Find in the 1940 Census

Like many people, I was waiting anxiously Monday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time (which was 6:00 a.m. for me in California) to make my first search in the 1940 census.  I had prepared ahead of time -- I had looked for my person in a 1940 San Francisco city directory and then used Steve Morse's One-Step site to determine the enumeration district ahead of time.  And like many, many people, I was disappointed when images would not load.  After seeing lots of reports about how the system was overloaded or crashed, I decided to wait yet another day and see if the glitches were worked out quickly.

My patience was rewarded tonight.  I found the person I was looking for (the name on the clip above is actually Elmira, not Elmer; it's a good thing I knew what it should be) in exactly the place she was supposed to be, and it was only the fourth page in the E.D.

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to look up any more addresses yet!  But from what I gather, Steve Morse's site did not crash as he had anticipated, so soon I hope to be merrily collecting lots of census pages and learning more about family members.  I hope everyone else has had at least one success -- tell me what you have found!

Are you ready for the 1940 census?

Can you feel the excitement in the air?  It's been ten years since genealogists have had a new U.S. census to play with.  On April 2, 2012, less than three months from now, the 1940 census will be released to the public, and everyone is rarin' to go.  It will already be digital, so there won't be a delay while everything is being scanned, and it will be available on several genealogy sites.

But there's a catch.  The 1940 census has absolutely no index.  At least with 1930 some of the states had been indexed during WPA.  This time we all start from scratch.  How will we find the people we're looking for?

Enter Steve Morse and Joel Weintraub.  They have been working for several years on finding aids for the 1940 census, and over the past couple of years have been speaking to many genealogical societies about the tools that are available on the Steve Morse One-Step Website.

In the San Francisco Bay area, we're fortunate to have Steve Morse as a resident.  He is also a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society (SFBAJGS).  And he was generous enough to allow us to schedule him to speak about the 1940 census at all three of our meeting locations.  First up is Rhoda Goldman Plaza in San Francisco, on January 22.  The doors will open at 1:00 p.m., and the talk will begin at 1:30.  This is a new location and time for our San Francisco meetings.  One of the rules of the new venue is that no outside food or drink may be brought in.

On February 12 Steve will give his 1940 census talk at the Oakland Family History Center.  The doors will open at 12:30 p.m., and the talk will begin at 1:00.   We also get a bonus in Oakland.  Steve will be premiering a new talk about the ketubah, the Jewish marriage contract.

And on February 13, Steve will be in Los Altos Hills at Congregation Beth Am.  There the doors open at 7:00 p.m., and the talk begins at 7:30.

For more details about the SFBAJGS meetings, visit our calendar at http://www.jewishgen.org/sfbajgs/calendar.html.  To see where else Steve Morse will be speaking, look at his schedule (at the bottom of the page).  Unsurprisingly, most of his 2012 talks so far are on the 1940 census.