It was Just a Matter of Time

Every summer for the past 8 summers I have taught an intensive 4.5-week graduate course in genealogical sources and services to pre-service librarians for St. John's University, my alma mater. I knew it was just a matter of time before I had a relative among my students. While I didn't know it going into this semester, I knew it was bound to happen. 

Although the Library Science program is fully online, St. John's still has a substantial number of students from New York. If you're from New York, you may very well have deep, long-standing Long Island roots. If you do have ancestors stretching back to the 1600s on Long Island, you're likely related to everyone else who has genealogy stretching back to the 1600s on Long Island. Long Island was quite remote then, which led to a situation called endogamy. Endogamy is when people only marry within their own group or community. In an isolated place where there was limited interaction with outsiders, people ended up marrying others from their own group. For the most part white settlers were not intermarrying with natives, resulting in a small number of families to reproduce with. Do that for a few generations and everyone is related to everyone else in town.

I didn't know going into class that I had a cousin among my students. I only discovered it when I looked at my student's family tree. Her great-grandmother had a common old Long Island surname and a middle name that was also a common old Long Island surname: Smith and Remsen respectively. Seeing that I looked further down that line on her extensive family tree. Smith - - DeMott - - Combs - - Valentine - - and there it was, a union between Benjamin Tredwell (1740-1803) and Keziah Bedell (1747-1803) of Hempstead, Long Island, New York. Who forgets a name like Keziah?

Benjamin and Keziah are my 7th great grandparents; they are student-cousin Pam's 5th great. The connection makes us 6th cousins twice removed. 

It is kind of extraordinary but, again, not all that surprising, truth be told.

Now we are talking about a couple who lived through the American Revolution here on Long Island and lived in locations I commonly drive past.

Pam's tree is much more fleshed out on this shared branch than it is on my tree, in part because there is a lack of documentation about these people. To build a tree like hers, one must rely on published family histories, which certainly exist but which I myself have not delved into extensively. I guess this fall I will be examining Cousin Pam's sources. Thanks, Pam.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 32: "At the Library" - Talk to the Librarian

I am always "at the library", silly. I am a librarian! 

This post is not really about my family history but rather a service announcement from my profession.

"Librarian" was never really a career goal for me. Had you asked 4 year-old me, or even 20 year-old me, what I was going to grow up to be I would have said an artist. That is all I ever wanted to do was paint. I still do but it is really infrequent and mostly involves bedroom walls. Anyway...

My bachelor's degree is in Art Education from Adelphi University. I also have an associate's degree in Commercial Art from Nassau County Community College, here on Long Island, New York. I was accepted to other more grandiose sounding art programs but it came down to expense for me. My father helped me through Nassau but when it came to paying for college I was pretty much on my own. Without a full-ride anywhere I opted for community college and then transferred to a local private college which offered me the best scholarship and which is really where my library career began. 

While at Nassau I worked as a student employee in the Art Department assisting in the organization of their slide collection. Remember slides? Now images are presented to art history students through the Internet, there aren't any slide projectors around. Back in the day though, if an art history professor wanted to show the class an image it was done using slides; little encased bits of film projected onto a screen at the front of the classroom. 

Well, I organized those slides. When I transferred to Adelphi, I again took a position as the slide organizer for their Art Department but my paycheck, yeah there was no direct deposit back then either, my check kept getting sent to the Art Library. Every payday I had to traipse over there to get my money. One day the head of the Art Library asked me if I just wanted a job in their library organizing their slides. Oh yeah, slides were everywhere. They were the bane of art history education pre-Internet. I said sure and in about 1995 I acquired my first library job. 

Sure, I did my student teaching and had a brief stint subbing in art classrooms but honestly, I hated working in a school. It wasn't the kids so much as the politics. People weren't kind and I went back to working in the library where pretty much everybody just wants to give you the information your looking for. 

After a string of library experiences as a clerk, I realized I was doing the work of my boss, a librarian, and the only way I was going to be recognized and paid for the position was if I went to grad school and got a master's degree in Library Science. So, at about 31 years-old, I found a job as a clerk in a university with a Library Science program of study that offered the benefit of tuition remission; meaning my job would pay for me to get my degree. 

Once my master's was finished at St. John's University, I started looking for a position as a librarian. It was during the 2008-09 recession and there weren't many jobs to be had. I went on 2 interviews for children's librarian and each place told me I was obviously a cataloger despite my focus of study being on youth services and public librarianship. Most, if not all of my library work experience had been in organization and technical services. So I relented to the forces of experience and applied for a job at Farmingdale State College, a college of technology in the State University of New York (SUNY) system, as the cataloging librarian and here I am.... at the library.

A portion of my present job is working at the reference desk helping students navigate their college careers and our resources. Sometimes I teach one-shot information literacy classes; showing a class how to find resources for their upcoming research for a specific class. My niche in the library though is to write, and right, records for books in our collection. I make sure our physical resources are properly represented in our online catalog so that no matter how you search for them, you're going to find what you need.

That's all I want. Librarians just want to help you find whatever information you are looking for. If you go into a library to do genealogical research and you don't talk to the librarian you are doing yourself a great disservice. They know more about the collection than you do. Oh yes they do! No matter how much you prepared for you visit, they work with it all the time. They know what they have. Show a little respect. By all means go prepared. We're not going to do your research for you but if you are wondering about the contents of their local history collection or archives, I betcha they have worked with it a time or two and have seen some gems they are just dying to shine some light on for you, OR they know the librarian who knows. You find yourself spelunking in one of their databases, the librarian might not be entirely familiar with it but they understand how information is organized. Ask them if you're lost. It would be rare if they told you that you were just on your own.

I tell this to all people I research with and all my students; talk to the librarian. 

As an academic library faculty member, I hold 2 master's degrees. My second, also from St. John's University, is in Public History which is a little like museum studies in that its aim is to make history accessible to the public. One component of public history is genealogy and thus I have the great pleasure of teaching a credit bearing genealogy course through St. John's University's Division of Library and Information Science. I teach pre-professional librarians how to do it and how to assist others in doing genealogy research. 

I know when my students complete my course, which for this semester is in just 2 days on Wednesday August 10,  they know how to do genealogy research. I know they know. And then they become librarians who know how to do genealogy research. Then you go into their libraries and you want to know. So trust me when I say, I know they know what you want to know. Now you might not be talking to my former student, but you might be. So, better safe than sorry, just Talk to the Librarian.

Genealogy Lesson #22: Vital Records in the U.S.

Sorry for the pause in posting online genealogy lessons. Working from home during this world-wide pandemic is much more exhausting than it sounds.

In any case, my last few lessons focused on accessing the New York City Municipal Archives Death Records Indexes through a variety of websites. The hope is that you see that not every index is built the same way. Some are better than others. AND Ancestry.com is not the end-all be-all of genealogical resource websites. There is a lot out there and vital records are critical genealogical resources.

Vital records are birth, marriage, and death records. They only really came into existence in the U.S. in the late 1800s. If you are looking for documentation to verify a birth in the 1600s or 1700s, you’re not going to find a state issued certificate. Nope. Not gonna happen. They didn’t exist. Instead, you would more likely want to look for church registers or family bibles. However, if you can get an existing birth, marriage, or death certificate, they hold an awful lot of detail that can push your research further back.

Now maybe your family did not reside in New York City and thus you are wondering where to look for indexes of vital records for other locations.

You need to know when and where a vital event (birth, marriage, death) occurred in order to locate a certificate. That’s the whole battle. That’s why you need to pay very close attention to the locations presented in the census records you are able to find for your family. Where someone lived is often where these vital events took place. Although, that is not always the case. Sometimes they surprise us. Maybe they lived their whole life in New York City and maybe their body is interred in a New York City cemetery but if they died in some accident in New Jersey or while in some nursing home there, then their death certificate will be held by the State of New Jersey. Just something to keep in mind.

These days, with all this Coronavirus news, you hear a lot from the CDC. You probably all know it stands for Center for Disease Control. Besides keeping on top of the COVID-19 world health crisis, they have a great webpage listing where to obtain vital records from each state and U.S. territory. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w/index.htm I use it all the time.

Even though the webpage is called “Where to Write for Vital Records”, often you are led to a state’s website where records can be ordered online. You usually do not have to actually “write” to anyone.

This ordering of records can become very costly very quickly. You want to be sure you “know” the record you want and that you aren’t just taking really expensive guesses.

How will you KNOW what to order? Leave the ordering until you have exhausted all your research locations.

Next up: Cemeteries as a research location.

Genealogy Lesson #21: Vital Records: A Different Death Index

In the last lesson, posted on Tuesday, April 28, 2020, we moved from searching the NYC Municipal Death Records Index on the German Genealogy Group (GGG) website to the NYC Municipal Death Records Index provided by FamilySearch.org.

If you were able to find the death of my 3rd great aunt, Gertrude Joyce-Sheridan (born circa 1865 - died 1934) in the FamilySearch index, you can see their index provide much more detail about the death certificate. FamilySearch’s index provides the following data:

Gertrude M. Sheridan
New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949

Name: Gertrude M. Sheridan

Event Type: Death

Event Date: 21 Apr 1934

Event Place: New York City, Queens, New York, United States

Address: 905-Troy Ave

Residence Place: B'klyn, N.Y.

Gender:Female

Age:70

Marital Status: Married

Race: White

Occupation: Domestic

Birth Year (Estimated): 1864

Birthplace: U. S. A.

Burial Date: 24 Apr 1934

Cemetery: Calvary Cemetery

Father's Name: John Joyce

Father's Birthplace: U. S. A.

Mother's Name: Mary O'Neil

Mother's Birthplace: Ireland



These are details taken from the actual death record. The name of her parents and thus Gertrude’s maiden name confirms that this indeed is MY Gertrude Sheridan.

This death certificate could now be ordered if one desired or one could got to their local Family History Center and view an image of the document for free.

It is good to also see the actual document because sometimes there are details that are not in the index, such as the cause of death, which might be of use or interest to the researcher.

You can certainly see though that not all indexes are built the same. Some of you might wonder why then anyone would look at this New York City Municipal Deaths Index anywhere other than FamilySearch. In short, human error. That is to say that sometimes there are records that make it into one index and not the other. 

When doing genealogy research you want to make sure you look everywhere possible and thus conduct what is known as an exhaustive search. It should be noted that there is also an index for New York City Municipal Death Records on Ancestry.com if you have access to that database.

Before moving on to marriage records, in the next lesson I will write about death records outside of New York City.

Genealogy Lesson #20: Vital Records: A Different Death Index

In the last lesson, posted on Friday, April 24, 2020, we investigated the NYC Municipal Death Records Index as provided by the German Genealogy Group (GGG).

Looking for my 3rd great aunt, Gertrude Joyce-Sheridan (born circa 1865) who died sometime between 1930 and 1940. Using just her name in the GGG’s New York City Municipal Archives Death Records Index should have resulted in 5 hits.

Using Gertrude’s estimated date of birth, 1865, which I derived from census records we can do some simple math to compare the ages of the individuals listed in our search results.

• Gertrude #1 born in 1919 - died at age 4 = born in about 1915
• Gertrude #2 born in 1925 - died at age 40 = born in about 1885
• Gertrude #3 born in 1934 - died at age 70 = born in about 1864
• Gertrude #4 born in 1945 - died at age 54 = born in about 1890
• Gertrude #5 born in 1945 - died at age 45 = born in about 1900

It is Gertrude #3 that is likely our Gertrude Sheridan. However, there isn’t enough information in this index to really know for use.

Ordering this document from the New York City Municipal Archives would cost you about $20. I think that is a very expensive good guess. Before taking that step, let’s look at the New York City Municipal Archives Death Record Index through another source.

Sign into your FamilySearch.org account.

Click on Search. This is usually located in the top navigation bar.

Choose Records. This is usually accessible by hovering on the work “Search” in the top navigation bar.

Go to the “Find A Collection” section of the search page. This section is usually on the bottom right.

Type into the search box “New York, New York” and you will see a drop down menu appear for the New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949.

Do a search again for Gertrude Sheridan with the date of death range 1934 to 1934.

Can you find her death record in the index? If so, what other details have you learned from the data listed? 

I will share with you what I have found in my next post.

Genealogy Lesson #19: Vital Records: Death Certificates

Vital records are the documentation of life events kept under governmental authority. In other words, official birth, marriage, and death records. Just like with our census research we are going to work backwards through time beginning with someone’s death and moving back to the person’s marriage, if they had one, and then their birth.

Vital records are managed by the individual states in which the event occurred. There is no centralized location of birth, marriage, and death (BMD) records for all of the United States. Therefore it is critical for you to know where the event occurred.

Frequently the state in which an individual dies is also the state in which they were born but this is certainly not always the case. Often we also assume that the individual died close to home but that is also not always the case. I have several ancestors who were away from home when they died. You might know where the family lived for decades but you may come to find out your relative died in say an accident that occurred far from home. I offer the example of my 3rd great grandfather, John Joyce.

The Joyce family owns a huge plot in Calvary Cemetery in Queens County, New York; one of the largest cemeteries in the United States. I was certain John had to be interred in that plot. Unlike so many of my family gravesites, their plot had a huge headstone. John’s name does not appear on that stone. Sometimes a family doesn’t keep up with the engraving on a headstone; maybe they can’t afford to. For whatever reason I have discovered many interments not listed on a headstone but recorded in the cemetery’s records.

Calvary Cemetery charges an exorbitant amount of money to tell you the names of all the individuals buried in one plot. I paid them only to find out John Joyce is not buried in the Calvary plot he paid for.

For years I combed through the NYC Death Indexes available through several databases looking for John; convinced he had to have died in NY. Then last year a little shaky leaf appeared on John’s name in my family tree suggesting records from the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938. I sincerely doubted these could be records for my John Joyce; a man with a very common name. Upon careful review of the image of the document I saw the name of his wife listed; also a very common name, Mary Ann Joyce. 

What was not common about the record though was the family’s address. Listed right there was the address I knew to be that of my Joyce family in New York City in 1910. So as it turns out John Joyce died in a Soldier’s Home in Dayton Ohio. His death certificate will therefore be in Ohio.

Be careful to recognize what you know AND what you think you know.

For this exercise we are going to compare the New York City Death Index as recorded in a variety of databases.

For the first part you will need to use the website: https://www.germangenealogygroup.com/

They provide free access to the New York City Municipal Archives Death Records Index as they were one of the groups who originally volunteered to index the New York City Municipal Archives Death Records.

Why are we using New York City records, you might ask, as opposed to looking at records for your specific ancestors located wherever they may have died. Well, because it is estimated that approximately 40 percent of all Americans are descended from people who immigrated through Ellis Island during its years of operation; 1892 to 1954. Although not all of those immigrants ultimately settled in NYC, potentially a good percentage of you will have some relative who experienced some life event in NYC.

Go to https://www.germangenealogygroup.com/

On the left navigation bar, click Database Searches. That will expand the list and several boxes down you will see a button for Death Records. Click on the link for Death Records. That will expand again and several boxes down you will click on the link to NYC Municipal Archives. That link will open a search page for you.

Note that it will show you want date ranges are available for each county of New York City. Scroll down a bit and you will see a green button that reads “Continue to Database Search Form.” Click on that button.

Search for Gertrude Sheridan. She is my 3rd great aunt; the daughter of the aforementioned John Joyce. Therefore her maiden name was Joyce. She appears in the 1930 U.S. Census but I can’t find her in the 1940 census. I am assuming she died in the 1930s. According to census records she was born in about 1964 or 1965.

Can you find a death record in the German Genealogy Group’s index of NYC Death Records for Gertrude?

If so, record all the given details provided in the index.

Last Name, Given Name, Age, Date, Year, Certificate Number, and County.

Genealogy Lesson #18: End of Working with the Census and Introducing Vital Records

First, here are the answers to the scavenger hunt questions from lesson #17 posted on Tuesday, April 21, 2020.

Looking in the 1850 Census:

1. Where is the family of Leonard and Lydia Losee living in 1850?

• Leonard and Lydia Losee were living in Huntington, not Freeport Long Island. Huntington is a town on the North Shore of Long Island while Freeport is on the South Shore.

2. What is Leonard’s occupation?

• In the 1850 census Leonard’s occupation is listed as Hotel Keeper as opposed to Fisherman in the 1860 census.

3. Name the children living with Leonard and Lydia?

• Three children are living with Leonard and Lydia Losee. Mary J. Losee (age 10), John M. Losee (age 9), and Theodore Bennett (age 2)

Who the heck is Theodore Bennett and where are the children from the 1860 census that should be in the 1850 census, Benjamin F. Losee (should be age 7), Leander Losee (should be age 5)? These questions remain unanswered for me. 

One good records often answers some questions but stirs a few more.

What we have learned through using the census, though, is that it helps genealogists to see a family line evolve. It helps us to move back through time watching parents regress to children, as it were, and their parents become children as well. 

The census groups together family sets that we can watch grow and diminish, separate and come together. It is a handy, handy tool for genealogists. A tool that was not created for the needs of genealogists but one we most certainly benefit from. So fill out your 2020 census for the sake of generations to come.

For the next few lessons we are going to examine vital records. Vital records are the documentation of life events kept under governmental authority. In other words, official birth, marriage, and death records.

Just like with our census research we are going to work backwards through time beginning with someone’s death and moving back to the person’s marriage, if they had one, and then to their birth.

I encourage you to search in your own family documents to see if you own a family member’s death certificate. In our next lesson we will be dissecting the critical bits of data supplied by a death certificate and comparing death records to death indexes.

Genealogy Lesson #17: The 1850 U.S. Federal Census

First, here are the answers to the scavenger hunt questions from lesson #16 posted on Wednesday, April 15, 2020.

In the 1860 census you were look John Losee who was born on 17 August 1841 and his father Leonard Losee.

1. What is John Losee’s occupation?

• Fisherman

2. Is John’s occupation the same as his father Leonard’s?

• Yes, Leonard Losee is also listed as a fisherman.

3. How many children do Leonard and Lydia have living with them?

• 5

4. What are the children’s names?

• Mary Jane (age 20), John (age 19), Benjamin F (age 17), Leander (age 15), Sarah (age 4)

5. Which of the kids attended school in 1860?

• Benjamin and Leander.

6. What town and “Post Office” is this family residing in?

• Town of Hempstead, Post Office: Hempstead

Now, try your hand at finding my Losee line in the 1850 census.

As you recall, you can access the individual U.S. Federal Census record sets through a multitude of databases, however, we were using FamilySearch.org.

Sign into your FamilySearch.org account.

Click on Search. This is usually located in the top navigation bar.

Choose Records. This is usually accessible by hovering on the work “Search” in the top navigation bar.

Go to the “Find A Collection” section of the search page. This section is usually on the bottom right.

Type into the search box “United States Census” and you will see a drop down menu appear listing all the U.S. Census records sets.

Choose United States Census, 1850.

The 1850 census is the first to list every household member by name. Keeping in mind that enslaved people were not listed by name, instead they were listed on what are known as the Slave Schedules. Whereas the 1870 census often proves to be a stonewall for African-American genealogy researchers, the 1850 census often proves to be a barrier for those with Early American non-enslaved (white) lineage.

We won’t be examining the 1840-1790 census for now as those records only list the head of household followed by marks to indicate the number of family members categorized by race, sex, and age. Instead, we will be moving on to discuss other important genealogical resources; specifically, the vital records.

This 1850 census, though, is a curious census for me. Let’s see if your review of my Losee line in the 1850 census brings up the same questions for you as it does for me.

Look for John Losee (born on 17 August 1841) living in the household of his father Leonard Losee (born in about 1817). Remember that Leonard’s wife’s name is Lydia A. She was born in about 1820.

1. Where is the family of Leonard and Lydia Losee living in 1850?
2. What is Leonard’s occupation?
3. Name the children living with Leonard and Lydia?

Have fun and stay tuned!

Genealogy Lesson #16: The 1860 U.S. Federal Census

First, here are the answers to the scavenger hunt questions from lesson #15 posted on Tuesday, April 14, 2020.

1. Being that John Losee Jr. was born in 1870, he may not appear in the 1870 census. Although maybe he does. Can you find him?

• You should be able to find him.

2. If you can find John Jr., how old is he on the record?

• John Jr. is listed as being 2/12 in the 1870 census which means 2 months old. This is actually the record in which I learned his month of birth. Unlike the 1900 census which we learned listed everyone’s month of birth, the 1870 census listed the month of birth for anyone born within a year of the census which was taken in June of 1870. It clearly lists that John Jr. was born in March. Thus he was almost 3 months old.

3. What are the names of John Sr.’s children?

• John Losee St. is living with his wife and 4 children in his parents’ home; Leonard and Lydia Losee. His children’s names are Benjamin F (age 6), Georgianna (age 4), Oliver (age 2), and John Jr. (age 2 months)

4. John Sr.’s has a sister living in the household. What is her name?

• Right below John’s mother Lydia’s name, we see John’s younger sister Sarah Losee (age 14) listed as living in the household too.

In the 1870 Census an important detail disappeared from the recorded data. It didn’t list the relationships between the head of household and the people in the house. So you are left making assumptions about the relationships. For instance, is the younger woman really the wife and the little ones all that man’s children or could, on the rare chance, that younger woman really be the head of the household's widowed sister living there with her brother and her children? These things most certainly happened. 

In genealogy it is important to recognize the difference between what is stated in documentation and conclusions you are drawing on your own.

For now, try your hand at finding my Losee line in the 1860 census.

John Jr. won’t be there as he was after 1860, as were all his siblings. Look instead for his father John Losee who was born on 17 August 1841 in Freeport, NY and John Sr.’s father Leonard Losee. Also remember that Leonard had at least one other child, Sarah Losee who was born in about 1856.

After you find the census record answer the following questions:

1. What is John Losee’s occupation?
2. Is John’s occupation the same as his father Leonard’s?
3. How many children do Leonard and Lydia have living with them?
4. What are the children’s names?
5. Which of the kids attended school in 1860?
6. What town and “Post Office” is this family residing in?

Answers to these questions will appear in the next lesson as long as a bit of info on the 1850 census.

Have fun!

Genealogy Lesson #15: The 1870 U.S. Federal Census

Before delving into the significance of the 1870 census, here are the answers to the scavenger hunt questions from lesson #14 posted on Monday, April 13, 2020.

1. What are the first names of the other married couple in this household?

• The other married couple at the address Leonard Losee (age 64) and Lydia A. Losee (age 60)

2. How do you suppose the other married couple is related to John Sr.?

• Leonard and Lydia are John Losee Sr.’s parents

3. For how many months, if any, was John Sr. unemployed?

• 3 months. The question asks how many months the person has been unemployed in the census year, not in the last 12 months. This census was taken in June 1880 and already John Sr. has been unemployed for 3 months.

4. What was John Sr.’s occupation?

• John Sr. is an oyster planter as is his father, Leonard.

5. What is John Sr.’s wife’s name?

• Susan A. Losee

6. How was John Jr. feeling on the day this census was taken?

• John Jr., who was only 9 years-old on the day this census was taken, is listed as ill. He, along with his older brother Oliver C. (age 11) have chills and fever.

Now, the 1870 Census is of critical importance for those doing African-American family history research because it is the first one in which formerly enslaved individuals are recorded by name; meaning this may be the furthest back one can find their African-American ancestor in a U.S. Federal census record. Making the jump from the 1870 census back to the 1860 census can often prove to be challenging, if not impossible, for most African-American genealogy researchers. For a lot of African-American family lines 1870 is the brickwall. However, that is not always the case. So if you are of African-American descent, don’t resign yourself to thinking 1870 is the end of your research. It may be the end of researching that line in the census but it is not the end of your research.

Some African-American genealogy researchers may come to find that their people were actually free people of color in 1860 though, or they may be able to see how their surname was derived from a white slave owner and pinpoint the owner in the 1860 census. This is presented in many genealogy reality shows such as Finding Your Roots.

However, there are also other significant records that may extend one’s African-American research, such as the U.S., Freedman's Bank Records, which I will post about in the future.

For now, try your hand at finding my Losee line in the 1870 census.

To facilitate your search recall that my great-great grandfather, John M. Losee Jr. was born March 1870 in Freeport, NY and died 24 May 1940 in Freeport, NY. His father, John Losee was born on 17 August 1841 in Freeport, NY and died on 10 February 1918 in Freeport, NY.

After you find the census record answer the following questions:

1. Being that John Jr. was born in 1870, he may not appear in the 1870 census. Although maybe he does. Can you find him? 
2. If you can find John Jr., how old is he on the record?
3. What are the names of John Sr.’s children?
4. John Sr.’s has a sister living in the household. What is her name?

Answers to these questions will appear in the next lesson as long as a bit of info on the 1860 census.

Genealogy Lesson #14: The 1880 U.S. Federal Census

This week we’re going to finish up our scavenger hunt through the U.S. Census using my Losee family line.

As you recall, you can access the individual U.S. Federal Census record sets through a multitude of databases, however, we were using FamilySearch.org.

Sign into your FamilySearch.org account.

Click on Search. This is usually located in the top navigation bar.

Choose Records. This is usually accessible by hovering on the work “Search” in the top navigation bar.

Go to the “Find A Collection” section of the search page. This section is usually on the bottom right.

Type into the search box “United States Census” and you will see a drop down menu appear listing all the U.S. Census records sets.

Choose United States Census, 1880.

My great-great grandfather was John M. Losee Jr.(born March 1870 in Freeport, NY - died 24 May 1940 in Freeport, NY) Being a junior (Jr.) we can safely assume that his father was John Losee Sr. Although, one should keep in mind that Senior (Sr.) is not part of a man’s official name until he names a son after himself. For most of John Sr.’s life he was just known as John Losee. My 3rd great grandfather, John Losee was born on 17 August 1841 in Freeport, NY and died on 10 February 1918 in Freeport, NY.

You can search the 1880 Census for either John Losee, Jr. or Sr., as both would have been alive and well in 1880.

Answer the following questions:

1. What are the first names of the other married couple in this household?
2. How do you suppose the other married couple is related to John Sr.?
3. For how many months, if any, was John Sr. unemployed?
4. What was John Sr.’s occupation?
5. What is John Sr.’s wife’s name?
6. How was John Jr. feeling on the day this census was taken?

Stay tuned for answers in tomorrow’s post.

Genealogy Lesson #13: The 1890 U.S. Federal Census

I hope that you used this past weekend’s lack of lessons to reflect on what you have learned so far; especially from the maternity questions in the 1910 and 1900 census records.

You should have seen that Flora Losee had two children between 1900 and 1910; both of whom had survived until 1910. The one child she lost died before 1900.

A look at the numbers of births compared to living children on those two census records for all the adult women reveals a sad rate of infant mortality. Miscarriage is still common today, much more common than most people realize, but children born today have a much better chance of survival than they did 110 - 120 years ago. Thank God.

Turning our attention to the one more step back in the census, today’s info is about the 1890 Census.

The 1890 census, as most genealogy researches are sadly aware, was destroyed as a result of a fire where they were stored in the Commerce Building in Washington, D.C. on January 10, 1921. The the first census to be tabulated by a machine known as Hollerith’s Machine, didn’t actually go up in flames, though. It suffered water damages and was later destroyed in 1935. Many years after the fire, the Bureau of Census sent a list of papers no longer needed to the Librarian of Congress. The list included item 22, "Schedules, Population . . . 1890, Original." The Librarian didn’t identify the item as permanent and thus Congress authorized its destruction on February 21, 1933. The actual destruction didn’t take place for at least another 2 years. You can read more about the 1890 Census’s fate here: https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-1.html

It really is a terrible loss for genealogists because based on the existing aggregate data it represented a population increase of about 25% since the 1880 Census. That increase was in part the result of a tremendous amount of immigration that took place between 1880 and 1890. It also would have reflected a great amount of westward migration.

About 1% of it did survive though. Perhaps you are lucky enough to find your ancestors in the fragments that exist from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and the District of Columbia. Give it a shot. Take a look. My family isn’t in there though.

Genealogy Lesson #12: The 1900 U.S. Federal Census Uniqueness

1900 is my favorite census because it is the only one which records every person’s month of birth; not just the year. This is really helpful when you are looking for birth certificates. In a few days we’re going to start to discuss vital records. Vital records are birth, marriage, and death records. For now though, let’s reflect on the maternity questions which only appear in two censuses; 1910 and 1900.

In Lesson # 11, we looked for Ethel Losee-Earle’s mother, Flora Losee, and her answers to the maternity questions in the 1910 Census. It was reported that Flora had given birth to 7 children, 6 of which were alive in 1910.

Today when you look for Flora Losee (born about 1875), wife of John Losee Jr. of Freeport, New York, in the 1900 census you will see the answers gathered for the same maternity questions. Compare Flora’s 1910 answers to her 1900 answers. What can you deduce from both sets of responses?

Genealogy Lesson #11: The 1910 U.S. Federal Census Maternity Questions

Part of the reason I have chosen my Losee line for these exercises is that I have already traced this line though more than 100 years of U.S. Census Records. I want you to see what can be learned by really reading a record.

This line arrived on this continent in the mid-1600s. I am not oblivious though to the fact that you may not have ancestors who lived in the U.S. this far back or even as far back as the 1940 Census. If you have found your family in previous census searches you might have seen that years of immigration and naturalization status were part of the data collected. I have lessons coming on searching for immigration records in the near future. Let’s see these census searches through though.

The 1910 Census is one of my favorites because it is only 1 of 2 census that collected data for what are known as the maternity questions. In 1910 and 1900 all adult women were asked 2 questions; how many children had they given birth to and how many of those children were now living.

When you go looking for my great-grandmother, Ethel, at age 14 living in Freeport, NY with her parents John and Flora Losee, I want you to scroll up and down the page; take note of the difference between the numbers reported by each mother. The difference between the two columns often indicates that there were children who didn’t live long enough to be reported in any census records. Now granted there are instances when a child was alive in 1900 and didn’t live to see the 1910 census. Maybe those “children” were even adult children. We are going to see if that is the case when we compare today’s search of the 1910 census with tomorrow’s search of the 1900 census.

If you have any questions, just message me. AND please continue to explore census records for your own ancestors if you can.

Genealogy Lesson #10: Reflection on U.S. Census 1940, 1930, and 1920

A critical part of learning is reflection; pausing to ask one’s self what did I do, what have I learned, what more do I need to know, what worked, what didn’t work.

At this point you have looked at 3 datasets; The U.S. Federal Census records for 1940, 1930, and 1920.

Alongside looking for your own family in these record sets through FamilySearch.org, we learned a lot when looking for my great grandfather, Abram Earle.

Based on the 1930 Census, we hypothesized that Abram’s wife’s maiden name was Losee because there was a man living in the household named Forest Losee and Forest was listed as Abram’s brother-in-law. In Lesson #9 you were asked to examine the neighbors which revealed a Losee family living right next door.

In the 1920 census, the Losee family next door to Abram Earle was comprised of the following people:

• Losee, John Jr. Head 48
• Losee, Flora Wife 45
• Losee, Luman Son 25
• Losee, Forrest Son 22
• Losee, Marion Daughter 21
• Losee, Fred Son 17
• Losee, Chancy Son 10
• Losee, Georgianna Sister 53

Ah, there we see Forrest Losee. Even though the spelling of his first name is different from what we saw in the 1930 census, we can conclude that this is the same man. His name is unique enough and his age lines up with the man listed as the brother-in-law to Abram Earle in the 1930 census.

Spelling never counts. Think about the situation in which this record was created. A census taker came to the door and hand wrote what was said to him or her. You’re going to find a wide variety of spellings of surnames and first names as you go through records. You have to use the other details to help confirm if you have the right individual.

Based on the 1920 census we can now say that Ethel Losee-Earle was the daughter of John Losee Jr. & Flora Losee; the couple that lived next door. We can also see that Ethel was the second oldest child of at least 6 siblings; Luman, Ethel, Forrest, Marion, Fred, and Chauncy. It also appears that John Losee Jr., who will likely be the son of John Losee, had an older sister named Georgianna.

From the 1920 record we can also do some math and determine approximate years of birth for the family member. Like spelling, these dates may be off for several reasons. Perhaps the person who answered the door wasn’t sure of the household member’s age. Also, these censuses were taken in the spring so sometimes the family member hadn’t had his or her birthday yet.

• Losee, John Jr. Head 48 (born about 1872)
• Losee, Flora Wife 45 (born about 1875)
• Losee, Luman Son 25 (born about 1895)
• Losee, Forrest Son 22 (born about 1898)
• Losee, Marion Daughter 21 (born about 1899)
• Losee, Fred Son 17 (born about 1903)
• Losee, Chancy Son 10 (born about 1910)
• Losee, Georgianna Sister 53 (born about 1867)

We learned a lot from the census about the family and its members.

In the next lesson we will continue to push back through the U.S. Census. For now though, take some time today to reflect on what you have learned thus far about your family by looking at them in the 1940, 1930, and 1920 U.S. Census.

Message me if you need any help at all.

Genealogy Lesson #9: Moving Back a Generation in the 1920 Census

If you followed Lesson # 8 you learned that there was one person living in Abram Earle’s household that did not have the surname Earle. That was Abram’s brother-in-law, Forest Losee. Using our powers of reasoning, we can assume that Losee was Abram’s wife’s maiden name. It could also mean that Abram had a sister whose husband was living with Abram; that would also be a brother-in-law. However, no sister to Abram is living at the address and Forest is listed as single; not divorced or widowed. So let’s assume for the time being that Ethel’s maiden name was Ethel Losee.

Today, when you use FamilySearch.org to find Abram & Ethel Earle in the 1920 census, make note of the family names listed on the same page. We are looking for Losees.

It is not always true that people live near relatives but family lore tells me that prior to the Great Depression which began in 1929, several Losee families lived together on a family farm in Freeport. Does the 1920 census confirm that for us?

What are the names of the other families living on Stevens Street in 1920 alongside Abram and Ethel Earle?

To answer the other question from Lesson 8, it appears that none of the men in the household serve in WWI. At the far right of the 1930 census there is a column that records the answer to the question regarding military service. Did you see that?

In a later lesson we're going to look at military records and specifically the WWI Draft Registration Card. Today though let's look for Abram and Ethel Earle in 1920.

Reach out to me if you need any help.

Genealogy Lesson #8: Following that same line into the 1930 U.S. Federal Census.

Several people have reached out to me for the answers to yesterday’s scavenger hunt of the 1940 U.S. Federal Census. Abram Earle and his family were living at 79. West Roosevelt Ave. His wife Ethel was listed as 44 years-old.

Yesterday you tried your hand at finding my family and yours in the 1940 Census using FamilySearch.org. Today we’re going to do the same for the 1930 Census.

Sign into your FamilySearch.org account.

Click on Search. This is usually located in the top navigation bar.

Choose Records. This is usually accessible by hovering on the work “Search” in the top navigation bar.

Go to the “Find A Collection” section of the search page. This section is usually on the bottom right.

Type into the search box “United States Census” and you will see a drop down menu appear listing all the U.S. Census records sets.

Choose United States Census, 1930.

Do a search for my great-grandpa Abram Earle. Again, we know he was born in 1891 in Twillingate Newfoundland. After he immigrated to the U.S. he lived in Freeport, Roosevelt, Bellmore, and Merrick; all communities on the South Shore of Western Nassau County on Long Island, NY. His wife’s name was Ethel. And in addition to my grandpa, Edwin born in 1925, he has another son named Allen who was born in about 1915.

Find the record. After you find it in the list of hits. Click on the icon that looks like a sheet of paper. From there you can also access the image of the actual record.

Click on the image and tell me the name of the person in the household who is not an Earle. What is the person’s relationship to Abram? Did any of the men in this household serve in WWI?

Then try finding your relatives you found in the 1940 census yesterday in the 1930 census.

Online Genealogy Lesson #7: The 1940 U.S. Federal Census

Genealogy Lesson #7: Today you are going to search the 1940 U.S. Federal Census for one of your relatives and one of mine using FamilySearch.org.

The U.S. Federal Census you are responding to now in 2020 will not be made public until 2092. Long after most of us are passed. The aggregate data (the total population, the number of residents in your town, their ethnicities, ages, etc.) will be available within weeks of the conclusion of the census taking but the actual records do not become public until 72 years later. This is true of every U.S. Census and it’s done as a means of protecting privacy.

The most recent Census made available to the public is the 1940 Census which was released in 2012. The 1950 Census will be released in 2022. I can’t wait to see the 1950 because that will be the first time I can see my father listed in it.

Sign into your FamilySearch.org account.

Click on Search. This is usually located in the top navigation bar.

Choose Records. This is usually accessible by hovering on the work “Search” in the top navigation bar.

Instead of searching by first name and last name of the person try searching in a specific collection.

To do this go to the “Find A Collection” section of the search page. This section is usually on the bottom right.

Type into the search box “United States Census” and you will see a drop down menu appear listing all the U.S. Census records sets.

Choose United States Census, 1940.

My grandpa was somehow left out of the 1940 census but you are going to look for his parents.

Now do a search for my great-grandpa Abram Earle. He was born in 1891 in Twillingate Newfoundland. After he immigrated to the U.S. he lived in Freeport, Roosevelt, Bellmore, and Merrick; all communities on the South Shore of Western Nassau County on Long Island, NY. His wife’s name was Ethel. In addition to my grandpa, he had another son named Allen who was born in about 1915.

Find the record.

After you find it in the list of hits, click on the icon that looks like a sheet of paper. From there you can also access the image of the actual record.

Click on the image and tell me the address the family is living at and how old Ethel is.

Then try your hand at finding one of your relatives in the 1940 census.

Online Genealogy Lesson #6

Genealogy Lesson #6: The next series of lessons are focused on the U.S. Federal Census.

A census is a systematic recording of information about a specific population. It is often a regularly occurring official government count of the population of a country but they also exist for states, provinces, cities, and religious bodies.

Primarily the U.S. Federal Census is created to count the population in order to calculate each state’s representatives in Congress. However, it has become a really important genealogical resource because it presents families grouped together and provides basic demographic information which can help in the tracking down of other genealogical resources such as immigration records, vital records, and military records.

The U.S. Federal Census is taken every ten years on the years ending in “0”. Right now, in 2020, Census surveys are being mailed to homes across the country. Your responses to the 2020 will be collected online for the very first time in history. When the U.S. Federal Census began in 1790, though, the data was collected by a census taker who walked door-to-door asking a series of questions of each household.

For the first 50 years of the U.S. Federal Census the questions asked by census takers consisted of the name of the head of the household and how many individuals resided on the property catagorized by sex and age. That is pretty much it. As time has gone on though the number of questions and the amount of data collected has increased.

Before searching for specific census records, I’d like you to look at the wide variety of information the census will contain about your family throughout history. Check out: Measuring America: The decennial censuses from 1790 to 2000 by Jason Gauthier, written in 2002. Keep in mind this does not include information about the 2010 or 2020 census; still it is a wonderful resource. Check out pages 119-124. http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/pol02-ma.pdf

Online Genealogy Lessons #1-5

We are in the midst of a global health crisis. Beginning in late December of 2019 there was an outbreak of coronavirus, or COVID-19, in Wuhan, China. This world health issue has resulted in a nearly complete and utter halt to our lives as we knew them to be. 100% on non-essential employees in New York State have been ordered by the Governor to work from home if possible.

We are living through history. Unfortunately though, the pandemic still has an increasing death toll, mostly on those with underlying health conditions like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and otherwise compromised immune systems.

In an effort to provide some my Facebook friends with some distraction and activity to fill their new found time at home, I have been offering Genealogy Lessons online.

For those of you who would like to follow along here are the first 5 lessons to get you started:

Genealogy Lesson #1 (posted on Facebook on Sat. March 21, 2020):

Anyone really bored? I'm thinking of teaching a genealogy research class to anyone who is interested. First step. Fill out this form with everything you *think* you know your direct ancestors; parents, grandparents, great grandparents... You go on line #1, Dad on line #2, Mom on line number #3. Men are the even #s, Women are the odd numbers. Keep women with their maiden names. Surnames in all caps. Let me know if you are working along with my posts.

Genealogy Lesson #2 (posted on Facebook on Sun. March 22, 2020): 

If you missed it, yesterday I posted Lesson #1 which required filling out the attached pedigree chart. http://misbach.org/download/pedigree_chart.pdf

In genealogy research, just like on that pedigree chart, you start with yourself and move back through history. Think about it, your birth certificate is really your very first piece of genealogical documentation. It shows the connection between you and your parents.

Today's assignment is to look through and gather all the documents you already have that has genealogical value. One example, I already gave you, is your birth certificate. What other genealogical documentation do you have? Let's build a list of what we have that has info about our family on it. Go - - -

Genealogy Lesson #3 (posted on Facebook on Mon. March 23, 2020): 

The next few lessons focus on Living Resources.

I know you're wondering when we will get to really searching online for documents. Trust me. This is research. You want to collect all the family info you can before you start searching documents.

The pedigree chart you filled out in Lesson #1 is not documentation. It is a form genealogists use to organize the information they are collecting. Today I introduce you to a Family Group Sheet (FGS).

A pedigree chart does not allow you to record the names and vital dates of siblings, aunts/uncles, or cousins. An FGS does.

Fill out the FGS using your parents as the husband & wife. You and your siblings will be the children on the form. Save the file to your computer. http://misbach.org/download/FamilyGroupRecord.pdf

Genealogy Lesson #4 (posted on Facebook on Wed. March 25, 2020): 

You living relatives are a good source of information for your genealogy research. Now is an ideal time to reach out to a cousin to see what information they might have before you dig into your research online.

Call a cousin!

While talking with them try filling in another FGS, this time with your share grandparents as the couple at the top and your aunts and uncles as the children on the form.

Be sure to ask questions about names and vital dates they might know, locations where family members lived, causes of death, fond memories, and recollections of family events. I always start with questions like, "Tell me about grandpa/grandma."

Have fun. Enjoy talking with a relative.

Genealogy Lesson #5 (posted on Facebook on Fri. March 27, 2020): 

Now that you have gathered up all the info that you and your family members know, including info you have lying around your house, it is time to start searching in your online resources.

Today, I just want you to find out how you can access Ancestry for free or set-up a FamilySearch account.

Ancestry.com provides a free two week subscription. Many public libraries subscribe to the Ancestry Library Edition which one would need to use for free at their public library. However, during this health crisis, Ancestry has permitted many public libraries to make Ancestry Library Edition accessible to their patrons from their homes. Check your public library’s website for more details.

Regardless of your access to Ancestry, you can all subscribe to FamilySearch.org for FREE. Go to FamilySearch.org today to create a free account.

Tomorrow’s lessons will begin to focus on the U.S. Federal Census, it’s history, and how to search for your family in the records. Stay tuned.