Lately I have gotten several e-mails and a few telephone calls asking how I handle census records and some ancillary questions. Here were my answers. If you have read other blog entries you will know that I assign and file every Source with a sequential number and place them in a legal folder, in sequence. This writing will address what happens then.
From the start I intended to write a Family History using Register Reports. Not only are Census reports often difficult to read and almost always require a map or cheat sheet so that you know what the various column are about. Still a copy of the census is numbered and placed into its folder sequentially. All I have on an individual also goes into his or her Notes. I generally put all Note paragraphs into a timeline sequentially so that if one has many paragraphs, you can watch the person grow and observe his movement and action.
Now some questions and answers.
Does all that information go into one main “Note” file in your reunion database, or do you create a separate note field for each census extract and notes?
Yes, all census data for an important person is placed in the Note field. The Compiler decides who is important and certainly a grandfather qualifies.
Do you put all the overlapping information about subsequent generations in each generation? So, for example, if a person lives to be 87 and is enumerated in 1860 and 1870, do you re-copy all your notes into his son’s record and have it both places?
Generally, NO, but if I decide it might help the son’s life explanation, I might copy it or part of it into the latter.
While that’s useful while you pull up one individual record, if you pull up a family history report that has several generations, aren’t you going to have the same extracts repeating?
Very seldom and usually only in shortened form.
Does any of that go in the note field for the family, or only for the individual?
Usually only for the individual but sometimes a shortened version might be placed in a family or child’s record. Remember, all is for a book so just a few pages away is the original writing.
Next …….. is an example from one of my Notes on an individual covering several issues. The Bxxx is the Source sequential number:
See B496 for his probate records, which lists his children and grandchildren who are heirs. Includes Declaration of heirs; Petition to sell land; Land transaction with advertisement; and Bill for Specific Performance by Hezikiah Hargrave. Included are Martha Mason Bourland and Harvey Rice Bourland as her son.
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1820 Census for Waconteby, White County, Illinois See B711
Males
00-09 2 William, Cyrus
10-15 1 Thomas
26-44 1 Isaac is 38 yrs
Females
00-09 4 Martha, Sarah, Narcissa, Harriett
26-44 1 Sarah “Sally” Rice Mason is 32 yrs
Next door is Allen More (Moore) married to Sally’s half sister Martha “Patsey” Rice Moore.
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1830 Census for Equality, Gallatin County, Illinois B715
Males
00-04 1 Cyrus
05-09 1 ??
10-14 1 William
20-29 2 Thomas, Unknown
40-49 1 Isaac is 48 yrs
Females
10-14 4 Harriett
15-19 1 Sarah Louise, Narcissa
40-49 1 Sarah “Sally” T. Rice Mason is 42 yrs
Two houses away is Henry Bowling (Bourland) who married daughter Martha in 1829. Michael Roark is two houses on the other side; Michael’s son William will marry Henry Bourland’s first cousin once removed, Mahulda Bourland.
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1840 Census for Gallatin County, IL : Isaac Mason has not been positively located in the 1840 Census. However, the Census does have the following entry:
Page 4 Line 30 *****Isa** with 101000110000010001
There is a 50-59 year old male, which could be the 58 year old Isaac. There is a 20-29 year old female, which can not be Sarah as she is 52. It is probably not Lydia Dutton as she is 28 years but married to Joseph Postlewait and he dies in 1843. There are some children who can not be accounted for, but early deaths and other events as has been seen moved children around considerably. See B783.
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1850 Saline Co Ill Census, Curran District: (See B699)
17 52 52 Isaac Mason 67 M Tenn
18 52 52 Lydia Mason 38 F Pa some have mistaken her for a daughter, but she was his wife. B753
19 52 52 Franklin Bolin 18 M IL Bolin/Bourland are children of Martha “Patsy” Mason, Isaac’s dau.
20 52 52 Samuel Bolin 17 M IL
21 52 52 Wm. Alexis Bays 16 M IL These children were daughter Sarah Louise’s by David Bays.
22 52 52 Joseph S. Bays 15 M IL
23 52 52 Sarah Bays 12 F IL
24 52 52 Tarleton Bolin 14 M IL
25 52 52 Harvey Bolin 10 M IL Harvey Rice Bourland
26 52 52 Joseph Postlewait 13 M IL Lydia’s child by Joseph Postlewait whom she first married.
In this 1850 Census there are several related families living contiguously:
Household #50 has Jonathan B. Moore, son of Allen Floyd Moore who married Sally T. Rice’s half-sister, Martha Rice. Harriett Bays is in this home;
Household #51 is Benjamin Magnes Carnahan son of James Carnahan/Mary Slaton where Mary married (2) David Bays, Jr (after (1) Sarah Louise Mason, daughter of Isaac Mason, died) and in addition Benjamin’s sister Elizabeth married Ebenezer Franklin Bourland and further Benjamin’s sister Phoebe married Rev Ebenezer R. Moore whose mother was Martha Rice Moore and Ebenezer administered Isaac Mason’s probate and further Benjamin’s sister Lucinda married Jonathan B. Moore, son of Martha Rice Moore;
Household #52 is Isaac Mason, Jr.;
Household #53 is William M. Mason, son of Isaac. Harriett Bourland and Frederick, Thomas and Columbus Maltby are in this home;
Household #54 is John Jackson Slaton, brother to Mary who married (2) David Bays, and he himself is married to Hannah Roark, daughter of Michael Roark and further his sister Rachel Slaton married William G. Bourland;
Household #55 is Thomas Delaney Carnahan, son of James Carnahan/Mary Slaton, the latter who married (2) David Bays;
Household #56 is Michael Roark, father to Hannah before, and whose son William married Muhulda Bourland and whose daughter Nancy married Israel D. Sisk. Isaac D. Maltby is in this home.
Within Households 33 to 68 in addition to those named above, there are closely related families of Samuel Moore (son of Allen Moore); Hezikiah Strutton Sisk and his sons Albert and Benjamin Sisk families; Robert Pearce (son of Moses Pearce); Ebenezer Moore (son of Allen and Administrator of Isaac’s probate; Moses Pearce (who married Martha Rice, half-sister to Sally T. Rice); William and Rachel Bourland and their son Ebenezer; and William Roark, son of Michael Roark.
Tags: Family History, Genealogy, Genealogy Books, Genealogy Data
