Happy Birthday Gram!

Amy's going to hate this because she's all "Pretty in Pink" here for this 1989 Easter photo op with Gram, but I really like this because it just seems so much like I remember your Mom.  Nice blouse with tie and skirt for church, smiling contentedly and holding the grandchild with experience and love.  Happy Birthday in Heaven.

Back on track

1940 census searching has taken a back seat to vacation travel and Irish research recently.  I've buried myself in Gloucester tombstones and microfilmed newspapers.  It's time to pop my head up and look around like those tulips you see blooming these days.  Back to work and reality tomorrow.

Kathleen, Nick, Bobbie and Robert are on their Italian adventure and we wish them well.  Looking forward to hearing the stories.....and I'm sure there will be stories!

Recently I've found myself in the vicinity of discussions about Ancestry.com.  I think the media hype about the census release combined with the growing popularity of the TV Show Who Do You Think You Are? in addition to heavy Ancestry.com marketing has brought this to the level of lunch table discussions around the country.  Ancestry.com is probably my best friend in the hunt for family history and has been growing in its importance to me in direct proportion to their adding records and information to their databases.  I've been a subscriber for several years and have made many new discoveries via the information provided there.

Having said that, it is a fairly significant expense.  For casual researchers, I would probably not recommend subscribing.  Similar databases are often available via local libraries--sometimes even accessible from home with the library card in hand.  Believe me, finding those connections 3-4-5 generations back like they show on the commercials and TV shows isn't as simple as entering the name and clicking search.  Amazingly wonderful information can be found that way but it depends on what your research priorities are.

Some family researchers are mostly interested in adding names and dates directly up their lines as far back as they can go.  Some are more interested in the stories about the families and their time and place in history.  Some are fascinated with the documentation just for the amazement of its mere existence and availability.  A 14 day free trial to Ancestry would probably get you the names but maybe not the stories or the documentation.  I would never discourage anyone from the free trial (except to be sure to remember to "unsubscribe" at the end) but would caution you to remember it's not as easy as a click here and there working like magic to produce a centuries old document showing you're related to Charlemagne.  Check out your local libraries and see what's available through their services.  Also, check the libraries local to the region you are most interested in.  You may be able to get a card and use their services.  You might be surprised at what's available.

So that's the end of my pitch for libraries (it's National Library Month).  Allow me to show you the results of some very long and arduous digging into the Coffarelli family.  Perhaps you remember the oldest daughter Margaret, born 1880 in Italy prior to emigration?  She married Marco DiSabto and used the name Innocence rather than Margaret.  Census taker error resulted in her being listed as Hishats Innocenti.  A real bear to locate and track that family!  But hard work sometimes pays off with something blessedly easy. 

I haven't done too much sideline 1940 census research yet --I've only concentrated on the direct lines I was most interested in.  But I needed to see if I could find Margaret in 1940 out of curiousity to see how she'd be listed.  And we are blessed with the following reward:

Nice and neatly written by the census taker and pretty easy to locate.  You'd probably get here in that one click search demonstrated on the Ancestry.com commercials!  I feel so much better having found her already.  Now off to find the others........wish me well.

Your Dad found!

Census Success! Your Mom found

Here are your Mom and her brother with their grandmother Manzelli.  It's probably a good thing I went page by page because I don't think this will get indexed as MANZELLI.  Interesting they are listed as "lodgers" (I think--this census taker seems a bit sloppy)

Census Open. Servers Crash. Patty Anne Cries.

But I'll wait until 1950 if I have to.

Tomorrow is the big day for historians and genealogists.  The 1940 census will be made public following its 72 year hibernation and people like me are eagerly awaiting access to these images.  The census is not yet indexed so that means searching by address and related EDs.  EDs from census records are not the same ED we hear about in those magazine advertisements and smarmy TV ads, just in case you didn't already realize. 

In census-speak EDs are enumeration districts which outline the geographic area a census take could cover in a specified amount of time.  For 1940, a month's time was allotted so enumeration districts were established based on the area a census taker could cover in that time.  In urban areas, enumeration districts would be much smaller geographically than rural areas. 

Having the 1940 enumeration district allows the user to find the 'old neighborhood'.  The tricky part is that the enumeration districts changed from census to census so I cannot rely on 1930 information to locate 1940 records.  But there are finding aids and someday soon the records will be indexed.  In the meantime, I'll be going page by page looking for the Manzellis, the Coffarellis, the Messas and the Dalpiazs.  I look forward the the great surprises and treats in store and cannot wait to share them with you (unless you find them first!)