Thanks Kelly for the timely reminder on this. this is very true, and it is a job to do it line by line. It gets worse when you have to spread that search to the surrounding counties for the same reason. My sister and I are currently going county by county in Ok. and Texas for our grandfather's people. It can be overwhelming, but we break it down one step at a time. It's surprising and so exhilarating when we come across information that is just in plain sight, just had to look for it. This is why I never do only a "soundex source", doens't include all information. ----- Original Message ----- From: Priestly <troubles@bayou.com> To: <LALINCOL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, July 30, 1999 2:09 PM Subject: [LALINCOL-L] 1880 Census > To all the listers who have joined the "scream list," > > I just thought of this and thought that many of you might not know this > (I didn't until my last trip to the library...but it sure explains why I > can't find some folks on the 1880 Soundex). > > Quoting from the librarian's census book (forgot to get the name of it): > > "1880--Until recent years, the fastest method for finding names in the > 1880 census for most states was to use the Soundex, a PARTIAL index that > includes ONLY households with children ten years old and under in > residence. Compiled by the Work Projects Administration (WPA), the > Soundex index was designed to identify those who would be eligible for > Social Security. > Important to remember when using the 1880 Soundex is that, while a > large portion of the population is not indexed because many families had > no children ten years old or under, all individuals and families were > supposed to have been included in the original census schedules....." > > Yep...you read it right :o( If the folks you are looking for on the > 1880 didn't have a child under 10 years old living with them, then they > ARE NOT in the soundex! Pack a lunch and get out your reading glasses > and be prepared to spend the day at the library doing a line by line > search of the 1880 census microfilm :o( I know...I've done it....and > it's not fun...especially when you don't find who you were looking for > to begin with. > > Hope that helps someone, > Kelly Priestly > > > ==== LALINCOL Mailing List ==== > David A. Lewis, Lincoln Parish USGenWeb County Coordinator > http://www.av.qnet.com/~lewis/ >