I am so glad I ran across this video and that you welcomed us sending a link for a second opinion. I believe I found my great grandmother, Sarah Newton, and her sister Annie Newton (link below) on the 1880 Census. I understand they were born in Claiborne County Mississippi and I used the Card Catalog to drill down on that County and ALL of its townships. This is the only record that lists the two of them. (This is the same County and township she lived in 20 years later at the next census as Sarah Webster). What puzzles me is that they are listed as “daughters” with a Rankin family. The head of household is John Rankin who is the “husband” of Catherine Rankin and is 30 years her senior! No doubt these are family members to research but I’m scratching my head right now because their parent’s names are actually James Newton and Katie Washington listed on the death certificate. I’m in the process of trying to obtain death certificates for my great grandmother’s two sisters. IF their mother’s name was actually Catherine, and she went by Katie, which I “think” is a nickname for Catherine (somebody correct me if I’m wrong please) this would make sense that Catherine/Katie remarried. My mom’s mother’s name is Katie (not a nickname) and I understand she was named after her grandmother, Katie Washington. Just grasping at straws. I’d love to hear your thoughts. On a really cool note, I had an opportunity to stop by the Family History Center here in Atlanta, GA and got a copy of my great grandmother’s marriage certificate from 26 February 1885 in Claiborne County Mississippi! So I guess I can say with certainly that I traced her back to 1885! It was quite moving to see the image of the “Colored Marriages” book. www.ancestry.com/interactive/6742/4241985-00047?pid=13490255&backurl=search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D6742%26h%3D13490255%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DsyV1%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=syV1&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.8681591.397387219.1579655057-1016280172.1575172463&_gac=1.119962106.1579910890.Cj0KCQiAyKrxBRDHARIsAKCzn8ysEcJFiGpxQesnGFKsh08BZoaJDoHxjnRt17pg3LYebYy-rSiHIfwaAikmEALw_wcB
Hello Tan Elise! This is a great record. Based on the way the family is enumerated, I would venture to hypothesize that Sarah Newton and Annie Newton are the children of Catherine Rankin. I would also hypothesize that Catherine Rankin is the spouse of John A Rankin. If that hypothesis is true, then Catherine and John likely were married sometime after 1872 (when Annie was born). Looking for their marriage record should probably be your next step. Catherine/Katie might be listed as Newton on that record or she might be listed as Washington. From there, you would need to locate a 1868-1870 marriage record for Catherine/Katie to a Newton to see if she is listed as a Washington there. You are on the right track. Just need to keep collecting evidence to tell the whole story. You've got this!
Thank you. Wonderful! So many nuances to look at.... There are some possibilities I had wrapped my head around. Another couple to mention, that you already know about, I'm sure, but you can only cover so much :) I have one family where a couple took in some children of a cousin and his wife who died when the kids were young. They were listed in several censuses as sons and daughters of the couple who took them in. Because they were family. Anything else was none of the census taker's business :) And another where they took in a nephew who was *slow*. They didn't list him as nephew. They listed him as farmhand. He had the dignity of a job with them. Yeah, families were always messy.
Great reinfocement. I have a 2x great grandparents who raised thier niece listed on the English 1861 and 1871 census as daughter. Daughter of his teen sister spinster. Also my great grandmother died shortly after childbirth so the infant was raised by his aunt and uncle listed as son on 1911 census. I've also found during descendency research a widow moving in with her brother a farmer with her child listed as niece but ther 13and 15year old children of her deceased husbands first wife listed as servants.
I want to chime in and say I have seen a digitized image of a census that chronologically listed members of the household by age. The person listed 1st was MIL (mother in law) on previous page to the rest of the family on the next page. If I hadn't thought to flip to the previous page I would have missed a nice morsel of information.
In the 1860 Minnesota census, my 3x great grandfather is living with his 3rd wife, three children from his 1st wife, 1 child from his second wife, and 2 other children with the same last name as the 3rd wife. People assume they are her children, but I am confident that they are her nieces, daughters of her brother who is, at the time, in the service. I just have to prove it.
Thanks for the video! This is one of the things I cover with my students, especially with strategies for identifying relationships not identified in census records before the 1880 U.S. census.
I recently solved a situation where the wife Isabella who was married to Edwin in England and know to have been born out of wedlock therefore was given her mother's surname. On the census record Isabella is listed as granddaughter to the head and Edwin was listed as visitor. I knew her mother's name is Emily. I find Emily on an earlier census record listed as visitor and Emanuel listed as lodger and has the same surname as Isabella's grandfather. I also determined that Isabella's grandmother Mary is the wife of the stated grandfather. I'm suspicious that Emanuel might be Isabella's biological father but I have not yet found a record that ties him to Isabella's stated grandfather. So Crista, this is just another example of a messy family. Thank you for this video. It is very helpful to understand how the relationship may not always be stated in a manner we think it should be stated.
That is a pretty "messy" family. ;-) Keep looking into Emanuel. Also, try coming at it from the side of the stated grandfather - did he leave any records that list his children. Sounds like a fun research challenge. (~Crista)
Thanks for the explanation on assumed and listed relationships. It was timely, as I've been trying to figure out why an older cousin listed his younger cousin as NIECE, when she went to live with him and his children, as it contradicted other documentation. Thanks! :)
Had one of these wrong census records just today. Two “daughters” same age. But actually one of the ‘daughters” was actually the sister-in-law. Her mother was in the line above the head of household in the home next door...and this “daughter” was listed with wrong surname. Listed with surname of brother-in-law because wrongly written as his daughter.
Thanks for the great info. Relevant to my family history research with a grandfather who was adopted. We've always thought the adopted family wasn't related to us however I've recently found a new clue is that the adopted family is possibly related. The last names don't match (adopted & birth parents) or come up elsewhere in any records except for a birth record. The birth father of my grandfather has possible records showing he's also adopted by the same family; I found the name of my grandfathers birth father with a name change to the same name as the first son of who I thought was my grandfather's adopted father. It's confusing, I know. What I've also realized through this research is that the written explanation of the family can be interpreted differently depending on how you read it (this is written info from my grandfather's sister of the same family mentioned above) The written info is confusing on what it is saying, and it's still being determined. If I can just figure out how they are all related. And discover more about my grandfathers birth parents. That being said I've found a lot of family information on the family and do find a lot of family, while not related, lived near to each other in some cases. I'm enjoying learning the history of the time and place. So many great stories!
I was having this problem with my grandmas last name. We were believed to have all been Smith as her maiden name but then I found a census record with her dad listed as great great grandpa Smith’s step-son. That threw us off! I did more research and seen an earlier record with just him & his mom in a household with her maiden name Bell and him as a different last name “Whitney” at 2 years old. Should I assume that she already had a baby (my grandma’s dad) before getting married to Mr. Smith?
Thank you. Wonderful as always. I know you were focused on the US Census, but a note about the New York State Census: relationships are listed starting on 1855 Census. A little off topic, is there a listing of migration routes to the west? Examples from New York to Wisconsin or Virginia to Missouri. I have seen maps, but they are so small I cannot read them.
Can you please explain how to get to the main search, the big yellow screen . I found once by accident but can't get back to it. Thank you. and thank you for these videos, I've learned a lot.
Shelly, Not sure what big yellow screen you're referring to but if you're looking for the homepage you can visit ancestry.com when you're logged in and the limited search fields will appear or you can visit the card catalog to do a more in depth search: search.ancestry.com/search/cardcatalog.aspx#ccat=hc%3D25%26dbSort%3D1%26sbo%3D1%26
I'm glad you found it helpful, Jenna. Sometimes those people on those census records can be confusing. But, as we collect and correlate all of the evidence, we can often come to the truth.
How do you keep track of the "others" and neighbors listed on a census while proving or disproving a relationship? I don't want them attached in my tree, but I don't want to make a note regarding the neighbors or others and then totally forget about that note.
Great question, Tami. I use OneNote for tracking my research in progress. It's a really handy tool because you can have multiple folders with multiple pages per folder. You can also save links and snip images. That way, once you do figure out the connections, it is all in one place. (~Crista)
Tami, One approach a lot of veteran genealogists use is to have a word document for each ancestor they're researching. They'll document the research they performed so if they return to that particular ancestor after a break, they can easily pick back up where they left off and not waste time duplicating the same searches they performed earlier. You can also make notes within the ancestor on your tree and make a point to revisit those each time you're researching a particular ancestor.
Thanks for the responses. I guess I need think through my research process and determine what method I would actually use and then figure out how that will look for me.
Ancestry has some records for Honduras from 1730 to 1930. You can find them here: search.ancestry.com/search/cardcatalog.aspx#ccat=hc=25&dbSort=1&sbo=1&title=honduras&keyword=&
I have a great grandma whom has no birth record, her earliest appearance on a census is as a servant at the age of eight her next appearance on a census is at age 16 and she had a child by the head of household whom also had a separate wife the next census she’s 18 and married to my grandfather who is a totally separate man than the person she had her first three children with. I’m trying to locate her parents but even on her death record it only has Jenkins as fathers last name
Are you certain that the woman you found on the census where she is 18 years old is the same woman you found that is 16 years old? It is highly unusual for someone to only age 2 years in between censuses that were taken 10 years apart.
@@CristaCowan yes, Cora Ann Jenkins in the house of Caldwell Allison, cad is on her first three childrens birth/death records as father then her other children were through my ancestor John Larkin burns. The earliest record is the 1900census for her stating age 8, then 1910 stating 16 with a different est. birth year. She died at western mental health inst. in TN. No birth record but death record has fathers last name Jenkins and mothers unknown. Her death record states the same year as the 1900census though vs the 1910
Is there a video about the Puerto Rican censuses? I have found that you can’t use google translate for a lot of things, and I don’t want to keep annoying my Puerto Rican speaking friend...
I remember my mother telling me there were always "boarders" in her house when she was young. She told me it was because it wasn't proper for her divorced mother to live with a man. Sure enough, I discovered one of grandma's boarders in the cencus later became a husband!
I am so glad I ran across this video and that you welcomed us sending a link for a second opinion. I believe I found my great grandmother, Sarah Newton, and her sister Annie Newton (link below) on the 1880 Census. I understand they were born in Claiborne County Mississippi and I used the Card Catalog to drill down on that County and ALL of its townships. This is the only record that lists the two of them. (This is the same County and township she lived in 20 years later at the next census as Sarah Webster).
What puzzles me is that they are listed as “daughters” with a Rankin family. The head of household is John Rankin who is the “husband” of Catherine Rankin and is 30 years her senior! No doubt these are family members to research but I’m scratching my head right now because their parent’s names are actually James Newton and Katie Washington listed on the death certificate.
I’m in the process of trying to obtain death certificates for my great grandmother’s two sisters. IF their mother’s name was actually Catherine, and she went by Katie, which I “think” is a nickname for Catherine (somebody correct me if I’m wrong please) this would make sense that Catherine/Katie remarried. My mom’s mother’s name is Katie (not a nickname) and I understand she was named after her grandmother, Katie Washington. Just grasping at straws.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. On a really cool note, I had an opportunity to stop by the Family History Center here in Atlanta, GA and got a copy of my great grandmother’s marriage certificate from 26 February 1885 in Claiborne County Mississippi! So I guess I can say with certainly that I traced her back to 1885! It was quite moving to see the image of the “Colored Marriages” book.
www.ancestry.com/interactive/6742/4241985-00047?pid=13490255&backurl=search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D6742%26h%3D13490255%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DsyV1%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=syV1&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.8681591.397387219.1579655057-1016280172.1575172463&_gac=1.119962106.1579910890.Cj0KCQiAyKrxBRDHARIsAKCzn8ysEcJFiGpxQesnGFKsh08BZoaJDoHxjnRt17pg3LYebYy-rSiHIfwaAikmEALw_wcB
Hello Tan Elise!
This is a great record. Based on the way the family is enumerated, I would venture to hypothesize that Sarah Newton and Annie Newton are the children of Catherine Rankin. I would also hypothesize that Catherine Rankin is the spouse of John A Rankin. If that hypothesis is true, then Catherine and John likely were married sometime after 1872 (when Annie was born). Looking for their marriage record should probably be your next step. Catherine/Katie might be listed as Newton on that record or she might be listed as Washington. From there, you would need to locate a 1868-1870 marriage record for Catherine/Katie to a Newton to see if she is listed as a Washington there.
You are on the right track. Just need to keep collecting evidence to tell the whole story. You've got this!
Thank you. Wonderful! So many nuances to look at.... There are some possibilities I had wrapped my head around.
Another couple to mention, that you already know about, I'm sure, but you can only cover so much :)
I have one family where a couple took in some children of a cousin and his wife who died when the kids were young.
They were listed in several censuses as sons and daughters of the couple who took them in.
Because they were family. Anything else was none of the census taker's business :)
And another where they took in a nephew who was *slow*. They didn't list him as nephew. They listed him as farmhand. He had the dignity of a job with them.
Yeah, families were always messy.
My mom was the youngest of 9 children. So I have a lot of 1st cousins who I called aunt or uncle when I was growing up.
Great webinar! Very valuable information to remember! Keep up the good work!
Great reinfocement. I have a 2x great grandparents who raised thier niece listed on the English 1861 and 1871 census as daughter. Daughter of his teen sister spinster. Also my great grandmother died shortly after childbirth so the infant was raised by his aunt and uncle listed as son on 1911 census. I've also found during descendency research a widow moving in with her brother a farmer with her child listed as niece but ther 13and 15year old children of her deceased husbands first wife listed as servants.
I want to chime in and say I have seen a digitized image of a census that chronologically listed members of the household by age. The person listed 1st was MIL (mother in law) on previous page to the rest of the family on the next page. If I hadn't thought to flip to the previous page I would have missed a nice morsel of information.
Always a good idea to check the page before and the page after in any record we are viewing. Thanks for the reminder!
In the 1860 Minnesota census, my 3x great grandfather is living with his 3rd wife, three children from his 1st wife, 1 child from his second wife, and 2 other children with the same last name as the 3rd wife. People assume they are her children, but I am confident that they are her nieces, daughters of her brother who is, at the time, in the service. I just have to prove it.
Thanks for the video! This is one of the things I cover with my students, especially with strategies for identifying relationships not identified in census records before the 1880 U.S. census.
I recently solved a situation where the wife Isabella who was married to Edwin in England and know to have been born out of wedlock therefore was given her mother's surname. On the census record Isabella is listed as granddaughter to the head and Edwin was listed as visitor. I knew her mother's name is Emily. I find Emily on an earlier census record listed as visitor and Emanuel listed as lodger and has the same surname as Isabella's grandfather. I also determined that Isabella's grandmother Mary is the wife of the stated grandfather. I'm suspicious that Emanuel might be Isabella's biological father but I have not yet found a record that ties him to Isabella's stated grandfather. So Crista, this is just another example of a messy family. Thank you for this video. It is very helpful to understand how the relationship may not always be stated in a manner we think it should be stated.
That is a pretty "messy" family. ;-) Keep looking into Emanuel. Also, try coming at it from the side of the stated grandfather - did he leave any records that list his children. Sounds like a fun research challenge. (~Crista)
Thanks for the explanation on assumed and listed relationships. It was timely, as I've been trying to figure out why an older cousin listed his younger cousin as NIECE, when she went to live with him and his children, as it contradicted other documentation. Thanks! :)
Had one of these wrong census records just today. Two “daughters” same age. But actually one of the ‘daughters” was actually the sister-in-law. Her mother was in the line above the head of household in the home next door...and this “daughter” was listed with wrong surname. Listed with surname of brother-in-law because wrongly written as his daughter.
Thanks for the great info. Relevant to my family history research with a grandfather who was adopted. We've always thought the adopted family wasn't related to us however I've recently found a new clue is that the adopted family is possibly related. The last names don't match (adopted & birth parents) or come up elsewhere in any records except for a birth record. The birth father of my grandfather has possible records showing he's also adopted by the same family; I found the name of my grandfathers birth father with a name change to the same name as the first son of who I thought was my grandfather's adopted father. It's confusing, I know. What I've also realized through this research is that the written explanation of the family can be interpreted differently depending on how you read it (this is written info from my grandfather's sister of the same family mentioned above) The written info is confusing on what it is saying, and it's still being determined. If I can just figure out how they are all related. And discover more about my grandfathers birth parents. That being said I've found a lot of family information on the family and do find a lot of family, while not related, lived near to each other in some cases. I'm enjoying learning the history of the time and place. So many great stories!
I was having this problem with my grandmas last name. We were believed to have all been Smith as her maiden name but then I found a census record with her dad listed as great great grandpa Smith’s step-son. That threw us off! I did more research and seen an earlier record with just him & his mom in a household with her maiden name Bell and him as a different last name “Whitney” at 2 years old. Should I assume that she already had a baby (my grandma’s dad) before getting married to Mr. Smith?
Thank you. Wonderful as always. I know you were focused on the US Census, but a note about the New York State Census: relationships are listed starting on 1855 Census.
A little off topic, is there a listing of migration routes to the west? Examples from New York to Wisconsin or Virginia to Missouri. I have seen maps, but they are so small I cannot read them.
I use the Overland Migration Route maps found here: www.familytreemagazine.com/premium/popular-overland-migration-routes/
Thank you for the maps. I have seen them before but could not read them, as they were to small.
Can you please explain how to get to the main search, the big yellow screen . I found once by accident but can't get back to it. Thank you. and thank you for these videos, I've learned a lot.
Shelly, Not sure what big yellow screen you're referring to but if you're looking for the homepage you can visit ancestry.com when you're logged in and the limited search fields will appear or you can visit the card catalog to do a more in depth search: search.ancestry.com/search/cardcatalog.aspx#ccat=hc%3D25%26dbSort%3D1%26sbo%3D1%26
Very helpful and interesting.
This is so helpful as I have a 12 year old with the name of the wife in the household listed as 'daughter in law'. Maybe she is a step child!
I'm glad you found it helpful, Jenna. Sometimes those people on those census records can be confusing. But, as we collect and correlate all of the evidence, we can often come to the truth.
How do you keep track of the "others" and neighbors listed on a census while proving or disproving a relationship? I don't want them attached in my tree, but I don't want to make a note regarding the neighbors or others and then totally forget about that note.
Great question, Tami. I use OneNote for tracking my research in progress. It's a really handy tool because you can have multiple folders with multiple pages per folder. You can also save links and snip images. That way, once you do figure out the connections, it is all in one place. (~Crista)
Tami, One approach a lot of veteran genealogists use is to have a word document for each ancestor they're researching. They'll document the research they performed so if they return to that particular ancestor after a break, they can easily pick back up where they left off and not waste time duplicating the same searches they performed earlier. You can also make notes within the ancestor on your tree and make a point to revisit those each time you're researching a particular ancestor.
Thanks for the responses. I guess I need think through my research process and determine what method I would actually use and then figure out how that will look for me.
My grandparents was born in Honduras in 1922..what year will I be able to find the census record?
Ancestry has some records for Honduras from 1730 to 1930. You can find them here: search.ancestry.com/search/cardcatalog.aspx#ccat=hc=25&dbSort=1&sbo=1&title=honduras&keyword=&
I have a great grandma whom has no birth record, her earliest appearance on a census is as a servant at the age of eight her next appearance on a census is at age 16 and she had a child by the head of household whom also had a separate wife the next census she’s 18 and married to my grandfather who is a totally separate man than the person she had her first three children with. I’m trying to locate her parents but even on her death record it only has Jenkins as fathers last name
And the man she was servant for last name was Allison her married last name burns maiden Jenkins
Are you certain that the woman you found on the census where she is 18 years old is the same woman you found that is 16 years old? It is highly unusual for someone to only age 2 years in between censuses that were taken 10 years apart.
@@CristaCowan yes, Cora Ann Jenkins in the house of Caldwell Allison, cad is on her first three childrens birth/death records as father then her other children were through my ancestor John Larkin burns. The earliest record is the 1900census for her stating age 8, then 1910 stating 16 with a different est. birth year. She died at western mental health inst. in TN. No birth record but death record has fathers last name Jenkins and mothers unknown. Her death record states the same year as the 1900census though vs the 1910
Is there a video about the Puerto Rican censuses? I have found that you can’t use google translate for a lot of things, and I don’t want to keep annoying my Puerto Rican speaking friend...
TheJayjaytina
I remember my mother telling me there were always "boarders" in her house when she was young. She told me it was because it wasn't proper for her divorced mother to live with a man. Sure enough, I discovered one of grandma's boarders in the cencus later became a husband!
I have one of those in my family, too! Such fun clues into the life and times of our ancestors. (~Crista)