By Mary Alice Dell - Genealogical Society of Kendall County
To paraphrase Luckenbach’s favorite saying,
“everybody is somebody” in the US Federal Census. Well, at least this is
true for the censuses taken from 1850 through 1990.
In 2000, random
families were given full census forms to complete, and others given only a
summary report form. Everybody was not somebody by name in 2000. It is
unlikely the 2010 is going to be any more personal, or of any more value
to future genealogists.
For family historians, past census records
are the single most useful kind of record in building family lines,
locating ancestors, and learning details about them.
It is rare
that a person cannot trace his ancestors in the census from 1930 back to
when they first came to this country - or to 1850. Many times one can
trace them back to the first US census taken in 1790.
The
US government will not release the census for public inspection until 72
years have passed from when it was taken, so we will not get to peruse the
1940 census until 2012. If you are among the elders in the community, you
may find yourself in the 1930 census. A lot of us will find our
grandparents or great-grandparents there. Always start with the latest
available census and move back in time.
Each year’s census has
information that will tell you about the life of that ancestor at that
time. And better yet, the census will give you clues as to where and when
to look for more information.
Let’s start with the 1930 census of
my grandfather Hart Newsome in Scioto County Ohio. This census gives his
age as 69 and place of the birth as Kentucky. His wife Mary is age 58, and
was born in Kentucky. The only other Newsome in the house was 10-year-old
grandson Pearl Franklin, also born in Kentucky. My father, George, was no
longer living at home.
FINDING THE CLUES
What are the clues
here? The first clue is place of birth which differs from the current
state of residence. That tells us that if we do not find Hart in the 1920
census in Ohio, we should look in Kentucky, since all three members of the
family were born there. We should also be able to find grandson Pearl in
Kentucky in the 1920 census as a baby in the household of his father, and
learn the name of his parents.
The second helpful clue tells us
that since Hart is 69, we should be able to find him in the 1870 census in
Kentucky as a 9-year-old in the household of his parents. That could give
us the name of his father, enabling us to go back further
generations.
A third clue is that he was 35 years old
when he married which makes that date about 1895. Hence, he should be in
the 1900 census as a head of household and the place might be a clue as to
where to look for a marriage record and the maiden name of his
bride.
Mary should be in the 1880 census as a child, but until we
know her maiden name, we cannot pursue that line.
A look at the
1920 census shows no Hart Newsome in Ohio, but does show he and Mary in
Lewis County, Ky., just on the other side of the Ohio River, with two
unmarried sons, ages 21 (my father, George) and Bill, age 20, and a
daughter, Isabel. Since there is no grandson Pearl with them, we must look
elsewhere for yet another son.
A search for a male Pearl Newsome
just a few months old in Kentucky or in Ohio netted no record. The only
Pearl of the right age was a female listed in Letcher County, Kentucky,
with parents Clarence and Eva. Could it be that the census taker assumed
the baby named Pearl was a girl?
The 1910 census shows Hart and
Mary Newsome in Lawrence County, Ky., a little further southeast along the
Big Sandy River separating Kentucky and West Virginia.
They had
four children, including a son Clarence. (It appears the census taker made
a mistake about that sex of baby Pearl, and the one in Letcher County in
1920 was indeed the grandson of Hart.).
The 1910 census had more
clues, it indicated that Hart and Mary had been married for 15 years, and
that Mary had a total of six children, only four living.
The 1900
census listed Hartwell Newsom, still in Lawrence County, and gave some
additional information about the family. It listed the month and year of
birth of each person, including the age of the new baby, William, age one
and one-half years. They lived a household away from an older Newsom,
George W. Earlier census records would prove my hypothesis that he was
Hart’s father.
VARIANT SPELLINGS PRESENT CHALLENGE
Since the
1890 census was almost entirely destroyed, the 1880 and 1870 were the
remaining census that would have records of my grandfather Hart. While
searching for all these census years, I had to deal with the variant
spellings of the surname recorded as Newsom, Newsome or Newson; and the
given name Hart or Hartwell.
The 1880 listing was even more of a
challenge because Hart had been indexed as Hart W. Newson; and his father
had been indexed as C. W. Newson rather than G.W. Newsom.
They
appeared at the bottom of the census page with Delila, Hart’s mother. The
rest of the family was at the top of the next page.
To my surprise
as I was writing this column and reviewing that second 1880 census page, I
made a startling discovery about my line. The name H.W. Newson, age 80,
and wife Sarah, 69, appeared further down the page. I realized that this
was undoubtedly the earliest Hartwell Newsom, the father of George W. and
the grandfather of the Hart Newsome whose records we have been
following.
Since this older Hartwell had not appeared in the 1880
census of Letcher County where he had lived for 60 years, my assumption
had been that he and Sarah Tally had died between 1870 and 1880. This 1880
census taker had assumed his name was Hart Well and had shortened it to
H.W.
This is the only record of any of his remaining siblings that
gives the birthplace of their father, Harrison. An important find
indeed!
Moral to that story is always scroll down the page and look
for other family members!
Now, all that remained was to find Hart
in the 1870 census. Again I ran into the variant spelling so common in
early records. This time it was the census taker, not the indexer who
caused the problem, as Hartwell, age 6, was listed with his father, George
Nusum! And that is how it was indexed.
Tracing a family line can be
challenging, but by being flexible in searching for your family name, the
quest can be successful.
Ancestry.com, which has all the censuses
fully indexed, is available free in the History and Genealogy room - and
throughout the Boerne Public Library - thanks to the nearly $1,000 annual
subscription fee that is paid by donations of members of the Genealogical
Society of Kendall County.
GSKC volunteers are available in the
History and Genealogy Room to help you search for your
ancestors.
Incidentally, GSKC has been advised by the Library
Director that there will not be a History and Genealogy Room in the new
library, so take advantage of the free ancestry search service while you
can.
The total attendance at the two Beginning Genealogy Workshops
I told you about last month was an even 100 people.
For answers to
any genealogical questions, email Mary Alice Dell at rvgenie@gmail.com or drop by the
History-Genealogy Room at the Library any Wednesday
afternoon.