Finding Dads and Grandfathers in 1950 US Census

 

Happy Father's Day! Researching in the 1950 US Census, I enjoyed finding fathers and grandfathers in my direct line and my husband's direct line.

• My maternal grandfather Teddy Schwartz was living in the Bronx, New York, with my grandma Minnie Farkas Schwartz (given name written incorrectly). The Census correctly shows that Grandpa Teddy ran a small grocery store, working 70 hours per week. My paternal grandpa Isaac Burk was no longer alive.
• My Dad (Harold Burk) and Mom (Daisy Schwartz Burk) were enumerated a few miles away in the Bronx, in their first Census as a married couple. Dad was a travel agent in his own agency, as shown in the Census.
• Hubby's maternal grandfather  Brice L. Wood, by then widowed, was living in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. He was retired ("ot" stands for "other" because he's not working and not looking for work). My husband's paternal grandfather James Edgar Wood was no longer alive.
• Hubby's Dad (Edgar J. Wood) and Mom (Marian McClure Wood) were at home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Ed worked as a claims adjustor for a casualty insurance company, as shown on the questionnaire.

Now I'm remembering these fathers and grandfathers with love on Father's Day 2022. 

One Signature Changed My View of an Immigrant Ancestor

A single signature on a document I purchased this week has changed my view of the immigrant experience of one of my Schwartz ancestors. 

My grandpa Theodore Schwartz was from a large family in Ungvar, Hungary, a region that later was in Czechoslovakia and is now in Ukraine. 

Some documents from this region are available for free from JewishGen.org and Family Search.org, while others documents are available (some free, some at a fee) from the Sub-Carpathia Genealogy website

Grandpa's sister married a Winkler 

A quick recap: Last week, I bought a document from the Sub-Carpathia site that showed me the correct birth year of a 1c1r, Albert Bela "Voytech" Winkler (1912-1993). He was the son of Grandpa's oldest sister Rezi Schwartz and her husband, Moritz Winkler. Very sorry to say, Rezi was killed in the Holocaust--I found her son Albert's Yad Vashem testimony about her death, which led me to do more research. 

Following up on Albert, the birth document I purchased last week gave me sufficient clues to research his refugee status during World War II, find the passenger list showing his arrival, and locate his US naturalization papers. 

Connecting Winkler to Price

When Albert Winkler sailed into New York City in 1948, the passenger list showed a contact in New York City: Price, 182 E. 19th Street, in Brooklyn, New York (see excerpt here). New names I don't know.

Using the 1950 US Census, I discovered who was living at that Brooklyn address. It was Eugene Price, born in Czechoslovakia, and his wife Louise, also born in Czechoslovakia, with their 18-year-old daughter Edith Price, born in Belgium. 

Next, I opened my wallet and paid for another document from Sub-Carpathia, based on what I could see in a transcribed excerpt. The document was about the marriage of Leni Winklerova and Eugene Preisz in August of 1929. I suspected Louise Price's maiden name might be Leni Winkler, and her husband Eugene Price had been Eugene Preisz.

One document with so much significance

Once I received the document, I found the parents' names and the dates match what I already know. This proves the link between the Winkler and Price families, with Leni married to Eugene. 

The document is significant for two more reasons. One, I've found yet another branch of my family tree that survived the Holocaust, emotional in itself. Two, the document revealed a surprise witness to the marriage, a name I never expected to see.

As shown at the top, one of the two witnesses on the marriage document was Samuel Schwartz of New York in "Amerika." Maybe this was my grandpa's brother Samuel Schwartz (1883-1954), who left Hungary in 1904 to come to New York City? 

I compared the signature from the 1929 marriage document with Samuel Schwartz's signature on his own marriage document from 1909. They are nearly identical! My great uncle Samuel was at the wedding in Ungvar in 1929.

Changing my view 

Up till now, I envisioned all of my Schwartz ancestors making a one-way, one-time trip to America, seeking better economic opportunity. This was not a "birds of passage" family, with men leaving home to make money and sailing back to the homeland periodically. My Schwartz ancestors who left Ungvar settled permanently in America, became US citizens, and raised families.

My Grandpa (Theodore Schwartz, 1887-1965) ran a small grocery store in the Bronx, New York. There was little money to spare; everyone in the household worked hard to send two of the three children to college. Based on family documents and cousin recollections, it's highly unlikely Grandpa ever returned to his birthplace. He never again saw his parents or the siblings who stayed behind. His immigrant experience was a one-time trip, one-way to America.

Then I think about Grandpa's older brother, Samuel Schwartz. He also ran a small grocery store in Queens, New York, also put a son through college, became a citizen. Samuel definitely was not a bird of passage.

Yet his signature proves that he did, indeed, visit his hometown of Ungvar. (I've also found his passenger list for the return voyage.)

As a result, I now realize his immigration experience was different from that of my Grandpa. Before this, I never dreamed any Schwartz immigrant ancestors would be able to return to Ungvar after they left. Clearly, Samuel would have seen his mother, siblings, and nieces/nephews at this family wedding in 1929. A joyous reunion, I'm sure.

I'm continuing to trace the Price/Preisz family and also to try to match photo dates to these new documents! More soon.

1950 US Census: 9V Income Code

Did you have an ancestor or friend/associate/neighbor (FAN club) of an ancestor who was chosen to answer the sample questions on the 1950 US Census? I've been paying attention to the income questions, in particular, as I put my ancestors into context.

Above $10k? 

According to the 1950 US Census Enumerator's Training Manual, if someone reported income above $10,000, the answer would be listed as $10,000+ on the population schedule--regardless of how much higher their actual income might have been.

Income answers from the 1950 US Census were coded for data entry and analysis, as were a few other questions (such as birthplaces and occupations).

Decoding the code

As you can see from the code circled in image at top, the income listed was $10,000+. and the code was 9V.

Huh? Turns out, 9V is the code for more than $10,000, as I read on the History Hub page about decoding 1950 US Census answers for Column 31.

In this case, I'm willing to bet that the actual income was far above $10k. Why? Because this is the 1950 US Census entry for Jack Cohn, VP of the film giant Columbia Pictures. One of Jack's nieces married a first cousin of my father. Of course I'm looking at the answers given by these and other in-laws in the 1950 US Census 😉

1950 US Census Offers Sad Clue to John's Life

My late father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986) was the oldest of four boys born to James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) and Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). After Ed came Wally, John, and Ted. I have family stories and research about Wally and Ted, but not much about John Arthur Wood (1908-1980).

Who remembers Uncle John?

My husband remembers his Uncle Wally and Uncle Ted coming to holiday dinners, but not Uncle John. Yet there was definitely contact over the years, because John and his wife Marguerite were mentioned several times in my father-in-law's diaries (written 1958-1986). 

Still, I had little to go on when trying to research this man. Then last year, my sister-in-law mentioned John might have been married twice. Her memory led me to confirming that he did have a first wife. 

John was just 20 in 1928 when he married Elsie Harder, who was 23. According to the news account of their wedding, John was working for Grasselli Chemical Company, which was soon merged into the chemical giant E.I. du Pont. (John remained with du Pont for his entire professional life.)

Through WWII draft card info and city directories, I can trace John Wood and his first wife, Elsie, up to 1945, when they're living together in Hammond, Indiana. 

New info from 1950

Now the 1950 US Census has given me a new clue about John and Elsie's married life. As shown in the image at top, Elsie was enumerated as a patient in Longcliff Logansport State Mental Hospital in Logansport, Indiana. This was unexpected and sad.

Of course medical records are sealed, so I don't know exactly why Elsie was in the hospital. When she passed away in 1960, her death cert said she was divorced and died of a cerebral hemorrhage, having had cerebral arteriosclerosis for some years. I wonder whether her health problems were part of the reason she and John divorced?

In April of 1951, John married Marguerite Goodin (1918-1988). She's in the 1950 US Census, enumerated as divorced, and working as a telephone operator in East Chicago, Indiana. When John had heart problems and died in 1980, Marguerite was the one who kept my father-in-law informed, according to the diaries. 

Where was John Wood in 1950?

One possibility is in Cleveland, Ohio, the city of his birth, living in a two-family home. It's not easy to tell one "John Wood" from another when the Census enumerator only notes that this John Wood is separated (probably correct), born in Ohio (correct), and is 43 years old (close enough). No occupation, no industry. Not a strong possibility, but maybe.

A better possibility is in East Chicago, Indiana (the same city where his soon-to-be second wife was living). This man was enumerated as "John Woods," a roomer, married (correct), 44 years old (about right), born in Ohio (correct), with occupation "engineer, planning and schedule, chemical lab" (close).  

I've put both of these Census records on John's family-tree profile until I can sort them out. 

1950 US Census: Indexed by Computers, Reviewed by People

Released on April 1, the 1950 US Census is available to browse and search for free on Ancestry and Family Search (among other sites, including the US National Archives). For more about this mid-century American Census, see the informative Family Search page here. Also take a peek at the Family Search YouTube Channel playlist of 1950 Census videos.

Indexed by computers, reviewed by people

Family Search describes the 1950 Census as "indexed by computers, reviewed by people." 

Ancestry used artificial intelligence to create an "early index," already available on that site. Still, computers invariably make mistakes, which is where the "reviewed by people" part comes in. 

Ancestry turned the index over to Family Search, which has recruited thousands of volunteers to review the names, checking that the digital index actually reflects what the handwritten name says on the Census page.

Volunteers are also reviewing households to see whether all people in that household have been grouped properly by the AI indexing system, and be sure the main details are correct.  

Progress! See the webinar on June 10

By the end of June, every name in the 1950 US Census index on Family Search will have been reviewed by human eyes! That's a real plus for finding our ancestors through a name search, rather than the browsing method of looking at one page at a time.

For the latest from Family Search, you can watch a webinar update on Friday, June 10, at 4 pm Mountain Time. 

Here's the link--and you don't need to be a Facebook member to watch!