1940 Census - Nine more days!

In just nine days, the 1940 Census will be here! I imagine that while we wait, many in the genea-world will be stockpiling the necessary food and beverages to sustain us while we dig in and begin to search for our family members. Many of us will be diligently seeking to knock down brick walls; others will just need to confirm information that has been suspected all along, or passed on by family lore. Whatever the goal each genealogist has, we're sure to have cleared our calendars for April 2nd, so the fun can begin!

As the BIG DAY grows nearer, I've begun to contemplate my approach to the 1940 documents. After all, the images that will be released on April 2nd are just that - images of the actual census documents. However, there will be no index available right away, so the only way to find our folks will be to flip page by page through the virtual documents for whole cities or counties, or if we know an address or neighborhood, to use one of the available resources to try to locate the enumeration districts, so that we can at least narrow our searches down by neighborhoods.

The tool I've decided to use (at least for now) is Steve Morse's ED Finder, which allows users to input an address, along with a cross street, to determine the probable enumeration district(s).  If you don't know the address, or if the people you are searching for in 1940 lived in a small town, Dr. Morse has several other tools on his site which may help you to narrow down your search for the correct enumeration district.  Click here to view the full site.  (Also credited are Drs. Joel D Weintraub and David R Kehs.) 

As I began to use Dr. Morse's tool to find enumeration districts for some of the people on my family tree, I realized that I wanted to have an organized system of recording the information, so that once the census is released, I could systematically move through the list of people I needed to find.  Therefore, I created a new form, which I'm calling my, "1940 Census Enumeration District Locator".  Anyone who would like to use this document is more than welcome. Here  is a direct link to the document, which you can download, or you can email me at yarsan@aol.com, and I will gladly send it to you as an attachment.

Before I close, I must put a plug in for the effort to recruit more indexers for the 1940 Census.  This is truly a "more the merrier" situation, or a case of "Many hands make light work". :)  As a 1940 Blog Ambassador, I'd like to encourage anyone who is reading this to join the effort as an indexer. 132 million people were living in the United States in 1940, so it will take a LOT of people to make this project successful. Signing up to help is easy as pie!  Just go to https://the1940census.com/ and give your name and email address, and you're in!  You can even choose which state you'd most like to work on! So, come on and join in the fun.  Just nine more days, and we're in! :)

Renate

Wordless Wednesday - My Daddy and Me

A very skinny me, and my daddy.
June 1983

Renate

1940 Census Blogger Ambassador



     In just 23 days, the 1940 Census will be released to the public!  Those of us in the genealogy community have counted down the years, then months, and now days for this event.  I can imagine we'll all get plenty of rest on the on the night of April 1st, so that we can be at the ready at 9:00 a.m. the next morning, when the long awaited documents are released. (Or, on the other hand, some might stay up all night in anticipation!)
     When FamilySearch first announced it's partnership with the National Archives to release the 1940 Census, and open it up to indexers, I signed up right away. I was already a registered indexer for FamilySearch at the time, but this was going to be a special project, which I just had to be a part of.  But now, I've made an even greater commitment to the work that will be involved in bringing easier access to the to the public because a few weeks ago, I signed up to be a 1940 Census "Blogger Ambassador". 
      Being a Blogger Ambassador means that I will write about my experiences using the 1940 Census, and I will share how the it effects my research.  That 's all that's required, and I would have been doing that, anyway, so I figured, "Why not be an ambassador?" :)
     There is so much excitement being generated about this census.  Personally, I'm impressed by the amount of information that the enumerators were required to gather.  Also, I think it's great that we'll get to see who actually provided the information (for the first time), which could help us to infer the probable validity of much of it.  We'll also get information about where families lived 5 years prior to the census date, educational levels obtained, and more!  You can click here to see detailed questions and enumerator instructions for the 1940 Census.

I look forward to sharing the journey of exploring this census with all of my readers.  If you haven't already, please consider signing up to help with the indexing. It as easy as visiting the official 1940 Census site and signing up by giving just your email address and your name.  You even get to pick the state(s) that you are most interesteing working on! The more hands "on deck", the sooner we'll have a fully searchable digital index to go with these precious documents!

Renate

A census-taker interviews a woman for the 1940 Census

(picture courtesy of census.gov)

https://the1940census.com/

Genea-Family Friday - Meeting Shelley

Okay, maybe "Genea-Family Friday" isn't (or hasn't been) an actual meme, but for today, I'm making it one. :)

Although a small percentage of folks in our online genealogy community do get to meet and know each other personally, mostly by attending conferences and workshops, the majority are like me, who engage in building "friendships" online, through blogs, chats, and social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and/or GooglePlus.  So, for me, those rare occasions that allow me to actually meet one of my genea-friends are very special.  Yesterday was one such occasion, when I got to meet genealogist Shelley Murphy  while on a brief visit to my former hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia.



Shelley is very active in the African-American, as well as the larger genealogy community.  She puts out the Charlottesville Genealogy Examiner, is an active participant in the Afrigeneas community, and is belongs to more than one chapter of the African-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAGHS), holding the office of President in the Central Virginia Chapter.  Shelley is also active on Twitter, and Facebook, participates in Geneabloggers Radio shows, and is just generally supportive of other researchers, in every way. 

I have enjoyed getting to know Shelley online, and have long considered her a part of my "genea-family". Now, I can add her to the (short) list of folks from this wonderful community whom I've actually met, in person.  Though our visit was brief, I could tell that Shelley was just as kind, sweet, and supportive in "real life" as  she comes across online. :)  I'm glad we met!

Link to this post

Mystery Monday - Young Man In Uniform

Here's another unidentified photograph from my collections.  This picture was found between the pages of a cookbook (just pages, no book) that my Aunt Sue tells me belonged to her Grandma Susie (Dunstan) GREEN.



At first glance, I wondered if the young man could have been my Uncle Fred YARBOROUGH, my father's 1/2 brother, who passed away in 1947 at the age of 34.  (He was hit by a car.)  However, my aunt insists that the picture is not of Fred, so I have to believe her (for now...lol).  There is probably no connection between the picture and the original owner of the cookbook, since there was only a remnant of the publication left, and because Susie Dunstan never even lived in the house where it was.  Apparently, the cookbook came into her daughter's possession (my grandmother, Anna (Green) Yarborough), after her death sometime in the early part of the 20th century.  I discovered the picture after being given what was left of the cookbook, and bringing it home (it a plastic bag) a couple of years ago.  When I called my aunt to ask her about the picture, she didn't even know it was in there, so I'm sure that it ended up there quite by accident.

I'd really love to know who this is.  Perhaps there's a clue in the uniform that the young man is wearing.  My one guess is that it might be a Civilian Conservation Corps uniform, but I'm not sure about the thing on the cap.  (I haven't been able to find a clear picture online.)  I do know that some other members of my family did serve in the CCC, though, so this could be a possibility.  My only other thought is that perhaps this could be a school uniform of some type.

This young man would have most likely been from Louisburg/Franklin County, NC.  My guess is that he is between 15-20 years old in this picture, and that it was probably taken in the 1930's or 1940's.  What do you think?

Sentimental Sunday - Farewell, Whitney Houston

I'm going to make this short, but I can't let this day go by without sharing a bit about how I'm feeling with my readers. 

Yesterday, the world lost another musical icon, but with Whitney Houston's death, I felt almost as though I'd lost a part of myself.  Now, I know that it's just a feeling, and it will probably pass, but for almost three decades now, since Whitney first came on the scene, I've felt an almost spiritual-like connection to her.  I've never known why, but that's just the way it was.  Her music touched me deeply, and though I know I don't even come close to sounding just like her, I've sung along with her as if I did. :)  But, it wasn't just her music.  It was something about Whitney, the person.  We were close in age, and (at that time) about the same height and size.  And, I really wasn't much of a dancer, an oft-heard criticism of Whitney.  She loved the Lord, and so did I. 

My two daughters grew up knowing of my connection to Whitney. I had a tape of her greatest hits that I played in the car on every road trip, and soon, they began to sing along.  We have great memories of trying to see who could hold the long notes with Whitney, especially on, "The Greatest Love", "Saving All My Love", and, of course, "The Star-Spangled Banner".  My girls learned early-on that to bad mouth Whitney Houston for any reason was totally and completely unacceptable, and could land them on punishment (for real!).  As they got older, they made sure their friends knew this, too.  If anyone had negative opinions about Whitney, they'd better keep them to themselves until they got from around me, or they'd no longer be wecome in my home!  Even when Whitney made choices that most of the world questioned (including me), criticism was to be silenced, and prayers sent up. 

There are so many "Whitney songs" that I love; I can't even begin to name them, and I definitely can't share them all.  However, in tribute to "my girl", I'd like to share these three:
;


Whitney performed, "I love the Lord" in the movie, The Preacher's Wife, along with several other beautiful songs.


No one has EVER sang the Star-Bangled Banner better than this!  To this day, no matter how many times I hear this, I get chills as I sing along with her.

Last, but not least, the one song that brings the tears everytime - The Greatest Love.


Thank you, Whitney. Thank you for your voice, and for your spirit.  Farewell.

Renate

Amanuensis Monday - Letters from Louisburg, Part 3

I have been posting a series of letters written by one, William A. Eaton, of Franklin County, North Carolina, to officials at the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands over the course of a few months in 1865.  I ran across these letters during a visit to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., while searching for any mention of my great-grandfather, Calvin Yarborough, a former slave who'd been notated in the 1870 Census as a "former schoolteacher".  Since the Freedmen's Bureau was instrumental in helping to establish schools for "colored" children after Emancipation, I wanted to see if my ancestor's name might be mentioned in any of the correspondence to/from Franklin County.  Although my great-grandfather wasn't mentioned by name in these letters, I still felt a connection to him through these letters, because the "poor, colored" folks the writer so often refers to include many of my ancestors, including (most certainly), my great-grandfather, Calvin. Not only that, but in another letter, which I took a picture of with my camera, but don't have a full copy of to transcribe, Mr. Eaton uses as an example the slaves of one widow, Mrs. A.J. Yarborough.  This Mrs. Yarborough was the widow of my great-grandfather's last owner, James H. Yarborough, and was thence Calvin's owner at the time of Emancipation.
This is the final letter of the three I copied, although there were several more on the microfilm.  (Click to read Part 1 and Part 2.)  Whenever I return to the NARA, I will try to get copies of those missing, which include responses from some of the officials Mr. Eaton was writing to.

Louisburg Sept 25th 1865


Col E Whittlesey


Dr Sir
     I wrote you in answer to your favour of Aug 12th about three weeks past, and as your letter was 18 days coming from Raleigh to Louisburg, I thought it posible my letter did not reach you at all, therefore I write you to know if you received my letters.
     If it is posible to take any steps towards buildng up a home for the colored people, or freedmen, the sooner we begin about it the better for I see that as the year nears to a close, the poor creatures are runing more and more into a state of confusion, without homes. And (without) any person to guide or advise them it is now difficult to keep them at home long enough to gather in the growing crop, part of which is now ready to be gathered.  Some of them are really in a deplorable situation, it being out of power of any person to govern them.  It will be utterly imposible for the White people to feed them in their present condition.  Have you made



pg 2

up your mind what shall be done with the children that have no parents.
     Please let me hear from you at your earliest convenience. Should you think it desirable to have a personal interview with me, I will come to see you, but I would greatly perfer seeing you at my house, and if you can come out, I will meet you any day you will appoint at Franklinton and bring you out.


                                                                                                       Very Respectfully
                                                                                                                     Your Obt St
                                                                                                                     W A Eaton


About Mr. Eaton:
William A Eaton was born in 1812 or 1813 in NC.  He appears to have spent most of his life in Granville County, which is ajacent to Franklin, but once shared some of the same land. His main property appears to have been in the township of Fishing Creek (Granville). It is unclear at this time where his property was located in Louisburg.
In 1840, Mr. Eaton owned 38 slaves. In 1850, he owned 80, and in 1860, the value of his personal estate (not including real estate) was $86,900, so it's safe to assume that his attainment of human property had increased, even more.
William Eaton married the former Jean Burwell, of Mecklenburg, Virginia in 1840.  He died of paralysis in 1870 (in Louisburg) at the age of 58.


Source Information:
Ancestry.com.
Virginia Marriages, 1740-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.  Original data: Dodd, Jordan R., et al.. Early American Marriages: Virginia to 1850. Bountiful, UT, USA: Precision Indexing Publishers

Year: 1850; Census Place: Fishing Creek, Granville, North Carolina; Roll: M432_631; Page: 88B; Image: 177.

Year: 1860; Census Place: Fishing Creek, Granville, North Carolina; Roll: M653_898; Page: 380; Image: 384; Family History Library Film: 803898.

United States. Nonpopulation Census Schedules for North Carolina, 1850-1880: Mortality and Manufacturing. M1805, rolls 1-5. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.


A note from the transcriber:
During the weeks I've been transcribing these letters for the blog, all of the intial feelings/reactions I had to reading them that first day at the Archives have resurfaced.  I've chosen to say little about those feelings because I don't want to skew the perspective of my readers, however, I am so very interested in hearing your thoughts!  I've received some comments on the previous posts, as well as via Twitter and email, however, I'd love to have a "conversation" of sorts with you, my dear readers, via the comments section right here on the blog.  So, please ma'am, please sir, if you are so inclined, do share a few thoughts with me about these letters?  I'm curious to hear from White and Black on this, to know how you're interpreting Mr. Eaton's words and intentions.  Of course, if you'd rather keep your thoughts private, that's your perogative, but for those who'll leave comments, I will respond to them all. :)  Let the conversation begin!

Renate