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    1. Re: [INSHELBY] 1920 Census free two days
    2. Sure, Ancestry made some mistakes and the census taker made some mistakes. However 5 years ago we did not have Ancestry's index - we used Soundex if we were at the National Archives or some large library that had all of the census films. I am fortunate that I live in an area with both a National Archives branch and a large genealogy library - MidContinent in Independence, MO so I have had access to census but it used to take a lot of work. Both my husband and I often worked for 4 hours and would go home with maybe 4-5 census sheets and sometimes not that many. We enjoyed doing it but it was hard work. And while there is a Soundex for Indiana for 1900 and 1920 there is no Indiana Soundex for 1910. Researching Indiana was a lot harder for 1910 than for other states. There were a few companies that did sell CD's for a census index. I think we should be grateful for how much easier census work is in 2005 than it was just a few years ago. Also keep in mind that after the census taker went door to door asking the questions, the census sheet you see is the one he/she rewrote after he got home. This why the writing is uniform on a sheet. It may also account for some of the mistakes. Kathy

    06/16/2005 01:44:51