Free RUSA History Section Genealogy Preconference, 28 June 2013, Chicago, IL

This is the kind of genealogy programming in which I would have been involved over the last several years. In the previous post I mentioned that I had decided to step asside from ALA. This is one of the activities that I will miss the most:

2013 RUSA Genealogy Preconference“Behind the Genealogy Reference Desk: Chicago Style Genealogy”American Library Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL The History Section of RUSA is delighted to announce a FREE genealogy workshop to be held on Friday, June 28, 2013 at the Harold Washington Library Center of the Chicago Public Library (downtown Chicago).  Sponsored by ProQuest, this all-day event will run from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.  A delicious luncheon is included, along with a free pass to the ALA Exhibit Hall. This can’t-miss program features an exciting line-up of speakers and topics: ·         “ChicagoAncestors.org – Discover the Past by Address,” Matt Rutherford.  ChicagoAncestors.org is a project produced by the Newberry Library and uses Google Maps to help genealogists and local historians discover and share historical information about Chicago.
 ·         “And the Rockets' Red Glare: Sources for War of 1812 Research,” Curt B. Witcher, FUGA, FIGS.  This presentation will cover both popular and lesser known sources for War of 1812 research, including a close-up look at the War of 1812 pensions being digitized through the FGS Preserve the Pensions initiative.
 ·         “Genealogical Education Opportunities,” Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL.  Genealogy patron questions are rising.  Educate yourself through this interactive workshop to evaluate which learning opportunities are best for your own needs and budget.
 ·         “OCLC WorldCat and FamilySearch,” Chip Nilges and Michael J. Hall.  Learn how the recent partnership can enhance the research experience from the beginner to the expert.
 ·         “Beginning African American Research,” Sandy Joseph.  Discover the many African American resources that are available to you and your patrons. To register for this event, please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WJKYJF2.  Attendee information will be sent to you in a private email. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Michael Hall, Preconference Chair (hallmj@familysearch.org), or Bill Forsyth at ProQuest (william.forsyth@proquest.com).

If you are going to be in Chicago area for ALA next month and are interested in genealogy, either for your own research or to help library users do their own, this event can be a great educational resource for you. The cost of this program is underwritten by ProQuest which markets Ancestry Library Edition, Heritage Quest and various other online maps and newspapers databases to libraries and other institutions.

1940 Census for Big Cities as well as Vilages

Last week I reported on my first venture into the 1940 US Census. It was a small town in which I knew my grandparents had lived for a long time. For me it was the perfect place to start. 


Since then I have ventured out farther. I tried another small town in which I thought my dad was living about 3 weeks before my parents got married. Voila, there he was. He was listed as MARRIED. Well, there was a modest line drawn through the "M"; but it was not changed to "S". Maybe he had told the enumerator he was getting married soon. In the small town of Jamesport, MO, the enumerator probably knew the Baptist minister was getting married. Who knows. The census record also told me that he had worked 48 hours the previous week and that he had earned $480 dollars in 1939 for 32 weeks of work. (He had graduated from seminary in 1939.) His education level was C7 which documented his four years as an undergraduate and three years as a seminarian. He was paying $5 monthly for rent. "Neosho, Kansas" was listed as his residence on April 1, 1935 (five years previous). No more specific information was added other than an "R" which indicated that residence was not in a city, town or village of more than 2,500 residents. That was at least partially correct. On that date he was completing his junior year at Ottawa University but his permanent address was probably still in Neosho County.


Finding my mother turned out to be a little more problematic. The primary reason was that I was unsure in which small town she was teaching school in 1940. Even though she was a female and had less formal education (C3) than my dad, she had earned $675 for 36 weeks of work in 1939. She was a "boarder" but no amount is listed for the rent she was paying. She was single. Her landlady was the informant for this enumeration.


Researchers now have several sources for the 1940 Census images:
1. US National Archives (NARA)
2. FamilySearch.org
3. Ancestry.com
4. MyHeritage.com
5. FamilyLink.com
Each of these sites has its own strengths and weaknesses. It is not my intent to provide a detailed review here -- at least not yet. However, researchers should be aware of all of them. If you are having a problem on one site, try another. The 1-Step site of Steve Morse and Joel Weintraub link to each of these sources for images. The sites also offer search engines -- often based on the 1-Step search engine.


I found the  FamilySearch site to be very helpful in locating villages in Missouri when I was searching for my mother. However, the print utility is still awkward to use. One very useful feature is the map that updates how much of what states have been indexed. Some examples from early this morning were:
1. Delaware 100%
2. Kansas 95%
3. California 7%
4. Nebraska 2%
5. Oregon 92%
6. Washington 0%
7. New York 1%
8. Colorado 97%
THANK YOU to FamilySearch for their leadership and to the volunteers who are making this happen this quickly!


If you know precisely where your family members were living in April, 1940; you can probably find them now. If you don't, I hope they lived in Delaware, Kansas, Colorado or Oregon!


I just found my wife's great-grandparents in Chicago by locating their Enumeration District (ED) in 1930 (using a name search in Ancestry.com) and using the  1-Step to convert that to the 1940 ED. For me it is easier to scan cities for street addresses in the extreme left column than it is to scan the images for surnames. One thing I was reminded of is that enumerators do not take the census in strict house number order. They walk down one side of a block and often go around the corner to a different street (or two or three) before doubling back to record the other side of the street. In some cases the other side of the street is even in a different ED. In the case of my wife's great-grandparents, the other side of their street was enumerated on image #5 for their ED. They were about 20 images removed.
  

Chicago Research

I was asked in class this week for assistance in finding the current location in Chicago of a street address from the 1890s. Chicago did not come up with its current numbering grid for streets until about 1909-1911. Prior to that there was a hodge-podge. In the standardization all north-south numbers were measured from Madison and east-west numbers were measurd from State Street. In the process, many streets even changed names. During this process your ancestors may have appeared to move but really stayed in the same location.

Http://ChicagoAncestors.org is a wonderful site for those researching Chicago that was created by the Newberry Library--a privately funded library that is one of the best locations for researching Chicago area ancestors. From the home page one can enter a street address and it's location will be highlighted on a city map. From the TOOLS tab it provides a gateway to many free digital resources including historical maps, selected city directories and much, much more. Included are two downloadable documents about the street renumbering. Also, try clicking on the city map on the homepage. You can then explore the neighborhood in which you have landed. If you have Chicago ancestors, check it out and explore the various links provided.

This is a great site for searching online and for planning a Chicago research trip.