FAQ for the 1940 Census Indexing Project

I want to pass along some important information about the 1940 Census indexing project. You may work on other states while waiting for your state to come up. Oregon is supposed to be released late in the first day, but it might be a challenge to log in. You may even want to download what you are working on and do it off line so the access will be more available to others. If you are not signed up for indexing please do so today.

1940 Census - Time for Reflection

As we prepare for the release of the 1940 Census five days from today, I spent some time reflecting on the impact of this census in my overall personal family history. On my blog page I posted two new pages and retitled two pages. You will now find the following articles: Daniel Tidd Article (formerly the Research Project), Ole A. Brown Article (formerly under Stories), and the new postings Cole Family Migration Article and Portland, Oregon WWII Article. The last two were written for publication in March 2009 in "The Bulletin", a quarterly published by the Genealogical Forum of Oregon.

1940 Census - Who Will You Be Looking For?

April 2 is just a week away, and the 1940 Census will be available online.
Who will you be looking for? In pondering who I want to look for in the 1940 census, my focus is on the people on my pedigree chart. The following people were alive at the time of this census: my parents, my four grandparents and four of my great grandparents. A key piece for the two great grandmothers is that they had both remarried, which means I am looking for different surnames. The two great grandfathers had remarried as well. This census may help me to further identify the second spouses.

Family Search Center and Microfilms and Fiche

Today I decided to work some more on the four microfilms that I have on loan at our Family Search (History) Center. As I arrived and departed it was trying hard to snow. One day it is spring and the next we shift back into winter weather. Tonight the white stuff is falling fast and furious. I am glad I made the trip out today, as when it snows I just stay home and enjoy the scenery until it melts away. The flowers are popping out in the flowerbeds and the trees are ready to blossom. Before April showers that bring the May flowers, we usually have March madness of weather conditions.

1940 Census Indexing - Your Opportunity to Contribute

In about two weeks the companies sponsoring the release of the 1940 Census will make available to us not only the opportunity to view this fantastic collection of records, but also the chance to personally participate in the indexing of that collection. For a little background on what this collection means to us as genealogical researchers, let us become aware of these support companies.

Genealogy Serendipity Moments - Completing the Sherwood Post Office Ledger Books Project

The last few days I pushed myself to finish inputting the information from the Sherwood, Oregon Post Office Ledger Books for Money Orders project. When I did the indexing I not only did my relative's names, but also the names for a friend's ancestors who also lived in this town. What I am now presenting in this post is the overall content of the information. Please keep in mind that a town where your ancestors lived may also have such a collection as this or other types of books providing information about residents of that locality. These ledger books do not note the residence of the individuals and they may be only visiting for a time period. What the books provide are clues to understanding where your ancestors were in a certain time period, who they interacted with in transactions, and their financial means. Money orders were listed for purchases and for redemptions. So here are some of the statistics from the research.

100 Blog Posts Celebration

This is my 100th Post written for this blog. I am almost to the one-year anniversary, but somehow feel that this is a milestone for me. For this 100th Post I wanted to share a little about my ancestors and where they were 100 years ago, but first I have to share the serendipity moment of this day.

Genealogy Serendipity Moment -Roena Gates Gender Change

Once in a while I go work in new.familysearch.org and input information about the families I am working on. Recently as I spent considerable time working on the Gates family history I returned to review their information. Roena Electa Gates is my husband's great-great-grandmother and our first link to the Gates family. She was married twice, the first time to Charles Robert Lamb in 1884 in Minnesota. They apparently had two children, Belva Mae born in Minnesota, and A. J. born in Montana. At this point we know very little about Charles and A. J. Lamb.

Dissecting a Civil War Pension File - John L. McSweeney

When the 120-page Civil War Pension file arrived for John L. and Eliza McSweeney, it was for a client and I was not too concerned about plowing through its contents. Then I reconsidered when it became apparent that the information could not really be made useful unless we could place it into document order according to the dates. The file actually contains information from two different pension files: #145.979 the soldier's file applied for 19 July 1869 with certificate #118.505, and #349.650 the widow's file applied for 16 April 1891 with certificate #349.650. The file we received had gone through many inspections and had not been kept in any particular order. It is kind of like playing 52-card pickup and the disorganization that often is the result.

Genealogy Serendipity Moment - Gates and Tidd Connection

The Tidd family of Massachusetts has been my favorite research subject over the last forty years. This week as I further explored the Gates family I discovered that not only did both families live near each other as early settlers in America; they also lived near each other in England. Through discovering some new resources and analyzing the currently discovered data, I am having many serendipity moments and I am sure there are more to come.