The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-And-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors by Marsha Hoffman Rising Page A
Authors: Marsha Hoffman Rising
Tags: Non-Fiction
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census taker clearly did not enumerate the family you seek. Following are some of the reasons for such failures that I have encountered in my own experience. It is important to see whether any of these situations apply to your circumstances before you abandon your search.
1. Jurisdictional or boundary confusion or lost records in a part of the state left a “hole” in the census enumeration.
Example:
In Missouri in 1840, the borders between Douglas and Christian counties and between Benton, Camden, and Hickory counties were unclear, and thus no census takers covered some areas, all assuming that some districts were someone else's responsibility. Anywhere from fifty to a hundred families were thus not counted.
Figure 3-1 Map of the Douglas-Christian, Benton-Camden-Hickory county boundaries, Missouri.
Example:
Marcus Williams could not be found in the 1850 California census. The answer was simple. He was living in San Jose County — a county whose 1850 census is simply lost.
2. Geographic isolation of the family may result in omission from the census. Learn the trail of the census taker by matching contemporary roads and neighbors. Once you determine his route, you will know if he omitted one family, several families, or an entire area.
Example:
Greene County, Missouri, was founded in 1833. That part of Missouri was under the administrative jurisdiction of Crawford County, but census maps indicate that the individuals who were living in that area should have been listed under Wayne County. They were not listed in either county; so although we know from other records that these people existed, they don't appear in the census because they simply were not counted.
3. Life events such as births, funerals, marriages, unexpected trips, and summer vacations may have taken families away from their usual place of residence at the time the census taker was in the area.
Example:
Frances B. Whitney was not found in the 1860 census. She married in October of that year. She was a schoolteacher and may have been living with a family who probably didn't think of her as a family member, or who perhaps forgot that she had been with them in June by the time their neighborhood was canvassed in October. Perhaps the family with whom she was living in August knew she wasn't with them in June, so they didn't list her. (See Connie Lenzen, CGRS, “Proving a Maternal Line: The Case of Frances B. Whitney,”
National Genealogical Society Quarterly
82 [March 1994]: 17–31.)
Example:
James Strain died in Cloud County, Kansas, on 25 January 1880. As he was the probate judge at the time, his death received front-page coverage in the local newspaper. He did not appear on the mortality schedule, however, nor was his family listed on the 1880 census. The family appeared to be there during the month of June, as “Johnny Strain” was credited by the local newspaper with saving the life of another child on June 24. Why was the family missed? An extended trip during the summer months seems the only explanation, but this has not been established.
4. The family may have been migrating during the census year and thus may have been in an unexpected place, or they may have been so new to a location that the enumerator simply didn't know they were there. Although the winter months were the preferred times for travel because roads were frozen and passable, if the family was moving livestock, they may have waited until grass was available in the spring or summer. Some may have told a census taker they were “just passing through” when he asked about their residence and thus were not counted; others may have been unknown to members of the community because they had not yet settled.
Consult other documents to determine how long the family remained in the old location and by what date they must have left. Check additional records to establish at what point they had definitely arrived in the new community. If you cannot produce such evidence, you may
1. Jurisdictional or boundary confusion or lost records in a part of the state left a “hole” in the census enumeration.
Example:
In Missouri in 1840, the borders between Douglas and Christian counties and between Benton, Camden, and Hickory counties were unclear, and thus no census takers covered some areas, all assuming that some districts were someone else's responsibility. Anywhere from fifty to a hundred families were thus not counted.
Figure 3-1 Map of the Douglas-Christian, Benton-Camden-Hickory county boundaries, Missouri.
Example:
Marcus Williams could not be found in the 1850 California census. The answer was simple. He was living in San Jose County — a county whose 1850 census is simply lost.
2. Geographic isolation of the family may result in omission from the census. Learn the trail of the census taker by matching contemporary roads and neighbors. Once you determine his route, you will know if he omitted one family, several families, or an entire area.
Example:
Greene County, Missouri, was founded in 1833. That part of Missouri was under the administrative jurisdiction of Crawford County, but census maps indicate that the individuals who were living in that area should have been listed under Wayne County. They were not listed in either county; so although we know from other records that these people existed, they don't appear in the census because they simply were not counted.
3. Life events such as births, funerals, marriages, unexpected trips, and summer vacations may have taken families away from their usual place of residence at the time the census taker was in the area.
Example:
Frances B. Whitney was not found in the 1860 census. She married in October of that year. She was a schoolteacher and may have been living with a family who probably didn't think of her as a family member, or who perhaps forgot that she had been with them in June by the time their neighborhood was canvassed in October. Perhaps the family with whom she was living in August knew she wasn't with them in June, so they didn't list her. (See Connie Lenzen, CGRS, “Proving a Maternal Line: The Case of Frances B. Whitney,”
National Genealogical Society Quarterly
82 [March 1994]: 17–31.)
Example:
James Strain died in Cloud County, Kansas, on 25 January 1880. As he was the probate judge at the time, his death received front-page coverage in the local newspaper. He did not appear on the mortality schedule, however, nor was his family listed on the 1880 census. The family appeared to be there during the month of June, as “Johnny Strain” was credited by the local newspaper with saving the life of another child on June 24. Why was the family missed? An extended trip during the summer months seems the only explanation, but this has not been established.
4. The family may have been migrating during the census year and thus may have been in an unexpected place, or they may have been so new to a location that the enumerator simply didn't know they were there. Although the winter months were the preferred times for travel because roads were frozen and passable, if the family was moving livestock, they may have waited until grass was available in the spring or summer. Some may have told a census taker they were “just passing through” when he asked about their residence and thus were not counted; others may have been unknown to members of the community because they had not yet settled.
Consult other documents to determine how long the family remained in the old location and by what date they must have left. Check additional records to establish at what point they had definitely arrived in the new community. If you cannot produce such evidence, you may
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