Genealogy Basics: The 1900 Census

It's another Monday and time for another post.  Today, we're continuing our recent discussion on census records, today we're looking at the 1900 census.  The 1900 census was enumerated beginning 1 June 1900.  Let's look at the actual census record to see what information can be extracted from this census.  Using my great-grandpa Edward's census listing, let's look at what can be discovered about his family: 

1900 Census record for Edward Bell Conwell, Sr. and family

Edward B. Conwell, Sr. is listed here with his wife, Zella.  Breaking the census listing down into three parts will help us view the information a little easier: 

Section #1 of Edward Bell Conwell, Sr. and family 1900 census record

The first three columns contain information on the location:

• Street and house number (in cities)
• Dwelling number
• Family number

 
The information isn't shown on my screen shot but the census record shows that Edward and Zella are living on Cherry Street.  So this is another address that I can go look up to see if the house is still standing.  Add that to my list of genealogy things to do.

Column #4 is the name of each person whose place of abode on June 1, 1900, was in this family (surname first, then first name and middle initial if there is one):

• Conwell, Edward B. - head
• Conwell, Zella - wife

Columns #5-#14 are personal description data:

• Relation to head of family
• Color
• Sex
• Month of birth
• Year of birth
• Age at last birthday
• Whether single, married, widowed or divorced
• Number of years of married
• Mother of how many children
• Number of these children living

This is pretty self-explanatory information, though it does bear mentioning that at this time Edward and Zella had no children together and they listed their number of years married as zero.  Right there, that is a great indication to look for a marriage record within the last year.

Great information to get off this census is the age at last birthday, their marital status and number of years of present marriage, the number of children born and number now living and probably the best information: month and year of birth.

Moving on to part #2 of the census record: 

Section #2 of Edward Bell Conwell, Sr. and family 1900 census record

Columns #15-#17 are nativity information:

• Place of birth
• Place of birth of father
• Place of birth of mother

This is also really great information because, if I didn't already have places of birth for each person and their parents, this census provides it.  Keep in mind this information is only as good as (1) the person giving the information and (2) the person writing the information down.  But it gives you a clue where to look.

This census enumerator has taken the time to list each person's birth location and the birth locations of their parents (as provided by the person providing the census information).  As you can see, everyone was U.S. born and most were born in the Midwest in either Kansas, Illinois, Indiana or Ohio. 

Columns #18-#20 are citizenship information:

• Year of immigration to the U.S.
• Number of years in the U.S.
• Naturalization

Again, by this time all my family was U.S. born so none of these columns apply.

Moving on to part #3 of the census record:

Section #3 of Edward Bell Conwell, Sr. and family 1900 census record

Columns #21-#22 are occupation information:

• Occupation, trade or profession of each person ten years of age and over
• Number of months not employed 

From this we can see that Edward Sr. was working as a collector of bills.  He worked the entire year so number of months not employed wasn't applicable.

Columns #23-#26 are education information:

• Attended school (months)
• Can read
• Can write
• Can speak English

Neither Edward Sr. nor Zella attended school but they both were able to read, write and speak English so they must have attended school at some time.

Columns #27-#30 are home information:

• Home owned or rented
• Home owned free or mortgaged
• Farm or house
• Number of farm schedule

In 1900 Edward Sr. and Zella were renting and they were renting a home.  That's not surprising considering they were newly married.

The 1900 census can contain some great information for genealogists.  There are several ways to access the census records, from using Ancestry.com (if you don't have a paid subscription to Ancestry, check out your local library or Family History Center for free usage opportunities) for indexed images to using some of the non-indexed sites and paging thru the census record pages one by one.  I prefer the indexed version, however, going through page by page can wield treasures of its own.  Additional family members have been discovered in this manner and it can also give you a picture of who was living around your ancestor.

Next week: the 1880 census!  But wait, we missed one didn't we?  Nope, unfortunately due to a fire in the Commerce Department building, most of the 1890 census was destroyed.  Some parts of the census did survive and information on what survived can be found here.

Genealogy Basics: Divorce Records

The last three weeks we've talked about birth, marriage and death records.  These three types of vital records are the records most genealogists think about when you say the words "vital records".  But there's a fourth type of vital record that isn't immediately thought of: divorce records.  Obviously divorce records aren't going to exist for every person and prior to the 1900s they'll be virtually non-existent since divorce was rare.  In some places it was even illegal.

So what kind of information can you find in divorce records?

• Husband's name
• Wife's name
• Marriage date
• Divorce date
• Current residence of husband
• Current residence of wife
• Property of husband and wife
• Name(s) of child(ren)
• Birth date(s) of child(ren)
• Reasons for divorce

The information provided in the divorce records may vary from location to location and all the information in the above list may not be included in the records you find.

Divorces are handled by the court system so the location to contact to obtain these records will vary by location.  They may not be indexed so some searching may be required.

If you have some family information or situation in your genealogy that just doesn't add up, consider the possibility that there may have been a divorce in your family.  

My family had that situation with my second great-grandma Sarah (McKee) McCabe and second great-grandpa Chester Eaton McCabe.  After some digging my mother stumbled across another branch of the family we had no idea existed!  Initially we suspected Chester had run off and simply re-married.  We eventually discovered Chester and Sarah divorced, Chester met another woman and married her while Sarah came to Kansas City to be with her children in this area.  It was a fun mystery to solve and couldn't have been solved without the help of some cousins and a Civil War pension file.  We don't have the divorce documents yet but that's definitely on my list of things to get.

Genealogy Basics: Birth Certificates

Last week we talked a little bit about genealogy basics and how to get started.  In that post I touched on some different records available for genealogical use.  The next few posts are going to discuss what those records are and what information can be extracted from them.

The first records we talked about were vital records.  Vital records consist of birth, marriage, divorce and death records and are referred to as primary sources.  The definition of a primary genealogy source is a document or source that was created at or near the time an event occurred.

Early vital records were mostly recorded in church or civil registers.  As the United States matured as a nation the need for better record keeping developed.  Prior to the 1900s vital records were mostly incomplete.  Once states began developing their own registration processes and laws the majority of life events began to be recorded.

These days everyone most likely has a copy of their birth certificate or can get a copy of their birth certificate so let's look at those first.  Since different states entered the union at different times their laws and bureaucratic processes developed at different speeds.  This means that some states have very early birth records while other states won't have birth records until much later.  The ProGenealogist website has a chart here showing when each state put into law the requirement for registering births and deaths and also when that state reached a 90% registration rate which was required for entry into the U.S. Registration. It also contains a great state-by-state synopsis following the chart.

Here's a list of some of the information you might find on a birth certificate:

• Child's full name (very helpful if the child happened to use a nickname)
• Child's gender
• Child's date of birth
• Child's place of birth
• Child's race
• Child's birth order
• Names of both parents
• Maiden name of the mother
• Parents' approximate birth date and ages
• Parents' places of birth
• Parents' occupations
• Family's religious affiliation
• Family's home address
• Hospital where the birth occurred or the name of a medical attendant present at the birth

As you can see birth certificates are a wealth of information.  Typically, they can only be obtained from the state where the birth occurred and all states charge a fee.  The fee covers the search time by state employees and one copy of the certificate.  For more recent birth certificates only direct relations can get copies of the certificate.  States usually are more lenient when it comes to much older certificates and allow for genealogy-based requests.

Things to remember:

• When states first began registering births anyone who hadn't already been registered could go and file for a delayed certificate of birth.  To do this, the person filing for the delayed birth certificate had to go to the state office with some type of proof of their birth (a document or person who would swear to the truth of the statements and birth facts) and make their application for a birth certificate.  The certificate was issued and filed with other certificates from that time, it was not filed with the certificates from the person's actual date of birth.
• When a birth certificate had or has an error an amended birth record can be filed.  It will show the corrected information and will be filed with the original certificate.

Birth certificates do look different from state to state.  These days the information is pretty standard across the states.  Before standardization occurred the information could vary widely from state to state.  Have you found anything interesting on birth certificates of your ancestors?

Tune in next week for information on marriage certificates!