I received this address from PolandRoots mail list. I am looking for a grandfather's "where- abouts" for the years 1904 and prior...I suspect that the 1900 Illinois census is a long shot but I need to try it. My grandfather's name is Nikolaj Swider, age 24 in 1900. He changed his name to Swiderski at some point. He is said to have lived in Chicago. We have no idea when he got there, what he did there or where he lived.The "story" we have been told is that he came to Canada on a "harvest excursion" on at least two occasions, the last time in 1904 when he remained here. Looking forward to any info....eleanor

The harvest excursions were quite a common thing - My husband's father came up from Illinois with the Marvel family to do harvest work in Saskatchewan. They then came to Manitoba, and he decided to stay here, having been introduced to my husband's mother. They married in 1925. So this "trek" from the US to Canada for harvesttime existed for quite a number of years. Muriel Winnipeg ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eleanor Ritchie" <eritchie@sasktel.net> To: <IL-CENSUS-LOOKUP-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2004 12:42 PM Subject: [IL-Cen.] lookup > I received this address from PolandRoots mail list. I am looking for a > grandfather's "where- > abouts" for the years 1904 and prior...I suspect that the 1900 Illinois > census is a long shot > but I need to try it. My grandfather's name is Nikolaj Swider, age 24 in > 1900. He changed > his name to Swiderski at some point. He is said to have lived in > Chicago. We have no idea > when he got there, what he did there or where he lived.The "story" we > have been told is that > he came to Canada on a "harvest excursion" on at least two occasions, > the last time in 1904 > when he remained here. Looking forward to any info....eleanor