THE MISSING 1890 FEDERAL CENSUS: The Eleventh Census of the United States taken in June 1890 would have provided a wonderful study of our country if available today. Over 47,000 enumerators usually chosen by political appointment, distributed the schedules in advance to give the residents time to complete the forms. Once completed the population of the US topped over 62 million individuals. Shortly before publication in 1896, the original 1890 special schedules for mortality, crime, pauperism and benevolence, special classes, and portions of the transportation and insurance schedules were damaged and finally destroyed by the Department of the Interior. According to a 1903 census clerk the general population schedules seemed to be in good shape at that time. However, disaster struck in the afternoon of January 10, 1921, when a building fireman reported seeing smoke in the Commerce Building where the schedules were located in the basement. The fire department was called and the fire was contained to the basement level of the building. However, water flooded most of the area. After the fire was extinguished, no immediate surveys were done of the damage. The records were allowed to remain soaking in water overnight and the next morning when the damage was assessed, the census director, Sam Rogers sent a note to the Secretary of Commerce reporting: ...a cursory examination show that the census schedules from 1790 to and including 1870, with the exception of those for 1830 and 1840, are on the fifth floor of the Commerce Building and have not been damaged. The schedules of the censuses of 1830, 1840, 1880, 1900 and 1910 have been damaged by water, and it is estimated that ten percent of these schedules will have to be opened and dried and some of them recopied. These schedules were located in the basement in a vault considered at the time to be fire and waterproof, but the archivist discovered a small broken pane of glass, which allowed water to seep in damaging the schedules located in low shelves." The 1890 schedule did not fair as well as it was located outside the vault. Approximately 25 percent of these schedules have been destroyed and it is estimated the 50 per cent of the remainder have been damaged by water, smoke and fire. The cause of the 1921 fire was never determined. Although some speculate that a worker in the basement was smoking and set off the blaze, others believe that bundles of papers spontaneously combusted causing the blaze. The remaining schedules of the 1890 census abandoned by the government, survived for many years. Rumors speculated that Census Director Sam Rogers had recommended that the schedules be destroyed. The public and historians were outraged and began a letter writing campaign which resulted in everyone being told that the records were NOT going to be destroyed and plans were being made to provide a suitable archive. In May of 1921, the census remained in temporary storage and the new census director William Steuart reported that they would gradually deteriorate, so they were returned to the census building for storage at his order. Ten years would pass and finally in December of 1932, the Chief clerk of the Bureau of Census sent the Librarian of Congress a list of papers to destroy. Included in the list was Item 22, "Schedules, Population-1890, Original." The librarian gave the OK to destroy these records including the 1890 Census Schedule. Congress authorized the destruction. Sadly, just one day before Congress authorized the destruction of the census, President Herbert Hoover laid the cornerstone of the permanent National Archives building. Many researchers fail to realize that some of the original schedules still exists. In 1942 during the move to the new building, a bundle of the Illinois schedules appeared during a shipment. In 1953, more fragments were discovered including those from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and the District of Columbia. The remnants of the 1890 census have been filmed and are available through many sources. There are only three rolls of microfilm containing the records. Only about 6,000 names are listed on these precious pieces of our past. According to the National Archives, the ONLY surviving U.S. census records for 1890 are as follows: ALABAMA-Perry County; two precincts only. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-two precincts only. GEORGIA-part of Muscogee County- town of Columbus only ILLINOIS-only one precinct in McDonough Co. MINNESOTA-Rockford precinct in Wright Co. NEW JERSEY-Jersey City in Hudson Co. NEW YORK-two townships in two counties: Westchester and Suffolk. NORTH CAROLINA-two townships in Gaston Co, and one in Cleveland Co. OHIO-Cincinnati in Ellis Co, and Wayne township in Clinton Co. SO DAKOTA-one township in Union Co. TEXAS-three precinct is Ellis Co, one in Hood Co, parts of two precincts in Rusk, two in Trinty Co, and one in Kaufman. - ------------------------------ Please go to url in my below signature for more on this and other This and That Genealogy Tips. ----Shirley Hornbeck - hornbeck@s-hornbeck.com MY HOME PAGE: <http://www.s-hornbeck.com/home.htm> HORNBECK SURNAME RESOURCE CETER: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/hsrc/home.htm> THIS & THAT GENEALOGY TIPS: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck> My book - THIS AND THAT GENEALOGY TIPS is published by Genealogical Publishing Co. Order from: <http://www.genealogybookshop.com/genealogybookshop/files/General,General_Re ference/9377.html> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hello. Questions about photocopiers: In the U.S. I see small "personal" photocopiers advertised for less than US$200. (Canon brand.) Would one of these operate on German electric lines with a converter plug? I'm quite ignorant about this.... Would one of our fellow researchers in Germany tell me how much a small "personal" photocopier might cost there? To what kind of store would you go? Cheers, Dolly in Maryland

I have recently been informed that a family member at age 12 walked to OR from IL or IND area. From the dates given it must have taken about 6 yrs to get there. He left in about 1839-42, and finally stayed 2 years in OR area.....not sure where. IS there any place to research his arrival......locations etc? And why did they leave in about 1840? Next question is that in 1849-50 he went to CA......I assume maybe for the gold rush era. He is seen in 1850 in WI buying about 240 acres of land. What would this have cost him in that day? Lots of unknown information about this family. Thanks for the help in advance. Kay in NC

Hi Jan, This link http://www.familytreemaker.com/support/general/09115.html will take you to the page that explains the Family Tree Maker mailing list. On the above page this link http://lyris.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=ftmtech-l will take you to the page to begin your sign up. Just click on "Join ftmtech-l" Regards, Judy

Thanks for the info, Shirley. I am in the process of transcribing the 1860 census for a county in Ohio and have noticed a few trends. One of these is that it seemed quite common to name one of the daughters after the mother. Of course I had known this is the common practice with sons and fathers but did not realize it was so common with the females. I have only found this once in all the families in my 'tree' so it was interesting to see and may help me in future searching. Another item I noticed during the transcribing was the obvious errors by the census taker. We all know that there was errors made by the enumerators but I have been totally surprised by the amount of obvious errors that I have seen. I have seen columns checked that say that 3 year old children or 65 year old adults attended school during the year; that 5 years old were married within the year; value of the personal estate of an unoccupied house was $50, etc. So, I must always remember to not take the census as hard facts and that some of the info could be in error. Karen

19th Century Naming Patterns: First son: named for his paternal grandfather. Second son: named for his maternal grandfather. Third son: named after father or father's paternal grandfather. Fourth son: named after father's oldest brother or mother's paternal grandfather. Fifth son: named after mother's eldest brother or father's material grandfather. Sixth son: named after father's second oldest brother or for mother's maternal grandfather. First dau: named for maternal grandmother. Second dau: named for her paternal grandmother. Third dau: named after mother or for mother's maternal grandmother. Fourth dau: named after mother's oldest sister or for father's paternal grandmother. Fifth dau: named after father's eldest sister or for mother's paternal grandmother. Sixth dau: named after mother's second oldest sister or for father's paternal grandmother. With people being what they are, there were all sorts of variations, some covered by rules and some by family decision. It was customary to name the next daughter/son born within a second marriage for the deceased husband/wife. If a father died before his child was born, the child was often named for him. If a mother died in childbirth, that child, if a girl, was usually named for the mother. Another child was commonly named for a child who had died within the family. DUTCH NAMING PATTERNS: The custom was that the lst son be named for paternal grandfather; 2nd son named for his maternal grandfather; lst daughter for her maternal grandmother; 2nd daughter for her paternal grandmother. If 4 children were born then all 4 grandparents are known. More tips at my This and That Genealogy Tips page in my signature below. ----Shirley Hornbeck - hornbeck@s-hornbeck.com - <http://www.s-hornbeck.com/home.htm> HORNBECK SURNAME RESOURCE CETER: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/hsrc/home.htm> THIS & THAT GENEALOGY TIPS: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck> THIS AND THAT GENEALOGY TIPS published by Genealogical Publishing Co. orders: <http://www.genealogybookshop.com/genealogybookshop/files/General,General_Re ference/9377.html>

I really don't know if this is where I should ask this question but here goes, my father was adopted in Arizona around 1907 by an Elizabeth Sehorn and someone found the information that she adopted a male child but I forgot to ask for the number for the file, So I want to know if online do they have a place where one can find such information? plus I deleted the person's name who send me that much, Any ideas of how I can get this would be appreciated Thank you Clara Missouri

Could someone please tell me if there is a mailing list for Family Tree Maker, similar to this General Tips. If there is, how do I get there to get on the list. Thanks you for any help you can provide. Jan mailto:hood@rica.net

Jan yes there is. go to: ftmtech-l-224G@lyris.genealogy.com put the one word Subscribe in the body of the message and send. Del the Dragon Associate Emeritus IBBSG Proud Rootsweb Sponsor V.P. CCH&GS ----- Original Message ----- From: Jan Hood <hood@rica.net> To: <GenTips-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2000 10:22 PM Subject: [GT] Family Tree Maker > Could someone please tell me if there is a mailing list for Family Tree Maker, similar to > this General Tips. If there is, how do I get there to get on the list. > > Thanks you for any help you can provide. > > Jan > mailto:hood@rica.net > > >

please remove me from gt list frank144@snip.nt Thompson wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <GenTips-D-request@rootsweb.com> > To: <GenTips-D@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2000 3:00 AM > Subject: GenTips-D Digest V00 #130

This and That Genealogy Tips is now available in print. See the url in my signature below to order a copy. ----Shirley Hornbeck - hornbeck@s-hornbeck.com - <http://www.s-hornbeck.com/home.htm> HORNBECK SURNAME RESOURCE CETER: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/hsrc/home.htm> THIS & THAT GENEALOGY TIPS: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck> THIS AND THAT GENEALOGY TIPS is published by Genealogical Publishing Co. Order from: <http://www.genealogybookshop.com/genealogybookshop/files/General,General_Re ference/9377.html>

GEDCOM - HOW TO READ IT - HOW TO USE IT: GEDCOM was originally designed by the LDS Church for their PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Program. It is the international language that allows my Personal Ancestral File to talk to your Family Tree Maker, Family Origins, Roots, or Brother's Keeper. Hopefully I can help you learn how to upload it, how to download it and if in a compressed state (.zip) how to uncompress it and if received in .txt format, how to convert it. Important to remember is that if you are going to receive these via e-mail , the person sending must send in the same format that you use (for instance IBM-compatible PCs use MIME while Macintosh use Bin-Hex). It is a good idea to tell the person sending this gedcom to you what you use. I use PAF 2.31 so my instructions may not work exactly the same for you if you use some other application. If you have something else, please tell me how you do it..... MAKE A GEDCOM: Most genealogy programs have the capability of making a gedcom, and when created it always ends in .ged extension (i.e. hornbeck.ged). To create a gedcom, open your genealogy program and look in the menus for GEDCOM, GIE, EXPORT or SAVE AS or FILE - SAVE AS. You should have an option to make and export and save a GED or Gedcom file. You will also have an option to select the drive you want it placed in, the directory you want it placed in, and an opportunity to give it a different name. TO SEND A GEDCOM: Prepare your GEDCOM and either save it to a floppy or somewhere on your hard drive where you can find it. Then, write a NEW message to the person you want to send the .ged file to. Do not hit REPLY to send this file. On your tool bar in your mail application, you will have an item "ATTACH FILE". Hit this and then send it. It should arrive as a .ged file not as text - however if it does, give them the following instructions on how to use it. RECEIVE A GEDCOM: When I receive a GEDCOM, whether by E-mail or by snail mail on disk, and it is a ---.ged file, the first thing I do it make a subdirectory in my PAF directory called "TEMP". I then transfer the - - --.ged to that directory and proceed to convert it to FR following instruction in PAF on how to do that. These instructions are for PAF so if you use some other genealogy application, you may have to experiment a little. After you receive an attachment by e-mail as a .txt file or the text is embedded in the e-mail itself, here is one of the easy ways to use it. 1. If it came embedded in the e-mail message as text, then in your mail application such as Eudora, which is what I use, go to FILE and click SAVE AS and save the message to a TEMP file. If you don't have a TEMP file, make one. If it came as an attachment and is already in your ATTACHMENT directory go to #2. 2. If it came as a .ged file, you can skip this part. If it came as a .txt file or embedded in the e-mail, go to File Manager or Windows Explorer and find the file in your TEMP directory. Open it by double-clicking on it. 3. If there is anything before HEAD and after TRLR, delete it being, careful not to delete TRLR itself. 4. Click on FILE and SAVE AS to a floppy disk in A drive renaming it so it ends in .ged instead of .txt. 5. Assuming you have your genealogy application set up for multiple family record directories, make a new directory for this GEDCOM naming it whatever you like. 6. Move the .ged file to the directory you just created. 7. Now follow the directions in your genealogy program to convert this GEDCOM into family records. If you receive a GEDCOM file that is split between two or more files, one with .ged as the extension and the others with .G00, .G01, G02, etc. - there are several ways to use these files. If it arrived through e-mail and the first .ged file is embedded in a message, you must follow instructions above to open and get rid of the text before HEAD and after TRLR in the first file. It is easy to work with these files if you put each one on a different floppy. Following your application's instructions, proceed to start the conversion to family records. It will ask for the next file (.G00) so insert that disk, then .G01, .G02, etc. If you receive this file as a .zip file, go to File Manager and move it to a TEMP directory. Double click on it and unzip it to that same directory. It probably will be one or more .ged files. Follow instructions above on what to do next. DO NOT ADD THE GEDCOM TO YOUR OWN FAMILY RECORDS FILE UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE VIEWED IT TO SEE WHAT YOU HAVE. AND before you add it to your own family record files, first make a GEDCOM of your files, or back them up, SO IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG, YOU CAN GET BACK TO WHERE YOU WERE! I invite your comments on how you do it and what works for you so I can add it to this tip. ----Shirley Hornbeck - hornbeck@s-hornbeck.com - <http://www.s-hornbeck.com/home.htm> HORNBECK SURNAME RESOURCE CETER: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/hsrc/home.htm> THIS & THAT GENEALOGY TIPS: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck> THIS AND THAT GENEALOGY TIPS is published by Genealogical Publishing Co. Order from: <http://www.genealogybookshop.com/genealogybookshop/files/General,General_Re ference/9377.html>

Try this also: http://www.lights.com/webcats/

Hello, William and others researching in Maryland. Check out the good resources at the Maryland State Archives website. (Recently added: 1783 Maryland tax assessment lists.) <www.mdsa.net> any problems, try <www.mdarchives.state.md.us> Cheers, Dolly in Maryland On Sat, 23 Sep 2000 WRB9234@aol.com wrote: > Searching for ancestors of William & Rachel Bassett, who patented > Bassitts's Choice in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1756. > Any help would be appreciated in scaling my "Brick Wall".

Searching for ancestors of William & Rachel Bassett, who patented Bassitts's Choice in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1756. Any help would be appreciated in scaling my "Brick Wall". Many thanks for any reply. William R. Bassett Wrb9234@aol.com

Check out: http://webcat.nacsis.ac.jp/webcat_eng.html Carl Sachs GenTips-D-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > Subject: > > GenTips-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 135 > > Today's Topics: > #1 [GT] WebCat ["Kathy Campbell" <katcamp@mediaone] > > Administrivia: > To unsubscribe from GenTips-D, send a message to > > GenTips-D-request@rootsweb.com > > that contains in the body of the message the command > > unsubscribe > > and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software > requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. > > TO POST TO THE LIST, PLEASE SEND MAIL TO: > > Gentips-l@rootsweb.com > > ______________________________ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: [GT] WebCat > Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 18:36:14 -0400 > From: "Kathy Campbell" <katcamp@mediaone.net> > To: GenTips-L@rootsweb.com > > Does anyone know if there is any way to access WebCat, the gigantic Web > Catalogue, from your home computer without being a student or a librarian? I > used to have access as I was an employee of our local junior college. I > wanted to search for the location of some genealogical books. > > Thanks. > kathy

Greetings fellow listers, I too would love to know how to acess this "Webcat". Thanks Diane Montgomery Parsons Kentucky Surname Exchange http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kyroots/surnames.html East Kentucky Genealogy: Official Website for the Eastern Kentucky Genealogy Mailing List ! http://genweb.net/Kentucky-Roots/ EASTERNKENTUCKY-L-request@rootsweb.com Wolfe County Genealogy http://www.rootsweb.com/~kywolfe Confidentiality Warning: This e-mail contains information intended only for the use of the individual (s) named above. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, any dissemination, publication or copy of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender. Thank you.

Does anyone know if there is any way to access WebCat, the gigantic Web Catalogue, from your home computer without being a student or a librarian? I used to have access as I was an employee of our local junior college. I wanted to search for the location of some genealogical books. Thanks. kathy

Every few months I take time to write to several elderly relatives just really to keep in touch and check in on them. However, I also ask them a few questions about the family and about recollections of their early years. Sometimes this triggers memories and new facts for me to add to my research. Well, today I received a large packet from an elderly Aunt. I had written to her many times and my sister even drove nearly 500 miles to see her, to try to find out more infomation on this side of the family. We were never able to get much and have thought maybe she was getting Alzheimer's. Well, the packet came in response to my latest note to her and my asking for a few birth dates. (She said she was sorry about not sending it sooner but couldn't remember who wanted the information.) She finally sent me all the family group sheets on her whole family--- parents, brothers, sisters, children, etc! Also she enclosed a picture of my father as a child --- one I had never seen. But the best part was a copy of a newspaper article from 1935 that told about my great-grandfather and grandmother. In the article it gave the married name of my gr- grandfather's sister and where she lived in 1935! I had lost track of this sister. So the ending to this rather long story is to never give up trying to get a little more info from your relatives. Keep up the correspondence. Karen

hi all, i had this thought a few days ago and wanted to share it with you. When you are looking for an obituary, it is possible, that the family did not put one in the newspaper. one reason that a family may not wish to publish one is for the security and safety of the family. a widow i know in my town, did not publish her husband's obit because she did not want strangers knowing that she was now alone. also, another reason is the cost of running the obit in some newspapers is astronomical. Just a thought when you run into that brick wall relating to obits. Linda __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/