United States Census - Family History & Genealogy Message Board

Re: Searching the US Census Databases at Ancestry.com

JimmieMac — 2009-11-18 22:19:46Z

Thank you for the reply. It is quite daunting, isn't it? Not that I am complaining though; my hope was exactly what you have provided: other users' personal tips and hints on "creative searching" techniques!

As mentioned in my initial post here, I started my tree in an old version of FTM back in the 1990s when the online databases were just being made available and most searching had to be done only after purchasing a myriad of FTM CDs - I had a whole slew of them (gone now...). And oftentimes I would find that they contained nothing of use to me. Now there are so many databases but trying to find the relevant entries when there are many human errors in them is a real challenge. Of course the errors are certainly understandable, but it serves to make the job a little more difficult.

Also, I always submit corrections to Ancestry if they offer a link to do so, but that doesn't always get things corrected. Manpower issues probably.

Thanks again!

Jim

Re: 1830 Census--NO IMAGES

JoMac53 — 2009-11-18 17:22:50Z

This is fixed now.

Re: Searching the US Census Databases at Ancestry.com

geisten — 2009-11-18 12:42:42Z

I can certainly relate to and understand the frustrations of researching especially when you are trying to "outguess" the spelling of a name when it was entered...or when it was transcribed, etc. Firstly...keep in mind the one rule: KISS...keep it simple stupid. When hitting those brickwalls in your research, try searching by a first name only or try with just a few letters of the first name...narrow things down with maybe a calculated age...place of birth, etc. Add clues one at a time...and when you are looking thru the list of results remember rule #2...when is a name not a name. i.e.when you see a name that looks absolutely ridiculous...check it out. I found the immigration records formy Italian great-grandmother (with three of her children) after EIGHT years of searching...her last name of Aimone was written over and transcribed as "Quinnie"; her first name (Teresa Nicola) got entered as "Muscol"...found the correct entry when I searched on first name: Col* (for daughter Columbia), a five year option on date of enty and date of birth...and then looking at "Quinnie" as an Italian name...thought it a tad odd...and it was.
So... do not give up...search a different line (I have accumulated almost as much information on the in-laws as I have on the direct lines.)...and you never know what you may discover while you are looking into those other family branches.

Re: 1830 Census--NO IMAGES

JoMac53 — 2009-11-18 06:13:41Z

Another screen shot showing the invisible line highlighted.

Nothing on the blog about it. Maybe they know about and are working on it but maybe not and we should report it.

Re: 1830 Census--NO IMAGES

JoMac53 — 2009-11-18 06:10:12Z

Yes, using WinXP Pro, FF 3.5.5.

When I click on any image in the 1830 census, from any link to it, I get:

Error Processing Request

Error executing child request for /content/viewer.aspx.
Please try the following:

* Click the Back button to try another link.
* Click the Refresh button, or try again later.
* View the collection.
* View the Census Records Collection
* View the Historical Newspaper Collection
* View the Immigration Records Collection
* View the Family & Local History Collection

What's interesting is the line "Error executing child request for /content/viewer.aspx." doesn't show up on the page because it's in white type. It only shows when you highlight it, or copy & paste it.

And it says, "Database id or database name specified incorrectly or the database is no longer valid." at the bottom.

1830 Census--NO IMAGES

nsedak — 2009-11-18 05:52:59Z

I can't see the images for the 1830 census. The index of the record appears but when I click on the "see image" I get a screen "Error Processing Request." It also happens if I browse to a county. Anyone else having this problem? I'm using Vista Home Premium; Firefox 3.5.5

Searching the US Census Databases at Ancestry.com

JimmieMac — 2009-10-26 03:48:59Z

I have a few comments and questions about Census data available at Ancestry.com. These searches can be both exhilarating and frustrating - sometimes at the same time!

Some things I have noticed:

** Often times the search results near the top of the results list are not even close to relevant IMO, yet the results way down the list - in some cases for me, on page 2 or 3 with 50 items per page - are where I find very relevant matches. E.g., searching for relatives who were born, died, and resided only in one county of PA I get top results from the west coast, midwest, etc., with non-matching spouse name, etc. Then a couple pages back I find a few that match almost perfectly. I must not fully understand the sorting logic they use.

** Errors in Census data, both by the census takers and the transcriptionists. I've found correct entries under incorrect names like "David" but when I look at the document image the name is quite clearly "Daniel". I've come across four like this on a tree with only 80 total people. I found them by manually searching for similar names. I never find them using searches on the correct names from FTM 2010 or Ancestry. I had hoped that the searches would use a fair degree of fuzzy logic to catch these errors, but it doesn't seem like it. Does anyone else have any tips or hints to help root out such errors?

** Other errors are more difficult to work out, and more puzzling. On a Census sheet with my G-G-father and family I noticed the last name for that address was his father. It said "Father" under relative. Yet the sex is listed as F for female! And the age and DOB correspond to my G-G-Grandmother. I figure it could be that she gave her name as "Mrs. Terrence McGowan" and the census taker omitted the Mrs., but then why list her as Father? As I said, puzzling!

I always submit alternate data for these errors, and t=on two I received messages from Ancestry saying that the were changing the entry (where the errors were in transcription), so that'll help in the future.

All in all, I have found only about 50% of the census data that I needed/expected to find. As a matter of fact I am finding very little documentation for my ancestors. And I don't mean the ones from way back; I'm talking all in the 1800s and 1900s. Must be some very secretive families I had.

I did most of my family history research back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, then stopped working on it after two years of not finding any additional info. I figured I had all I was going to get. Then this year I performed a number of detailed searches on Ancestry.com and found a few new facts. That was enough to get my fire going again, so I got out the old tree and started adding. Bought FTM 2010 and put it all in there, as the last version of FTM I had previously was probably from 1998 or 1999! Unfortunately it looks like I have hit the wall again. I still have a lot of searching left in me but it sure gets tough when I go for about three hours a day for weeks on end and get.... nada.

Still looking, though!

Jim

Re: Was there a mortality schedule for every year?

JoMac53 — 2009-10-19 12:17:55Z

Thank you for that link, it's full of information.

Re: Was there a mortality schedule for every year?

roncon60 — 2009-10-19 10:01:58Z

This link gives a great deal of infor on federal and state mortality schedules.
http://www.newhorizonsgenealogicalservices.com/mortality-sch...

Re: Was there a mortality schedule for every year?

JoMac53 — 2009-10-18 21:26:36Z

They tell you that's there, as well as Colorado.

"In addition to the Federal Mortality Schedules, this database also includes Mortality Schedules from two State Censuses – Colorado and Florida – from 1885."

You should always read the "For more information about this database" section.

Re: Was there a mortality schedule for every year?

mbmjlm — 2009-10-18 20:38:58Z

I've never seen any other federal ones except the ones you mentioned. The state of Florida had one for 1885. Ancestry has lumped that one in with the 1850-1880 census records but it is actually 1885. I have notified Ancestry of their error more than once but have been ignored. In my opinion, errors such as that by Ancestry are usually not acknowledged nor rectified.

Was there a mortality schedule for every year?

JoMac53 — 2009-10-18 18:49:40Z

I know Ancestry has them for 1850-1880 but were there mortality schedules for 1900-1930, too?

Re: Why are some people missing, even when reading 1910 Census page by page? (Barre, VT)

Mathewson70s — 2009-10-15 02:12:54Z

Thought of that. I went page by page on the original record. The were mistranscribed as Gensley on the 1930 Census. I submitted greater than 120 corrections on that Census for misspellings while I was looking for the Gundrys.

Sri Lanka has gotten back to me tonight. They are interested in the aforementioned daughter Merle and agree, the Thomas Gundry family is not there for 1910 Census and have no family stories to explain it either.

Re: Why are some people missing, even when reading 1910 Census page by page? (Barre, VT)

AGHatchett3rd — 2009-10-15 01:54:59Z

Have you checked for GRUNDY?

Perhaps the enumerator transposed some letters in teh surname.

Re: Why are some people missing, even when reading 1910 Census page by page? (Barre, VT)

Mathewson70s — 2009-10-14 23:08:31Z

I just looked for Canadian or UK Census records on the Thomas and Elsie Gundry family of Barre, Vt, and still could not find them. Other suggestions?

I did use Member Connect to contact someone in Sri Lanka (a serviceman?) with a relevant Gundry in his tree. All I can do is sit back and see if he provides me with a reply as a courtesy. His was the only relevant tree I have not previously contacted.

Thank you for advice.

Re: Why are some people missing, even when reading 1910 Census page by page? (Barre, VT)

Mathewson70s — 2009-10-14 22:37:39Z

I hadn't thought of that. However, my family is pretty hard-scrabble. I cannot picture them having enough money to pay four trans-Atlantic boat fares.

I will look in the Canadian Collections. Going back and forth to Quebec for Vermonters was very common in that era.

I would welcome other possibilities because I did not see records popping up for Quebec for these names either, so I doubt I will find them, but will check nonetheless.

Re: Why are some people missing, even when reading 1910 Census page by page? (Barre, VT)

AGHatchett3rd — 2009-10-14 22:03:29Z

Perhaps they went back to England for a visit so their children could meet their grandparents?

Why are some people missing, even when reading 1910 Census page by page? (Barre, VT)

Mathewson70s — 2009-10-14 21:49:33Z

Unless I missed them, even though I took great pains not to, I viewed the entire 1910 Census for Barre, Washington, Vermont, even the unincorporated district areas. Found plenty of non-Gundry relatives but not Thomas (b 1872 England) and Elsie Gundry (b 1882 Clinton County, NY) and daughter Merle (b 1900) and son Alfred (b 1906).

Through using the search form, I can safely say they are not in there misspelled, or with transposed names, or missing due to poor copy (unless the entire page is missing and not published).

Though Thomas was born in England, having married Elsie 12 years before, I cannot think of why they would have reason to hide from the someone taking a Census count.

Any suggestions for finding them for that year? Thanks.

Can't open "Image Only"

keywester114 — 2009-08-30 14:24:13Z

I hate this new software and all the problems it causes. I am trying to read a census record. I can't get image only anymore to work. I have done everything from upgrading my Java Script to turning off pop-up blockers to turning off my virus protection. This is pure nonsense. You can't get a tech who will answer a question. The software has gone to hell in a handbasket. Somebody at Ancestry.com should be made to pay us for debugging their mistakes. This is like Microsoft. You buy it, debug it for them, they "improve" the software by making it more difficult and most times just ruining what didn't work in the first place. I am so over this poorly improved system. The old system at least worked. Now I can no longer get a decend day in doing research without fighting the software.

Census - what has happened?

CyrilleDoutherd81 — 2009-08-14 22:23:22Z

<thread><path>..fh.topics.ancestry.usrecords</path><threadid>156</threadid></thread>

Re: 1860 census index question

JimLivermoreNY — 2009-08-03 13:40:47Z

"I am the product manager for the Census Collection and will do my best to monitor this board regularly and provide answers whenever possible."

Is this still true? We haven't seen any posts of yours or Gary Gibbs in years. Reporting Census errors and/or omissions through your support system is an exercise in futility.

Census Records.

ednsalmil1 — 2009-07-30 22:47:34Z

I can't seem to get the census records to work as they use to.Has there been a change to a perfect system? Help please,

Re: Ancestry.com's unresponsiveness

Anatol_Borejdo — 2009-07-13 10:30:02Z

Hi James,
I just found your meassage from 2002. I am facing very similar problems in 2009: I reported two bugs in the software (two bugs, which -if you are not carefull enough- will ruin your tree within a second), but they do not replay.
I am going to write their CEO later this week.
Best regards from Germany
Anatol

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

JoMac53 — 2009-07-10 01:14:17Z

Yikes, No! I have a stack of deeds here already that I'm going blind from transcribing. lol

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

nsedak — 2009-07-10 01:07:22Z

Oh, here I was about to send you my stack of old documents to transcribe!

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

JoMac53 — 2009-07-10 01:05:06Z

lol, no, I just quickly skimmed the John's with no surnames. I knew it had to be a name with only a couple of letters so it was easy to skim them real fast. I thought it might be an H or R then spotted the Wd. It doesn't look like a W to me but it sure doesn't look like the other Ks on the page, either.

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

nsedak — 2009-07-10 00:54:56Z

Wow--you're a miracle worker! (And I did submit the correction.)

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

JoMac53 — 2009-07-10 00:48:50Z

John Wd

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

nsedak — 2009-07-10 00:36:39Z

I've got one, too, that I can't figure out what the index might say. It's the 1830 Census, Franklin County, Virginia, page 63, line 15 John Kid

http://tinyurl.com/kv98wt

I tried searching just John but there are a million of them.

Any ideas?

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

JoMac53 — 2009-07-09 20:12:41Z

That's odd. In the 1930 census I put in Ola M, no surname, Alabama > Madison > West Huntsville. It was, and still is, the first hit on the list. I don't know why you didn't find it. Are you using new search or old search?

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

TEllett0430 — 2009-07-09 16:25:32Z

I still couldn't get to it from an Ola M search, but BobNY had it right on the money! And I did submit a correction.

Thanks to you both for your prompt help!

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

BobNY — 2009-07-08 23:00:26Z

Indexed as Clarence Edleoll

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

JoMac53 — 2009-07-08 22:09:04Z

And don't forget to add a correction. :)

Re: How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

JoMac53 — 2009-07-08 22:02:42Z

Just search for Ola M with no last name in the right state, county, town, etc. Once you pull up her record you can click on the others.

How can I get to Ancestry records from Census image

TEllett0430 — 2009-07-08 18:25:02Z

I can find my relatives on this image of the 1930 US Census (http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6224&pa...), but cannot find them in the same census by doing a records search. The individuals are Clarence Elliott and family (actually the name is ELLETT). I tried searching for Clarence ELLIOTT, ELLETT, and ELLIOLL. I tried the same searches for each family member. Nothing.

Is there a way to go from an image to the records?

Thanks!

Re: 1830 Todd Kentucky – source image problem

sageflat — 2009-06-24 06:24:01Z

Thanks Bob,

I understand, in theroy, what has happened. Now I want to look at 5 more Griffin's:

P369 (3 names)
P383
and
P388

369a should be +2 from 368a or image 13,, and yep that's correct.

383a should be +30 (2*(383-368)) or image 41,, and nope it's an a record but not the correct one. In fact image 40 is the correct image, so two a records in a row.

388a should be +40 (2*(388-368) or image 51,, and again nope it's also an a record but not the correct one. 53 is where 388a is.

Looks like 1830 Todd is totally torqued.

Thanks again for your help.

Re: 1830 Todd Kentucky – source image problem

BobNY — 2009-06-23 17:39:30Z

That is the least of the problems that ancestry is having with these particular images. Bear with me on this explanation, it gets sticky.

The population schedules for the 1830 census cover 2 pages. The first page, which has the name of the head of household, contains the count of free white persons, male and female, divided by age groups. The second page conains the count of slaves, free colored persons and the totals. You are looking at the second page of an enumeration.

However, it is the second page of the WRONG household. If you look at ancestry's supposed "record," the source citation is:
Year: 1830
Census Place: , Todd, Kentucky
Roll 41
Page: 368

However, when you click through on View Original Image, you are brought to the page you are referencing, which is page 373B, i.e., the second page with slaves and free coloreds. If you page back to 368 you will find your target. But, ancestry has cut off the top of the page and you can't see the page numbers. You will need to go to image 11 of 63. The 11th name down is Coleman Griffin.

Even if you get this far, ancestry lets you down by cutting off the column headings, particularly on the second page. The entry for Griffin contains the following:

Free White Persons - Male
Age 20-30: 1
Age 50-60: 1

Free White Persons - Female
Age 10-15: 1
Age 15-20: 1
Age 20-30: 1
Age 50-60: 1

Slaves
None

Free Colored Persons
None

TOTAL: 6

Re: 1830 Todd Kentucky – source image problem

JoMac53 — 2009-06-23 17:20:33Z

1830 is a two page census. The names are on every other page and the information continues on to the following page with columns for slaves, freed colored persons, etc, but no names. Then the third page will have new names again and so on. But the index link is taking you to the wrong page, one of the second pages with no names. Coleman Griffin could be on the page before or after the one the index link is taking you to (or somewhere else). You should report a wrong image problem to Ancestry via the "Having problems viewing this image?" link. It may be a known problem and already reported but the squeeky wheel gets the oil, especially on Ancestry.com.

Re: 1940 Census substitues

JoMac53 — 2009-06-23 16:52:17Z

According to Ancestry, the years were microfilmed with the end of one year and the beginning of the next year on one roll. They say they are working on adding additional rolls. I don't know if this explanation covers all issues of missing names but that's what I was told by Ancestry staff.

1830 Todd Kentucky – source image problem

sageflat — 2009-06-23 11:52:28Z

It seems that 1830 Todd is indexed, that is all names are searchable, however, when looking at the original source image the left-hand portion of the image where the names would be is missing.

Here’s an example:

Coleman Griffin b.1770 living residence 1830 Todd Kentucky:

Found in the index.

http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&...

Source image missing left-hand side.

http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbi...

And it appears to be this way on many pages within this roll (KYM19_41).

Is there any other source for the images?

How could these be indexed with images missing names?

Cheers.

1940 Census substitues

JSchweitzer4853 — 2009-06-14 02:40:40Z

Can any one tell me why only a portion of the aphlabetical names listings are available to view in both the 1938 and 1939 city direcotry for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Very frustrating when your family is in the middle of the alphabet.

Thanks
Judy

Re: 1860 Vermont census issue

ERhodes1135 — 2009-06-11 20:22:35Z

Priscilla. To put it mildly, someone messed up. On ancestry.com the family is listed twice in the index, one is image 17 of 19 and the other is image 19 of 19, but when you look at the actual records, they are the same page, page 149. Hope this helps. Don

1860 Vermont census issue

PriscillaR — 2009-04-15 14:51:34Z

Can anyone tell me why this record looks like this??
Name: Mary Rowell
Age in 1860: 65
Birth Year: abt 1795
Birthplace: Massachusetts
Home in 1860: Andover, Windsor, Vermont
Gender: Female
Post Office: Andover
Value of real estate: View Image
Household Members:
Name Age
Jacob Rowell 67
Mary Rowell 65
Jacob Rowell 67
Mary Rowell 65

====================
There were only 2 persons in this household.

Re: Problems with 1900 Census

mbmjlm — 2009-03-18 14:54:24Z

Sometimes Ancestry's index has a different name or spelling for a particular family. One of the things that I do if a name does not come up through the index but I can find it manually, is to go through the census page and find a name that will come up through the index. Use that name for your search. Then you can use the "save" feature to save it to your family.

Re: Problems with 1900 Census

JoMac53 — 2009-03-18 02:18:27Z

You have to find the record that Ancestry has for them, then the option to save to a tree will show up.

If you want help looking for their record, post the names, dates, location, etc.

Re: 1860 Michigan census lookup please

mbmjlm — 2009-03-06 15:51:55Z

If you need a better copy, e mail me at mbmjlm22@aol.com

Re: 1860 Michigan census lookup please

mbmjlm — 2009-03-06 15:51:14Z

Attaching Norman Roberts family from Kent County 1860

1860 Michigan census lookup please

marygriffin2001 — 2009-03-06 04:23:36Z

I am looking for information about the Norman Roberts family. They were living in Kent County, MI at the time of the 1860 Census. I would appreciate any help. Thank you.

Re: census data ~ how to annotate?

annefuglesten — 2009-02-04 16:48:13Z

I need to be more observant - have posted the corrections.

census data ~ how to annotate?

annefuglesten — 2009-02-04 16:00:31Z

I've found my paternal g'parents (Fuglesten) in the 1910 census records, but the names are woefully misspelled: Fugleston instead of Fuglesten; Heel instead of Helga; Danlen instead of Daniel; Helda instead of Hilda; Dolla instead of Della ... you get point. Wondering if there is a way to annotate this data with corrections? And if such corrections (i.e., alternative spellings) are utilized in subsequent searches? Thanks for any advice on this.