Sink or Swim: US Census Records

By Shannon Bennett, Student Nothing like jumping in and seeing if you sink or swim. There is no goofing off and easing into the subject matter with this course. You are into the meat of the subject from page one, which is great!  Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to start off strong. There is just a lot, and I mean a lot, of information. These first two modules cover the U.S. Census from 1790-1940. There are detailed explanations of what is on the census, why it was there, how it changed, and what the data means. That is a lot of information covered 15 times over. Good, needed, and useful, but a lot of information. I particularly appreciate the breakdown for each census on what was asked. Seeing it typed out in list form made it easier to digest and understand than just looking at it across the top of a census page. It was also fascinating to see how that information changed, evolved, and grew over the decades. I could easily see how the census became an incredible source for statistical information about the population of the United States at that time. The section on strategies for using the Federal Census was particularly good. Three examples were given on ways that researchers can analyze the information on the records, particularly when they are tracing a person or a family through multiple census years. Of course, you might have a way that you like to do it that…

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Starting the US Census Records Course

By Shannon Bennett, Student   One of the main go-to sources for genealogical information in American research are the federal census records. Within the first few days or weeks of researching you will pointed to it and be immersed in the glory of all that data. However, unless you really dig into the census many people never uncover the real gems that are hidden just beneath the surface. The course US: Census Records  is a comprehensive look at the U.S. Census from 1790-1940. Glancing through the syllabus I know I will learn a lot even though I am pretty comfortable with using the census for my research. The instructors, Scott Andrew Bartley and Beverly Rice, cover a lot of material in the various modules. At first it appeared daunting, particularly when I opened the binder section and saw the sheer amount of pages that were staring back at me. But, you know what, when you are talking over 15 censuses covered in one course, I guess that should be expected. I am looking forward to learning more about the census history, why they did things, and what was discovered. Also, I am really excited to learn more about the other schedules. I have researched a little into other census schedules, like the 1890 veterans schedule, but I am not as comfortable with them as I would like to be. Hopefully, by the end of the course I will be comfortable the whole way around! I was pleased to see that…

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On the Road to Midwestern Roots 2014

What are you doing this weekend? We are on the road to the Midwestern Roots 2014 conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. If you’re there, stop by our booth (#66) and talk to Tami. Every conference participant receives a free course and one lucky conference attendee receives a free 9 course package (think of the great courses you could sign-up for with that prize!). See you at the conference!

Extractions

By Shannon Bennett, Student   In modules 5 and 6 of Skills: Transcribing, Abstracting & Extracting we learned about extractions.  It is a similar concept to an abstraction but not exactly the same. Trust me, I am sure you have used them both, but you may not have realized the distinction between the two. Similar to an abstraction, an extraction looks at only a specific part of the document you are reading.  Items that would get an extraction, instead of an abstraction, would be census records, lists, inventories, manifests, and so on.  For those examples you extract the information for specific people or items that you are researching. There is no need to have (at that moment) the entire document abstracted or transcribed. To be honest, I never knew there was another type of abstraction. I use extractions frequently in my family research. They are very, very handy when processing multiple census records, bible records, or various family items. Having the pertinent information at hand, without the chaos of a whole transcription of abstraction, has helped me correlate and analyze data easier. Besides learning about extractions we also were given more, lots more, practice. Once again, and you are probably tired of hearing this, practice is awesome!  I loved looking at records which I normally wouldn’t come across. My ancestors have been in the US for centuries so what I think of as common records are probably unique to others, and vice versa. Looking at unfamiliar record sets keeps you…

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