Coloring The Mom-in-Law I Never Met

Although I never met my mother-in-law, Marian Jane McClure Wood (1909-1983), it has been my honor to keep her memory alive through family trees and bite-sized family history projects. And captioned photos!

At top, a page from the ancestor coloring book I created for the Wood family. Marian is shown with her husband, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986). 

I began with a color portrait of the two, then used photo software to turn the color into black-and-white. Next, I used the "pencil sketch" feature to soften the contrast and allow plenty of white space for coloring. 

This page of the coloring book mentions relationships, for their grandchildren to note when they color. I'll change the relationship info for the youngest generation soon.

Posting Photos and a Bio on Genealogy Sites

Another way I'm memorializing my mom-in-law is to post photos (with attribution "courtesy: Wood family") on Family Search, MyHeritage, Find a Grave, Ancestry, and other genealogy sites. I've also posted her brief bio on these and other sites. 

I feel a bit sad that I never met my mother-in-law...but every day is Mother's Day as I memorialize her for future generations.

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Mother's Day is this week's #52Ancestors prompt from Amy Johnson Crow. 

Make Moms Memorable By Retelling Stories

For Mother's Day, I'm retelling the stories of generations of moms in my family tree. Not just in writing (here, and on many genealogy websites) but also in person, as I attend the first family gathering since the pandemic began. 

My goal is to have future generations recognize the faces and retain the stories of ancestors who are gone but not forgotten.

My maternal grandma Hermina "Minnie" Farkas (1886-1964) was a talented seamstress who almost certainly made the dress she's wearing in the photo above. The photo was taken in New York City, when Minnie was in her early 20s. This was a few years before she married my grandpa Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz (1887-1965). Both were immigrants who came through Ellis Island when they were young teens.

I didn't see this photo or hear this story until decades later, when a cousin explained that Minnie's parents wanted her to marry someone they considered more suitable. When this man came to the apartment with an engagement ring, Minnie threw it out the window! Supposedly, her brothers scrambled down the stairs to retrieve the ring, but that part of the story is a bit murky.

Grandma finally convinced her parents to let her marry Grandpa Teddy, who was then working as a runner for steamship lines in lower Manhattan. Family story is that he arrived late to the wedding because his horse had run away. Later, after Grandpa opened a small dairy store in the Bronx, New York, Grandma worked beside him while raising three children.

Retelling stories like these will keep Minnie and Teddy alive as three-dimensional people with hopes and dreams, not just names and dates on faded photos.

Happy Mother's Day to my Grandma, who married Grandpa nearly 110 years ago.

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For more ideas about keeping family history alive for future generations, please see my best-selling genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past. Available on Amazon and through the bookstore at AmericanAncestors.org.

Great Uncle Orville's Bootlegging Charge

Was my husband's great uncle Orville J. Steiner (1856-1936) guilty of bootlegging? Orville was the only brother of hubby's grandma Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948). 

Every year, I rotate newspaper subscriptions and plug in ancestors' names, looking for news stories. Most of the time, I find social items. This time, when I researched Orville, I found a surprising legal charge and a surprising outcome to the case.

Charged with bootlegging, fined $50

The Marion (Ohio) Daily Star newspaper of December 31, 1908 reported that Orville Steiner and two other men were being charged with bootlegging, selling alcohol in violation of temperance laws in the "dry" area. 

The men were arrested after a "prosecuting witness" named Drell Blue filed affidavits about the liquor purchases. Blue appeared in court with a detective from the Law & Order League, a group advocating for decency and enforcement of laws related to liquor, vice, and other activities (see this brief summary from Chicago). The reporter said this was a long, tedious, and "uninteresting" trial.

In January 9, 1909, the paper reported that the mayor had found Orville guilty of "selling intoxicating liquors" and fined him $50 plus court costs. 

What happened to the whisky? 

In the Marion (Ohio) Daily Star issue of January 29, 1909, a longer story explained the background of the case. "Prosecuting witness" Drell Blue said he bought two half-pints of whisky from Orville. However, Blue would not tell what he did with the whisky, fearful of incriminating himself. 

The witness's refusal to say what happened to the whisky put the entire legal proceeding into doubt. As a result, the judge reversed the mayor's guilty finding and threw out the $50 fine levied on Orville.

That was the last newspaper mention of bootlegging for this ancestor. In the eyes of the court, great uncle Orville Steiner was not a bootlegger--at least not in 1908-9.

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Crime and punishment is the #52Ancestors blogging prompt for this week.

Memorializing Moms in My Family Tree

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Sunday is Mother's Day, and also the 140th anniversary of the birth of my paternal grandmother, Henrietta Mahler Burk (1881-1954). I'm in the process of preparing bite-sized ancestor biographies, and decided to jump Henrietta to the top of the list in honor of her special day.

Using my research notes, I wrote a few paragraphs summarizing Henrietta's life as an immigrant ancestor and mother of four. I'm the manager of her Find a Grave memorial, which makes it fast and easy to update the page with a basic bio (see excerpt above). Previously, I had posted a gravestone photo and a head shot with digital caption showing her name and the photo's date. I used this opportunity to double-check Find a Grave links to other family members and add Henrietta to my virtual cemetery.

Then I posted Henrietta's bio on WikiTree, where her head shot was already in place on her profile. 

This version of the bio includes brief source citations inside square brackets, to be filled out later with more detail. 

Soon I'll be adding more relatives to Grandma's part of the tree, with sources and photos. 

WikiTree asks for an explanation when profiles are changed. I wrote: "enriching biographical sketch."

I've also posted Henrietta's bite-sized bio on MyHeritage. And on Family Search!

Posting bios and photos online keeps Grandma Yetta and other ancestors alive for future generations.

Happy Mother's Day to the Moms in my family tree!

Why I Now Digitally Caption Copies of Ancestor Photos

In the past few months, I've been increasing my use of digital captioning on copies of scanned ancestor photos. 

It's an easy process: First, I create a digital copy of my scanned original photo. Next, I use photo software to write name and date on the copy. Then I save the photo with a "caption" notation in the file name.

If I'm going to post the photo on a public genealogy website, I now add an attribution to the caption (see photo).

Why digitally caption old family photos?

1. Keeps photo and caption together. Too often, photos and captions are separated. Maybe a relative wrote a note that was (ouch) clipped to a photo or a photo was removed from the album for scanning or storage, leaving the caption behind. With digital captions, descendants and researchers won't wonder who's in the picture (dates and places are a plus).
2. Convenient digital sharing. Especially when I connect with cousins for the first time, captioned digital photos allow me to easily share ancestor faces, names, and dates. It's convenient because the captioned versions are self-explanatory. I can always share non-captioned photos, if needed, because the original scan is intact.
3. Give credit where credit is due. I want to make it crystal clear whose photos these are. I don't obscure a big part of the photo in doing this, but I do want to acknowledge which family is kindly sharing the photo.  

Of course I realize that photos on public blogs (like this) and on public trees are visible to the world and easily copied. 

On genealogy sites such as Ancestry, it's quite common (and encouraged) to have photos and documents saved to other members' trees. The Ancestry system automatically includes the notation of who originally uploaded the image and when. 

That little notation makes all the difference. It credits me as the person responsible for submitting the image, and it acts as cousin bait in case someone wants to get in touch to discuss ancestors. 

This isn't the same as copying from my tree or my blog and moving a photo to an entirely different website.

No copying and reposting without permission

Recently, Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist, wrote a detailed blog post explaining that copying photos and reposting without permission is illegal. Judy linked to the terms of use for several major genealogy websites. She included an excerpt from Family Search, indicating that users are legally responsible for content they post.

I'd just discovered that someone I don't know had copied some photos from my Ancestry family tree, without my knowledge or permission, and put them on the Family Search tree. Judy's comments encouraged me to take action.

After writing that person to ask whether we are related, with no answer, I tried a more direct approach. I politely and firmly requested that my photos be removed because they violate the Family Search terms of use. I said I would contact officials at Family Search and make them aware of the violation if my photos weren't deleted.

Within one hour, the user answered with a terse note saying the photos were taken down. I confirmed they were gone and responded: "Much appreciated."

My digital attribution ("courtesy: Wood family") is a strong and unambiguous public statement of the source of the photo. If all my public photos had this attribution, I suspect none would have been copied and posted to Family Search.

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The Genealogy Blog Party's May theme has to do with photography. This is my entry!

My 1950 U.S. Census Release To-Do List: May 1 = Moving Day

This year, I'm taking steps to find a street address for each key ancestor enumerated in the 1950 U.S. Census. I want to be ready to find them when the unindexed Census records are made public in 2022.

Even when I do find these ancestors in the Census (browsing images in the Enumeration District where each lives), I have to remember that within a month, some city-dwellers could be living elsewhere.

The Tradition of Moving Day

In the Big Apple, May 1 was when all rental leases expired. The same was true in Chicago for many years, and other big cities as well.

Families that lived in apartments spent the weeks before May 1 talking with new landlords who might be willing to negotiate rents or offer another incentive to move. Renters also signed contracts to have moving companies lug furniture to the new place on Moving Day.

Moving Day is unlikely to change where I look for my urban ancestors in the 1950 Census, since they were probably counted in the early days and weeks of enumeration. But it does remind me that the 1950 Census address might be only one in a long line of address changes for each ancestor.

Look for an address after May 1949

My recently married parents (Harold Burk and Daisy Schwartz) were in their second New York City apartment by the time of the 1950 Census. Their parents and other relatives, however, weren't necessarily living in the same apartment in April of 1950 as they were in April of 1949.

Similarly, in the Chicago branch of my family, many were renters. From one Census to another, I noticed that many of these ancestors changed apartments--and very likely they moved more than once in the decade between each Census Day.

So as I research my New York City and Chicago ancestors who were renters, I'm trying to find addresses after May of 1949. I'm looking at birth records of their post-WWII babies, city directories, phone directories, advertisements, news articles, and social items in the newspaper, among other sources. 

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This is part of my series of blog posts about getting ready for the 1950 Census release, which will occur on April 1, 2022. 

What's NOT in the Picture?

This week, my wonderful husband used Google Street View to "look" at different parts of his old neighborhood in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. We've used Street View before, mostly looking at family homes and schools. This time, he explored further from his childhood home.

He remembered a line of sturdy brick storefronts, similar to the stock photo above, within walking distance from where he grew up.

He was shocked when he saw what the area looks like today.

No stores along what used to be a busy shopping street. No drug store, no record store, no movie theater, no hair salon, no deli. 

These favorite places from his past had been completely demolished.  

Reconstructing the past

Seeing the dramatic changes to that street caused him to reach back into his memory bank and mentally reconstruct the line of stores that once stood there.

In his mind's eye, he could see the entire block and tell me exactly what was gone. He remembered funny stories from his first after-school job at the drug store. He recalled buying albums at the record store, snacking at the deli, taking dates to the movies. He even summoned up the names of friends who worked at some of these businesses. 

He told me new stories as he mentally took a nostalgic and emotional walk down memory lane, one favorite place at a time.

Trying to spark memories

I haven't been quite as surprised using "Street View" to look at old neighborhoods in my hometown of New York City, maybe because it's the city that never sleeps. 

Still, I'm going to try exploring other favorite places from my childhood to see whether the changes spark new memories that I can discuss with relatives. What's NOT in the picture might stimulate fresh thinking about the past. 

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"Favorite place" is this week's #52Ancestors prompt from Amy Johnson Crow.

My 1950 U.S. Census Release To-Do List: "Who Was There" List

With my eye on the public release of the 1950 U.S. Census in less than a year, I'm preparing to look for ancestors I'm particularly interested in.

No indexing will be available on April 1, 2022, so the only way to find these ancestors at first will be to browse enumeration districts where they were living. The catch is, I need some idea of where each ancestor was residing in 1950. 

Generating a RootsMagic "Who Was There" List

As an experiment, I opened my RootsMagic7 genealogy software and looked for a report that might give me a head start in grouping ancestors who were (1) alive in 1950 and (2) living in a certain area.

At top is a screen shot showing me preparing to generate a list of "Who Was There" in Ohio in 1950. I set the parameters for everyone in that particular tree (my husband's Wood family). 

I could have narrowed the parameters to everyone in Cleveland, Ohio, for instance. 

In this case, the list for Ohio ran for a dozen pages. It was initially organized alphabetically by surname, showed birth and death dates, and showed in detail each person's residence and key facts. A bit too much detail, but I expect to learn how to refine the list as I gain experience.

Next, Save and Sort the List

Importantly, I was able to save this list in my choice of formats. I selected .rtf so I can open it in Word and then sort as I please, choosing to sort by any of the columns. 

Here is an excerpt of the Wood list for 1950, sorted by "place" (the final column). This gives me a starting point for seeing where each ancestor was in 1940 and then researching a more specific residential location to search in the 1950 Census. Only a starting point, because I'm also looking for more recent directories and other sources to bring me closer to the 1950 address.

About the column marked "age"--it indicates the ancestor's age in 1950, not the ancestor's age at death.

This experiment encourages me to explore more ways to use the software and learn more of its functions on the road to the 1950 Census release next year.

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For more posts about prepping, please see my special page on the 1950 Census.

DNA + Trees = Powerful Cousin Bait

Name your family tree so DNA matches can get a glimpse of names and places

 

Fishing in many ponds, my DNA results are on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilyTree DNA, GedMatch, and 23 and Me. My husband's DNA results are on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilyTree DNA, GedMatch, and LivingDNA.

To add to the power of DNA matching, I've uploaded at least a basic family tree where trees are allowed. This enhances DNA as cousin bait, allowing matches to investigate our possible connections. 

Also, as shown above, I include surnames in the name of the tree, along with specific surnames and locations in the tree description. I want to encourage DNA matches (and researchers) to explore further and envision possible connections in different branches. 

In my view, a name like "Frank's Tree" or "Family History" doesn't convey anything about the tree or the ancestors. 

Why not take the opportunity to boost the combined power of DNA and trees by providing an informative tree name where you have that opportunity? The tree name is another genealogical clue!

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"DNA" is the #52Ancestors prompt for this week, and the theme of this month's Genealogy Blog Party.

Bite-Sized Memories of Mary Slatter Wood

This week is the 96th anniversary of the sudden death of my husband's grandmother, Mary Slatter Wood. Born in 1869 in the Whitechapel section of London, she had a really difficult childhood. She and four older siblings were in and out of workhouses while their mother was committed to an asylum and their father was absent for long periods.

Still, Mary went to school and then, as a teenager, she earned a living as a servant. In her mid-20s, she crossed the Atlantic to join her father and her older sister in Ohio. Mary married home builder James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) in 1898 and they settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where they raised four sons.

The oldest son, my late dad-in-law, remembered Mary as a gentle, affectionate influence on the family. Unfortunately, while he was away at college, Mary died of heart problems on April 24, 1925. Her unexpected death tore the heart out of the family. 

Bite-sized memories

I'm keeping Mary Slatter Wood's memory alive in a number of bite-sized projects. I wrote a few paragraphs about her life and posted them, with a photo, on FamilySearch.org, FindaGrave.com, and other sites. 

Also, I put a photo of Mary and her husband James on a page of the Wood family history coloring book created for younger relatives. The coloring book is an informal record of who's who--faces and names--in the family tree.

Making a coloring book

To create this page, I started by scanning a black-and-white family photo of the couple standing in front of a house that James built in Cleveland, Ohio, more than a century ago.

Next, I used my photo software to turn the photo into a pencil sketch image. Then I positioned it on a page and added their full names. To help the youngest generation connect with these long-ago ancestors, I included their relationship to the recipients.

Print and digital versions

I want the adults to encourage the kids to color as they wish, rather than put the coloring book away unused. That's why I provided both a printed version and a digital version. Now, the coloring book can be reprinted over and over as the children enjoy coloring these faces and places from the past, seeing ancestors as human beings with an important place in family history.

April 1, 1950: Census Day News

As background for researching ancestors who were enumerated in the U.S. Census taken on Saturday, April 1, 1950, I'm looking at newspapers in the areas where they lived. I want to be ready when this mid-century Census is released to the public on April 1, 2022.

After looking at only a couple of newspapers, I learned two things that encouraged me to keep looking at other newspapers in the coming weeks.

1. Some special aspects of the Census were highlighted in areas where they were of significance. This was the case for merchant ships docked in New York City (see below). I learned a few tidbits about the questionnaires for crew members and how the count was conducted.
2. Small, local newspapers listed the names of enumerators! Maybe your ancestor was an enumerator or was mentioned as being interviewed by an enumerator?

New York City: Counting crew on merchant ships

The official start of Census Day was reported in a long front-page article in the New York Times. Top local officials were quoted, but no local enumerators were named. For broader context, I browsed ads (ladies wearing hats and gloves), real estate ads, political news, radio and TV news, and the weather report.

A related Census article printed that day told of crew members on 2,000 merchant ships worldwide completing a special Census form. Each crew member at a U.S. port was to answer 23 questions about demographics, citizenship, and income. (However, crew members whose vessels were at sea or in foreign ports answered only 9 Census questions.) 

Crew members in U.S. ports were being counted as part of the population of that location--meaning those on vessels at New York City piers would be counted as part of the Big Apple's population. 

Bucyrus, Ohio: "Shnozzle counting" and names of enumerators

"Shnozzle counting in the rain began in Bucyrus and Crawford county as some 38 Census enumerators took to the roads and streets today to check the county's approximately 35,000 population for all sorts of things."

That's the rather informal first paragraph of the front-page story in the Telegraph-Forum newspaper of Bucyrus, Ohio. Some of hubby's ancestors lived in the area.

After describing some highlights of the Census timing (see snippet at right), the article went on to list the names of all 38 enumerators! None were ancestors I'm researching, but maybe I'll be lucky in another small local newspaper.

And of course, I continued browsing that day's paper for more historical context--such as the report of local farms being larger in 1950 than in 1900, also on page one.

Over the coming weeks, I'll be browsing local newspapers for more insights into the 1950 Census and anything else I can learn about the people or areas where ancestors lived in 1950. Local newspaper reports can be informative (and entertaining) background!

The Rinehart Brick Wall on Hubby's Tree

 

One big brick wall is going further back on my husband's family tree beyond great-great-grandfather Joseph Rinehart (1806-1888), who was born in Pennsylvania.

 By 1850, he is farming in Crawford County, Ohio, shown in the U.S. Census (above) with his wife Margaret Shank Rinehart (1807-1873) and their children. We know who they are--they were named by my husband's grandfather as ancestors, and the paper trail of genealogical evidence confirms this.

Looking at the household on this Census page, the final name listed is "Elizabeth Rinehart," age 76, born in PA. 

Is Elizabeth my husband's 3d great-grandma?

My working hypothesis (not a great leap) is that Elizabeth is Joseph's mother, living with him after being widowed. There is an Elizabeth Rinehart buried in Oceola #2 Cemetery, Crawford County, Ohio (where others from the same family are buried). She died on June 15, 1850, at the age of 74 years (and some months/days). 

Knowing that ages recorded in the Census aren't always accurate, and knowing how many other descendants are buried in this same cemetery, I'm strongly leaning toward accepting Elizabeth as Joseph's mother--making her my hubby's great-great-great grandmother. As of now, I have no clue about the name or dates for hubby's great-great-great grandfather, who left Elizabeth widowed.

Did Elizabeth die before being listed in the Census?

Note that the 1850 U.S. Census was taken "as of" June 1. However, the actual date on the excerpt above is November 5. Yet the Elizabeth in the local cemetery died in mid-June. Did the Census enumerator include her in Joseph's household anyway, because she was alive as of June 1? As wonderful reader Linda correctly notes, the enumerator was supposed to include her even if she died after June 1. Or is it possible that these two Elizabeth Rineharts are different people?

The Elizabeth in the Oceola Cemetery died on June 15, which means she will not be included in the Census Mortality Schedule covering the year June 1, 1849-May 31, 1850. 

Despite contacting the local historical society and the local town clerk, I was unable to locate any death certificate from Crawford County, Ohio to get more information about Elizabeth. No local news reports, no compiled obits. I doubt she had a will. It's more likely that her late husband left any property or valuables to their children.

In another attempt to pierce this brick wall, I'm going down the list of possible data sources in the Family Search wiki page for Crawford County, hoping to spot something I haven't yet searched or browsed.

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"Brick wall" is this week's prompt for the #52Ancestors challenge!

My 1950 U.S. Census Release To-Do List: From Address to ED

To be ready for the release of the 1950 U.S. Census next April, I'm listing ancestors of special interest and indicating their 1940 and 1950 addresses (guessing if necessary). 

The goal is to be able to browse images and locate these ancestors in the unindexed Census records that will be made public in April of 2022. To do this, I have to turn the 1950 address into an Enumeration District (ED). Then I'll only need to click through the images of that one ED to look for each ancestor or family.

Using the Unified Census ED Finder

Luckily, Stephen Morse and Joel Weintraub have an extremely powerful tool to transform an address into an ED. They call it a Unified Census ED Finder. You can find it on SteveMorse.org. 

Be sure you set the ED Finder to 1950, as shown in the screen shot at top. I've entered "1933 Marmion Ave" in the Bronx, New York, as my ancestor's address. However, that street appears in a number of Enumeration Districts. To narrow down my search, I need to look at a map and name other streets that are in back of or that cross with Marmion. Not crossing any streets, just on the same city block.

Looking at the Bronx map above, Elsmere Place is at the corner of this apartment building. When I select "Elsmere Pl" from the handy drop-down menu of "cross or back street on same city block" I see the number of EDs reduced to only four.

Keep adding cross or back streets

Next, looking at the map, I select "Tremont Ave" from the drop-down menu because that's the street at the other end of this city block. This reduces the number of EDs to only two. That's still too many EDs to easily browse. 

Again I add another back street from the drop-down menu, after consulting the map once more. This time, I choose the street at the very back of this same city block, which is "Prospect Ave." 

At this point, I only have a single ED listed, as shown above. To double-check, I can select the "Streets in the 1950 ED" button and click "More details." 

This takes me to a summary showing the ED and the description of the streets it includes. Note that this is a single city block. Not across any boulevards, avenues, streets, or places--just one big city block. For a city address, it's a fairly easy process to determine the proper ED, because the boundaries are easily ascertained by looking at a map.**

Put the ED on your list

My final step is to write the ED on my list. Here's an excerpt of my current listing. The two ancestors who lived on Marmion Avenue should both be in ED 3-798, as listed here. I've also found other EDs for ancestors on this list. Note that I also decided to alphabetize my ancestors by surname, so I can sort that way if I choose. And I can sort by "1950 ED" in order to group all ancestors who live in one ED together for more efficient browsing when the images are released next year.

Try the Unified Census ED Finder and once you see how it works, you'll be ready to work your way down the list of ancestors little by little. 

Remember to read the "Getting Ready for the 1950 Census" introduction on Steve Morse's site. He steps through the ED Finder process using Donald Duck's address. Really! Worth a look.

Also see my summary page of 1950 US Census tips and techniques here.

** Reader Amanda has an important reminder: "Be sure to check to see if the area you are looking in has had any house renumberings or street name changes. For example, Chicago renumbered many of its houses in 1909, and there's a list of street name changes available through 1948 (although the dates of each change are not noted). Portland, Oregon, renumbered most of its streets 1931-33, and changed directionals (NW, NE, etc.) on many as well. These changes will be important to know about when using modern-day maps to find cross and back streets when using the Unified Census ED Finder."

This is also my January 2022 post for The Genealogy Blog Party!

My 1950 U.S. Census Release To-Do List: Find Addresses

When the 1950 U.S. Census is released to the public on April 1, 2022, I want to be ready to find ancestors of special interest. I'm creating a list of priority ancestors and filling in their 1940 address/Enumeration District (ED) and then their 1950 address (see my previous post here). With an exact address, I can find the 1950 ED. This will enable me to browse images before the Census is indexed.

Sources for 1950 addresses

There are many possible sources for finding an ancestor's 1950 address, as shown in the above graphic. You may not find an address for that exact year, but one close to that year is a good starting point.

Today I'm on the trail of a 1950 address for my husband's maternal grandfather, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970).

Spoiler alert: I don't yet have the address. But I can share the steps I took to try locating Brice in the years surrounding 1950. And I may be successful in the end!

Where was this ancestor in the 1940s?

I know where Brice Larimer McClure was living during and after World War II. The last "known sighting" of an actual address is in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where he and his wife Floyda Steiner McClure were living at the time of her death on November 2, 1948.

Family story: Not long after his wife died, Brice moved to Willoughby, Ohio and then later, around 1953, he moved to Cleveland to be closer to family.

My search plan for an exact address

I began with a "from scratch" search on all the major genealogy websites, entering Brice's information and specifying residence in Willoughby, Ohio, in the years 1949-1953. That didn't work.

Records show Brice's Social Security card was issued "prior to 1951." Actually, it was just after World War II, when he intended to retire and collect (which he did). Unlikely I will find a Willoughby address on that application (and it takes time and money to get this document). 

Moving on, the Willoughby-area newspapers were either too old, too new, or not very local for my purposes. 

Looking for a house purchase/sale would take time, digging into deeds, land records, etc. I set this aside for now.

Other non-official potential sources I tried, as suggested by Joel Weintraub on his super- detailed, info-rich page about the 1950 Census were: photographs (nope); address book (not that far back); diaries (none that far back).

Check the directories!

High on my list and on Joel's list were--directories! After a few false starts, I checked the local library in Willoughby. The website has a convenient "chat with a librarian" feature (see my screen capture at top).

I typed in a succinct chat question. Within a few minutes, the librarian typed back that directories from the 1950s era are most likely at the Willoughby Historical Society. She provided contact info, and I wrote an email, requesting a lookup when convenient. My husband remembers Brice having a home phone in Willoughby, so he should be listed in either the phone directory or the city directory.

Update: Librarian found no listing in the directory. 

-- For more about the 1950 Census, see my page here.

My 1950 U.S. Census Release To-Do List: Who and Where

With the public release of the 1950 U.S. Census records less than a year away, I'm prepping to be ready for April 1, 2022. 

That mid-century Census will not be transcribed or indexed when first released. I won't be able to simply type a name into the search box and magically find my screen filled with the correct 1950 Census page. Not until the Census is indexed and transcribed, which will be months after the release date. 

In the early weeks, I'll be browsing lots and lots of handwritten pages to try to spot the people I want to find. 

From my experience following a similar process when the 1940 Census was released, I know some browsing may involve only a few pages per person. Of course, some ancestors will be found on the final page of a large district, or spread across two districts. I have to be ready for any of these possibilities.

Which ancestors do I want to find?

My first step is to list the ancestors I want to find in the 1950 Census, surname first. Setting my priorities, I'm listing my closest ancestors on each side, followed by more distant ancestors. I didn't note relationships, but I may refine my table to indicate that later on. 

As shown in the sample at top, I created a table in a Word document so that I can sort by surname, sort by 1940 location, sort by 1950 location, etc. I've left space for the 1950 Enumeration District (known as an ED, more about this in a later post). 

Sorting is important because I might find, after listing dozens of ancestors, that two or three or more live in the same ED. For more efficient browsing, I'd want to group those together. 

In this sample, I entered the names (no maiden names) of three members of my father's Mahler family. I also noted any name variations I found in the 1940 Census, as a reminder about creative spelling by enumerators. 

Where were ancestors in 1950?

The next very important step is to note where my ancestors were living in 1950. In the case of my great aunt Dora Mahler, I can be pretty confident about her address in April of 1950 because she was at that address when she died in June of 1950. She had a chronic illness and had lived with her mother for years, which is why I listed my great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler at the same address in 1950. 

My grandmother Henrietta Mahler was living at 3044 Valentine Avenue in the Bronx, NY when her husband Isaac Burk died in 1943. Tentatively, I've listed that as her address in 1950, along with another possible address: the apartment building where her son and daughter lived in 1950. Maybe she was living in the same building by 1950?

I'll have more to say about ways to find 1950 addresses in my next post!