1940 Census is live!!

The 1940 census has gone live!! The National Archives has browsing available for all forty eight states and five territories (Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and the Virgin Islands) and the District of Columbia. Because this census has just been published, it isn't indexed yet. There are ways to work around that but you need to either know where your family lived in 1930 or what their address was in 1940 to find them. Some cities are making this easier by digitizing their 1939 and 1940 telephone directories. New York City is one of them (click here to view that site). If your family's city isn't one of these then you will need to do a bit more work.

The next step is to check out the fabulous website created by Steve Morse and convert the 1930 district to the 1940 district (districts changed as cities grew so after ten years it is more than likely that you will need to convert it). You can get the Enumeration District from the 1930 census (available at FamilySearch). Or, if you have an address, you can go to Google Maps and find the address and the nearest cross roads. This will narrow your Enumeration District to one instead of two or three or four.

Each enumeration district contains anywhere from 1 to 50 pages. Since there is no index yet, once you have the Enumeration District you will need to browse, page by page, through the census information. Depending on the handwriting and quality of the scan this could take a few minutes or a few hours. Steve Morse's website links straight to the National Archives, where the site cannot be adjusted for size and is very large. It requires a lot of scrolling side to side and up and down. The image at the National Archives is so large that you can only view eight lines at a time. The benefit of the National Archives, at least for now, is that they are free and already complete. Ancestry is nearly complete. Their records can be scanned through page by page rather than line by line and can be enlarged or reduced depending on the reader's requirements. Ancestry is offering free access to the 1940 Census until April 10 at midnight. FamilySearch is also working to scan the census and, although they are moving a little slower, they have a lot of the same features as Ancestry but are free!

So fire up your computer and turn back the clock! You never know what secrets you'll find....

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1940 Census Countdown

T-32 days and counting until the release of the 1940 census! New information includes education level, 1935 residence and detailed income questions. Unfortunately, the census won't be indexed when it goes live. That's where you can help! FamilySearch is looking for people to help index the census. Sign up at FamilySearch and speed up the process. Happy indexing!

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Another Season of Who Do You Think You Are?

NBC is launching the third season of their Genealogy Detective Show, "Who Do You Think You Are?" on February 3 at 8 pm. This seasons lineup includes Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen. Although a true genealogy detective knows that its a lot harder in real life to get to the records, its still fun to see what is out there and how they fit together to fill in the puzzle of our ancestors. And you never know when you might find a long lost cousin in Hollywood!

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RAOGK

For those of you who have been using and/or volunteering for RAOGK, there is some sad news. On October 16, 2011 the web site went down due to the illness of its creator, Bridgett Schneider. On November 12, 2011 Bridgett passed away. As of right now the web site is down although Bridgett's husband is determined to get it started again. So keep an eye out for this invaluable resource to come back and keep the family in your thoughts.

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Obituary searches just got a whole lot easier!!

There seems to have been a sudden explosion of web sites recording obituaries. Here are two sites that I have found useful. If you use Ancestry.com you will notice that they are linking off site to a rootsweb obituary index. This link takes you to the Obituary Daily Times where contributors post the paper and date the obituary was in the paper. The newspapers cover Canada and the United States and to see the list check the Publication List. This is especially helpful if you are not sure whether or not an obit was printed in the first place! The second site is Obitz.us. This site is rather confusing as it uses three windows but once you get the hang of it, the obits are full text. Some are new and some are old and they seem to cover a large range of the United States. There are a number for the Pacific Northwest. And you can always check our index for the Spokane Papers! Happy hunting!

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Hunting in Ireland

Many Americans claim Irish heritage but locating a specific family member in Ireland can be difficult, even if you know their name. The Irish used many of the same names over and over again, often people died young, especially during the famine years, and once in America, many Irish embraced their new country and their history in Ireland was lost to future generations. However, Ireland has long catered to the genealogically curious and now there are several free sites that can help you find your Irish family. The first is a government run site called Irish Genealogy. Irish Genealogy has church records from Counties Kerry, Dublin, Carlow and Cork and they are continuing to add records to the site. Baptism, marriage and death records were recorded by the Roman Catholic church and can be invaluable when trying to locate an ancestor. The second site is RootsIreland and provides access to "over 17 million church, civil, land, census and gravestone records for the majority of Irish counties." There is a fee to view full details but basic information is free. If this doesn't help you can always hire a genealogist. Find a reliable one at Associations of Professional Genealogists in Ireland! Happy hunting!

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Local Genealogy Event

Many of you know that one of Spokane's most famous residents was Bing Crosby. This spring the Washington State Library is teaming up with Gonzaga University and local genealogy groups to host the event Road to Spokane: Bing Crosby's Family History on March 5, 2011 at the Jundt Art Building on the campus of Gonzaga University. Although the event is based on Bing Crosby the afternoon breakout sessions will help you with researching your own genealogy. The event is free but you are required to sign up in advance and you must be registered by February 28. To register and for a detailed schedule you can check out the web site here. Hope to see you there!

Posted in Records, Research, Spokane, Surnames, Washington State | Permalink | No Comments »

Where do you come from?

Have you ever wondered where your last name originated and where people with your last name live now? The geographers at University College London have created a way to do just that! Simply go to Public Profiler and enter your name and email address. The computer program draws from phone books world wide to identify the probable location of thousands of surnames. To read more about the program check out the National Geographic blog or go straight to the site. You can zoom in by clicking on the country or state you are interested in. Provides hours of fun and may become an addiction!

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New Way to Search Online Newspapers

Google has finally created a better way to search the old newspapers that it has digitized. The alphabetized search here allows you to browse titles. Now you can view what has been digitized, what years are available and search specific titles. This also helps to clarify why sometimes you can find a lot and sometimes you can't find anything. Remember, if you find something you like from a Spokane paper let us know and we can scan and send it to you (Google doesn't allow you to save images). Just send us the newspaper title, edition and page number. Happy hunting!

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Social Networking for Genealogists

Have you ever wondered if you could only find a living relative, you'd find what you were looking for? But you've checked the obituaries and the directories and hit a dead end. You know their name but not where they live. Enter - Facebook! The social networking site has millions of groupies, many of whom aren't listed in the traditional phone books. I have contacted numerous relatives this way and had great results! Everyone has been eager to learn more about their families and were more than willing to share what they knew. I have found photos I didn't know existed, obituaries I couldn't find, marriage records, diaries, and much, much more! So if you haven't created an account yet, get to it! You might just find that relative you didn't think you'd ever locate....

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