The Whitney Research Group's Census Identification Project is progressing well! For those of you who might be unfamiliar with it, we are attempting to identify every Whitney listed on the early census records and link the census entry to the family group pages, and vice versa. This work has allowed us to make many connections that we have never made before - the pieces are starting to fall into place. 1790 Census: NEARLY COMPLETE We have been able to identify 367 of the 385 (95%) of the Whitneys on the 1790 census! The states of MA, CT, ME, and RI have been 100% identified. VT (93%), NY (91%), and NH (89%) are nearly complete, but NC (50%), PA (50%), and SC (0%) need more work. Jeanne Neilon has agreed to help us out with our understanding of the southern Whitney families. We need to get the Whitneys of the south better documented, but we need help! Neither Robert nor I are experts in southern research. 1800 Census: ONGOING We have been able to identify all but 101 Whitney households 1810 and later Censuses: NOT YET STARTED How can you help? We need volunteers who have subscriptions to the Ancestry.com census records to help with extracting the 1830 census. If you have access and would be willing to help, please contact me. Related Web Pages: Main WRG Website: http://wiki.whitneygen.org/ Census Identification Project Page: http://wiki.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php/Census_Identification_Project Thank you! Tim Doyle & Robert Ward Whitney Research Group Website Co-Administrators http://wiki.whitneygen.org/ -----Original Message----- From: whitney-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:whitney-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Tim Doyle Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 6:16 PM To: whitney@rootsweb.com Subject: [WHITNEY] FW: WRG Census Project We've all searched the census records as we've traced our own families. We typically start with the most recent census and then work backwards, following our family back through time. If we're lucky enough to get back to 1840 and earlier, we hope that we've identified the right family as only the head of household's name is listed. Each of us typically does this on our own, but what if we get it wrong? What if two of us claim the same person in one of these earlier census records and one of us is wrong? How would we ever know? What if someone mysteriously shows up in a location, and leaves no trail of where he came from? How can he be identified? To solve these issues, Robert and I have undertaken yet another WRG project! Name: The Census Identification Project Goal: Gain a better understanding of Whitney families by analyzing census records. Identify each Whitney in the census and create links between each census extract and the appropriate Family Group Page (FGP). Steps: 1. Start with 1790 & move to the next census when complete. 2. Re-extract the census entries 3. Identify individuals (using search, locality pages, etc.) 4. Create links from census extract pages to/from FGPs 5. Create new FGPs as new families are identified 6. Make and document any new learnings Benefits: 1. Allows us to follow each family through the census 2. Allows us to identify families who moved by the process of elimination 3. Allows us to identify those missing from the published census indexes and attempt to find them We're about 2/3 of the way through the 1790 census and we've already made a few connections. Robert Ward has stated "the analysis of the 1790 census entries has led me to some connections I hadn't made before. It has also led me to the realization that we are close to a tipping point, and to having a critical mass of data. Once we pass that point, we should be able to make even more connections, and when someone posts a query, we are, and will be, more and more able to answer it." Tim Doyle & Robert Ward Whitney Research Group Website Co-Administrators ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to WHITNEY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message