Reorganizing Family History, Part 2

 

I'm beginning to reorganize family history by moving some old photos from archival boxes (which I love) into archival albums (to encourage browsing). My handsome new archival photo album just arrived (made by Pioneer Photo Album). As the photo above shows, each page has room for 5 photos, each up to 4 inches by 6 inches in size, two vertical and three horizontal. 

The pages are bound. They can't be added, removed, or moved. Of course, photos can be moved out of individual sleeves. But once captions are written, they stay where they are. This means I have to be sure of my organization before I write captions.

Still, the new album is good-looking and sturdy...with a total capacity of 500 photos. I think I can make it work without having to redo the flow of photos more than once (or twice).

Still experimenting, open to changes

Clearly, I'm still experimenting as I transition to archival albums for most photos. I'm willing to try a different album or format. My goal is to save these photos and organize them so they make sense to people who never knew these faces or names. If I have to make a change, I'll do it. In fact...

Next time, I'll buy albums with pages that can be moved. As I develop my organizational strategy, it would be more convenient to move an entire page (photos with captions) instead of having to unload photos from a page that isn't in my preferred order and load them onto an entirely different page. 

Many old family photos/postcards fit 4x6

As shown above, I tested sleeve size by inserting two photos of my hubby's uncle, one at the wheel of a toy car and one in the saddle of a pony. They are the typical size/shape of US postcard photos produced a century ago, and they fit perfectly in the album's archival sleeves. 

Unlike the postcard photos, many photos left by my late dad-in-law are quite small (2 inches by 3.5 inches). I'll try putting two side-by-side in a single sleeve.

Photos larger than 4 inches by 6 inches will have to go in a separate album. That's a project for later in the year.

Inside the album

This particular archival album has room for writing captions in between the photo sleeves. My usual preference is to type instead of writing by hand, but this format will encourage me to be especially neat and careful in captioning.

Looking ahead, I'll clearly hand print captions, guessing future generations may not be able to read cursive.

The sleeves aren't see-through on both sides, so backs of photos won't be visible. So I'll either transcribe captions or indicate that a caption is on back if viewers are really interested.

Also, the album is quite tall and wide. Most likely I'll stack albums on a bookshelf, rather than having them upright on the shelf with the spine out. Or I'll try a different album format for my next purchase. 

Organize chronologically or ... ?

Because many of the old photos have no dates, but are interleaved with photos that have dates, I may begin by sorting according to decade (1900-1910, 1911-1920, etc.). This is only one possibility, but it seems most logical to try chronological order first.

After sorting chronologically and scanning, I would slip photos into the album and judge how things look. Wherever possible, I'll keep photos grouped together if they are clearly from the same day or occasion. 

In some cases, I may choose to group photos according to (1) ancestor (baby/child/adult photos of a paternal grandfather on consecutive pages) or (2) occasion (wedding or vacation) or (3) place (Cleveland, Toledo, etc.). If I use one of these groupings, I'll guesstimate a decade or date to put these pages in an approximate order.

My plan is to wait to write captions until the photos are in sleeves and my husband and I like the flow from first page to last. 

More adventures in reorganization await. 

Reorganizing Family History, Part 1

 

The longer I'm involved in family history, the more I appreciate practical organization.

Not just for myself...but for those who come after me.

Genealogical materials for my husband's family tree are in one set of archival boxes, while my family tree items are in a different set of archival boxes. All are clearly marked by name or surname. 

These boxes are being passed down to different heirs, one on each side of the family.

Too many archival boxes?

Lately, I've been the happy recipient of genealogy materials from relatives and FAN club members. Not just photos and negatives from my late father-in-law, but  photos and documents from other ancestors. All need to be stored safely, which is why I just received a fresh shipment of archival boxes, above. And I'm keeping my label maker handy!

My bookshelves now hold 36 boxes in all. They are neat, they are safe, they stack well, they keep contents intact. They are my favorite way to safeguard genealogical materials like photos, original documents, etc. This organizational method has worked well for the past decade. And boxes are easy for my heirs to move and store.

Yet just yesterday, I began to wonder if I have too many boxes. This led me to Part 1 of my reorganization experiment.

Album experiment

Now and in the future, family members might actually prefer to view old photos in a more traditional album format. This could encourage them to open the album once in a while, instead of leaving boxes unopened on a shelf. 

Hoping my hubby will be part of my experiment, I asked whether he would prefer to put corners on photos or slide photos into the sleeves of an album. He was squarely in favor of an album with sleeves. So I browsed good quality archival photo albums and purchased one that holds 500 photos, up to 4" x 6" size, with space for captions alongside the sleeves. 

How to arrange the photos was another big concern. A number of friendly folks at #AncestryHour on Twitter suggested arranging photos chronologically. This approach will guide descendants through the Wood family's history, visually and with brief captions. 

When the album arrives and I begin this reorganization, I'll post about the process and lessons learned. 

Reorganization issues

I have to consider safe storage for the negatives that accompany many of my late father-in-law's century-old photos. Because negatives can't be safely stored in the same sleeve as the photos, I'm thinking about separate storage and a numbering system that indicates which negative corresponds with which photo in the album...which adds another layer of complexity to the reorganization process.

Another issue: How to accommodate photos with notes on the back. An  #AncestryHour friend lets the notes show by not putting two photos back to back in the album. It's something to try if my new album (currently in transit) has clear sleeves that work in this way. 

Reorganizing family history will be a long-term process, best accomplished little by little. But then again, genealogy is a long-term process. If I tackle the photos in one archival box and get them situated (in order) in the album, I can return to caption them at a later date. It's a learning process...

One photo at a time, one box at a time, one album at a time, I'm learning more about how to reorganize family history and plan a future for my family's past.

-- This is my entry for the Sept 2021 Genealogy Blog Party.

Finding a Farmer in the 1950 US Census

None of my immigrant ancestors lived on a farm after arriving in the United States. Several in-laws were born on farms, but by 1950, they lived in cities. 

Still, I wanted to experiment with the super-useful "Unified Census ED Finder" on Steve Morse's One-Step page to locate someone living on a farm in 1950. 

Remember, we need the Enumeration District Finder before the 1950 US Census is indexed. Not being able to "search" by name, we're going to be browsing the Census by address, one page of one ED at a time, in search of ancestors. 

With cities and suburbs, that's not so difficult because we can narrow things down by including cross streets and back streets (see my earlier post here). Then we only have to browse pages of one ED (or perhaps two).

What about farm addresses? In the past, farms might get their mail via RFD, not listing a street address. Without an address or at least a specific street, the ED Finder can't help us narrow down the number of enumeration districts we'll have to browse. Time to experiment!

First step: Try to find the 1950 address

For my experiment, I chose Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, CT, which has been in the Lyman family since 1741. (I've visited the orchard in the past and enjoyed the sunflower maze, by the way.)

My reasoning: If the family's name is on the farm, I can more easily find the owner in a Census or other document. Luckily, the website has a timeline and indicates names of owners through the years. 

Checking for a 1940 US Census or WWII draft registration or a local phone or farm directory with the farm owner's name will help me guesstimate a 1950 address.

Very quickly, I found WWII draft registration cards for one of the owners, John Lyman, and his son. But no street address, only the town and county names.

In the 1940 US Census, the Lyman family was living on Center Street, no house number. John Lyman told the enumerator he had his own business, managing Lyman Farm. Also, the Census asked whether the address is a farm and the enumerator has written "yes." So now I'll try Center Street as a starting point for the ED Finder.

Next: Use ED Finder to narrow down browsing possibilities

In the Unified Census ED Finder (be sure it's set for 1950), I entered Connecticut as the state and Middlesex as the county. Middlefield wasn't listed as a town, so I chose "Other" and typed in Middlefield.

The result is shown at top. No streets available, but three possible EDs to browse.

But wait. See the words "More details" on a link to the right of the three ED numbers?

When I clicked, I saw this table of street boundaries. Helpful hints!

Looking for a better street address

Before I can narrow down the EDs, I still need to know where Center Street is in Middlefield. Consulting maps, I found it's no longer a street in that town, even though it may have been a street in 1950. 

NOTE: You may find this situation if your ancestors lived in rural areas. Some towns made an effort to provide both street names and house numbers so emergency services could find anyone if necessary. Having a street address also meant the tax collector could locate a particular property. Not all areas have street addresses, to this day. Also, street names do change from time to time, especially as areas become more developed.

I conducted an online search for "list of streets in Middlefield, CT" and came across this contemporary listing: 

https://geographic.org/streetview/usa/ct/middlesex/middlefield.html

No Center Street listed. But there is a Lyman Road! Hmm.

I reread the history of Lyman Orchards and learned that the huge farmhouse was converted to a wedding venue 20+ years ago. The address today is: 5 Lyman Road. 

Evaluating ED details to narrow the focus

With that in mind, I'm evaluating the details of the three possible EDs for farmer John Lyman. Two seem to be focused on Middletown, which is adjacent to Middlefield. I pulled up a listing of contemporary streets in Middletown for comparison purposes.

Looking at the ED 4-41 details, Westfield and Camp are in the listing of streets I found in Middletown. So I'm not making 4-41 a priority. Butternut, Wadsworth, and Cross are also in the listing of streets in Middletown, this time for ED 4-42. Not making 4-42 a priority. Both of these EDs appear to be more focused on Middletown than Middlefield.

Therefore, my educated guess is that I'll find John Lyman and family in ED 4-31. That's the main ED for Middlefield town. Let's see what happens in April of 2022!

-- "On the farm" is Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge for week 37.

In Rome on September 11th

On September 11, 2001, hubby and I were vacationing in Rome. After learning of the deadly attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, we rushed to an Internet cafe to check on the safety of New York City family and friends--all OK, but in shock and mourning.

During the next few days, as we walked through the streets of Rome, we were approached by locals and tourists alike, who asked if were American and then offered condolences and comfort. 

We were visiting the Vatican Museum on Friday, September 15, when a solemn, multinational three-minute silence was observed. Everything and everyone paused throughout the Vatican and all of Rome and beyond, heads bowed as we held in our hearts the many lives lost and the many lives changed forever. Still remembered in our hearts, two decades later.

1950 US Census: Which Ancestors Were Working?

One of the key questions I hope will be answered by the release of 1950 US Census in April of 2022 is which of my ancestors were working, and their occupations.

Overall trends in 1950 employment

Shown in the above table from a US Census special report issued in 1953 is a comparison of how many men and women in each age group (14 and older) were working in 1950, compared with 1940. These aggregate statistics provide context for understanding the situations of my ancestors who were enumerated in 1950.

Notice that in the lower bar chart, significantly more women were working in 1950 (solid black bar) compared with the number working in 1940. The big exception is women aged 20-30ish. 

Given the unprecedented Baby Boom that took place from 1946 on, I suspect these women were taking care of children and homes, not working outside the home in 1950. That was the general pattern in my family tree, although some women were in the work force in addition to being wives and mothers. In most cases, my female ancestors were working as teachers, I understand from family documents and stories.

Occupations and "not working"

I'll be interested to see not just who's working, but what occupations they were pursuing. For the teachers, enumerators were supposed to note the subject being taught--a bonus detail for me as the family historian.

The Census also noted when people over age 14 were not working, and why. Enumerators the reason why someone was not in the labor force, classified as (1) keeping house, (2) unable to work, (3) in an institution, or (4) "other" - meaning students, retired, seasonal workers, etc. 

I expect a number of my ancestors to be in the "other" category of reasons for not working, due to retirement or being full-time students. 

Can't wait to find out when the 1950 Census is released next year.

-- "Work" is Amy Johnson Crow's theme for this week in the #52Ancestors challenge.