Beginning Lesson #17 SOUNDEX CENSUS INDEXES When accessing US Federal Census records from 1880-1920 its wise to use the soundex cards on microfilm to locate your ancestors first. This coding system accounts for similarities in the phonetic sound of names, regardless of spelling irregularities. Its interesting to note that the soundex for the 1920 US Federal Census takes up more rolls of microfilm than the actual census. How to code your surname: this code represents the letter: 1 b,p,f,v 2 c,s,k,g,j,q,x,z 3 d,t 4 l 5 m, n 6 r Using the above referenced coding system, one would take the name STEVENSON 1. Write down the first letter of the surname - S 2. Cross out all vowels, and you are left with - tvnsn 3. You will need three numbers after the S for the complete code. Merely work through the list of remaining consonants (eliminating duplicate letters) until you fill up the three positions. You would get S315 If you run out of letters like with the surname Lee, insert the number 0 in the remaining positions. You would write down the letter L, then cross out the vowels, and you are left with no more letters to code. Replacing the empty spaces with the number zero, you would get: L000 as the soundex code. Now that you've got all that down pat, keep in mind some very important cautions when coding certain names, and when using computer soundexing programs! According to a recent article by well-known PAF utility programmer, Ann P. Turner appearing the March 1997 PAFinder Newsletter (see below - further reading): There is a "little tricky problem... and ...seldom mentioned is (the fact) that H and W do NOTcount as separators, so the S and the C in Ashcroft are considered to be adjacent letters and get one code." Her solution? "If you are relying on PAF's (Personal Ancestral File) soundex feature, you should enter the name with and without any H's or W's to see if there is a difference in the result." Oddly enough, she reported that "the computer at the National Archives Pacific branch does not give the correct result, nor is the correct code given in the book by Bradley W. Steuart, The Soundex Reference Guide: Soundex Codes to over 125,000 Surnames." What a soundex card typically shows: Surname, given name, age, sex, race, enumeration district, city, county and state of residence, others in household, including the relationship, page and line number in the original census record. Limitations of Soundex: 1880 - lists only households with children under the age of 10. Missing 1,000 cards for the O part of the soundex. (According to The Source (1st edition), p100, the missing O's are available from Nancy Gibb, 1208 Maple Avenue, Evanston, IL 60101 for $15,) 1890 - only 1% of the census survived a fire, not soundexed. 1910 - only 21 states soundexed/miracoded. (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.) Miracode cards show visitation number rather than page and line number in original census record. What to do when you find your ancestor in the Soundex: Make a photocopy of complete abstraction of the information included on the soundex card for your ancestor. The cards list the enumeration district, city, county and state, and page number to locate the original entry. The next step is to look at the microfilm of the indicated census record. You may have to order the microfilm by viewing a catalog, if the exact film is not immediately available at your local <A HREF="aol://4344:167.my970213.14194 28.540341789">public library</A> or <A HREF="aol://4344:167.myrtfhc.1414158.53 1675763">LDS FHCenter</A>. Further Reading: Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives, National Archives Trust Fund Board. Revised 1985. Chapter 1, p9-38. "Soundex Coding Rules Complexified", Ann P. Turner, PAFinder Newsletter March 1997, Vol 8. No. 3., Silicon Valley PAF Users Group. URL: <A HREF="http://www. genealogy.org/~svpafug/">http://www.genealogy.org/~svpafug/</A> The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, Arlene Eakle & Johni Cerny, editors. <A HREF="http://www.ancestry.com">Ancestry Publishing Company</A>, revised 1997. Chapter 4, p 91-129.