Finally Here ... the 1940 Census

Anxiously I waited Monday morning, like millions (apparently) of others, for the release of the 1940 US Census.  I had told students and genealogy friends in the last ten years to say healthy, eat their Wheaties and they would be able to use the census.  There I was parked in front of the computer, healthy and ready for ... nothing.

Apparently they underestimated the number of people who would access the census. The server crashed.  Wasn't that expected?  I recall the same thing happening in 1999 when FamilySearch went public.  Over and over I tried with only minor flashes of what might have been a frame of census on my computer.  By afternoon I drifted over to Ancestry.com where I was able to find some extremely distant cousins in Indiana ... and I pretended to be excited about them!

Throughout the day, You Go Genealogy Girl #2 and I would talk on the phone and exchange e-mails.  You should realize she's a devoted genealogist to get up that early in the morning.  I'm so proud of her.  I used Steve Morse's web site and she did also, in hopes we would be prepared for those images.  Eventually I was able to get images I wanted for North Carolina and Tennessee.  I looked at neighbors along the roads and it was a great walk back in time to my grandparents' house.

Aunt Lavaughn is a railroad brakeman!

Since Monday I have been using mostly Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com.  Occasionally I have viewed images on FamilySearch.   I am not concerned at this point about the indexing.  It has been fun going through pages of images and looking at enumeration districts, piecing together the landscape.  In time those indexes will make searching much easier and faster.

Yesterday afternoon You Go Genealogy Girl #2 called to see if I had noticed our Aunt Lavaughn had an occupation in 1940.  She was living with her husband and young son in her parents' house in Alliance, Box Butte Co., Nebraska.  All along I was slinging blame at the National Archives and Archives.com, but now I realize that everybody makes mistakes.  The enumerator didn't skip a line so Aunt Lavaughn was a brakeman on the steam railroad.  How exciting for her, but not true!!

We hope you are all enjoying your journey in 1940.

You Go Genealogy Girl #1 --- Ruby

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Genealogy

Today feels like I think September should feel.  It is cloudy, a few sprinkles of rain and a very cool breeze.  What a change from 99 degrees that greeted us on September 1st (yesterday).  It's a pleasant change.  It makes me think about a different kind of genealogical research, such as roaming a cemetery, looking at interesting tombstones, finding stones for relatives and just absorbing the change of season.

Since my last post I am still not organized.  I have decided it might make a good winter project.  Maybe I won't be able to put it off until the snow flies.  Today I'm taking a needed break from my book so I can blog (also needed), write an article, go for a walk and maybe stopping by a cemetery.  Several years ago I had a boss who referred to these days as "chocolate chip days."  He would try to talk me into taking the day off to bake cookies with pay.  I'm going to call days like this "the enjoy genealogy days."

You Go Genealogy Girl #2 has been doing catch up from her trips this summer, plus resting and reading.   She is still doing research even though she has an aching, failing computer.  Occasionally I can hear her all the way to my house (more than 100 miles) telling the computer that it has to go, possibly by putting a give away sign on it and placing it on her sidewalk.

In my busy days of non-stop writing, I have discovered some interesting things that I'll share.  I know many of you, myself included, are not fond of the library catalog on the new web site for Family Search.  One way to overcome some of the frustration is to use both catalogs, the new site and old site.  The more frequently you use the new site for the library catalog, the more adept you will become.

Another tip ... Ancestry.com is great for searching "Historical Documents", but there's a lot more you need to do.  From the pull down menu of Search, select "Search All Records."  Up pops a listing of databases by category such as census, military, newspapers and more.  If you are specifically interested in one of those categories, browse through the collections available.  Should your research be in a specific area, such as the state of Kansas, click on the state in the US map or the link below to see what is available in all collections for that state.  This will enhance and enlarge your research possibilities beyond just searching "Historical Documents."

Time to decide if I'm going to write the article, go for a walk or bake chocolate chip cookies.  Those cookies sound really good!

You Go Genealogy Girl #1 --- Ruby

Going to Salt Lake City

The GIRLS are going to Salt Lake City to the Family History Library! We arrive at the Plaza Hotel on May 22nd and will be there two weeks. We hope to have a productive two weeks, meet old friends and new friends and come home with a lot of genealogy treasures.

In order to do this, we need a plan. We each have large research notebooks. These contain to-do sheets which begin as print-outs from the Family History Library Catalog. In case you haven't noticed the FamilySearch web page does allow you to go back to the "old" catalog, which we prefer. Just click on "Go to the previous site" which is in a blue box. We print out the library catalog entries of interest for film, fiche and books. I label mine according to the floors of the library, such as the 3rd floor being the US and Canada book floor. Then I add notes regarding why I am using that book, fiche or film. Each year my research notebook seems to grow. I never get through everything while there, but I definitely make progress, all because I have a plan.

I also want to get as much research done at home before leaving for Salt Lake City. That means making sure I have documents that are needed, such as death certificates and obituaries. The original documents stay at home. If necessary, I place pdfs and jpgs on my laptop for reference. The research papers in the notebook are either in order of preference or by family group all under each floor of the library. Sometimes they don't stay in any specific order. As I study the various individuals or families in need of research, I make a list of goals or objectives. Those dead end lines will be first on my list.

While in the library it is a good idea to not just copy or scan. Be sure you read and evaluate. Our late evenings are usually spend doing that and deciding if we need to look at film or books that were not on our list. We also rearrange our bag on wheels in preparation for the next day, then fall asleep with sweet dreams of finding our ancestors.

As many of you know, I have a little car known as Lil' Red. It is overloaded by the time we reach our destination. Last year it took three carts and three hotel employees to help us to our room. We hope to have a lighter trip this year. Last year we took scanners and a printer along with an extra table. Those will all stay home this year.

Our arrival night will be spent unpacking, arranging and rearranging. The library is not open so we won't be tempted to drop everything in the floor and rush over there. I don't take my large research notebook to the library each day, but sort through the papers that I want for the day. Those go with me in a smaller notebook. Because we stay at the Plaza Hotel next door to the library, I can always go back for more papers. Before setting out for the library each morning, I remind myself that I need to pace the day, take some breaks, walk around or go back to the room and relax. Otherwise I will not be healthy enough to finish two weeks at the library.

It is interesting to see how people go prepared to the library. Many have bags on wheels which contain their research work, perhaps a laptop computer and accessories. Others have tote bags or just carry in a notebook. We go to stay and park our "stuff" so we have the bags on wheels. A necessity is a lock and cable for the laptops. I also take my iPod Touch which I do not leave unattended. I suspect YGGG #2 (Cheri) will be taking her iPad.

We both have hand held scanners that take up limited space. They are great for making scans of pages in oversized books. There are also scanners available for public use on each floor. Our hand held scanners are VuPoint Magic Wands. Even though we will scan there will be plenty of photocopies made from books and microfilm.

All too soon our time will be over and we will say goodbye to Salt Lake City. It will be time to head Lil' Red east and head back to Nebraska. We will talk all the way home about what we found and didn't find. It will also be those hours that we can decide what we needed that wasn't brought and what we brought we didn't need. Unfortunately we will forget and not write it down. Next year we'll start all over trying to decide what to take or leave at home. Some of that lack of organization may be blamed on age!

If you are in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library during our visit, look us up. We're the You Go Genealogy Girls, Cheri and Ruby. You will find us all day long and evening on one of the five floors of the library.

You Go Genealogy Girl #1 Ruby