And I'm still falling behind and trying to catch up. So it's Wednedsay; who says I can't post my Saturday Night Genealogy Fun tonight? At least I have a document to share!
1. What is the best or important image or document that you have recently found online? [Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting topics!]
2. Write your own blog post, or add your response as a comment to this blog post or in a Facebook Status post or note.
I'm still noodling around with the 1950 census and finding stuff. One page that I found has my father's two older paternal half-sisters:
They were living in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, New Jersey. The census shows my aunt Dottie (Dorothy M.) married to Clarence N. Lore, with three children: Albert L., Clarence G., and Joan. Living with them is my aunt Mil (Mildred A.) Sellers.
This is an important find for a few reasons. First is that my aunts, along with my father and his parents, were not enumerated in the 1940 census. I have looked up, down, and sideways for them, and they're simply not there. According to a list of addresses my grandfather compiled (possibly for a security clearance for work), they lived in three different places that year, so it's easy to understand how they could have been missed.
Second, the youngest child in the household, Joan (whom I was told was named JoAnn), did not live long past the 1950 census. I don't have an exact date of death, but she died sometime around 1951–1952. So I am thrilled to have her appear in a census.
Third, not only was my aunt Dottie one of the people who was "sampled" to give additional information (six people on every page), she was the one of the six who was asked even more questions! She did not work during the year previous to the census; the last work she had was as a restaurant waitress; she had been married more than once; and she had borne three children.
And fourth, this is another example of how you need to verify all that information that shows up on the census. My aunt Dottie told two different stories about her marriage to Zeke (Clarence; no, I have no idea how the nickname Zeke came out of Clarence), and I have not yet been able to check on whether they were actually legally married (because if the person you are marrying hasn't gotten divorced, yours doesn't count as a legal marriage). So the fact that the census says they were married might or might not be true.
Um, married more than once? I've never heard that, either from my aunt or my cousins. I don't know what she had in mind, but now I need to check around and see if she was married to someone before Zeke.
And three children? Nope, she had borne four children by this time. The one not accounted for was Raymond Lawrence Sellers, born September 23, 1945. Dottie gave him up for adoption, I believe that same year. I am still trying to find him.
So don't believe everything you read in the census.
Something else important about this discovery is that my cousin Albert is still alive. I get to show him himself and his family in the 1950 census!
This is a great find, especially since it is a relatively modern document. Looks like you've had some real success with the 1950 census. Not so for me - found just what I expected and nothing more.
ReplyDeleteMaybe my family was just not as straightforward as yours in the information they passed down and/or what they reported to the census taker. :)
DeleteYes, if you click the link on Raymond's name, you can read his story. The quick version is that Dottie was not yet married when she had Raymond and she gave him up for adoption. New Jersey is a closed-records state, so we can't obtai any info about the adoption.
ReplyDeleteWow, lots of issues with your 1950 census. Most of mine have just confirmed what I already knew.
ReplyDeleteI don't think of them as "issues", just "avenues of research." :)
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