Digitally Donate Your Genealogy?

 

Although not everything is online, I really appreciate being able to access digitized photos, letters, postcards, and documents when researching my family tree.

In fact, some museums, libraries, historical societies, and other institutions welcome the digital donation of old photos and printed items. This is a great way to share family history without physically letting go of the actual items.

Above, a screen grab from the online Case Western Reserve Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. The photo is one of several digitally donated by my husband's family, along with names, dates, and places. 

These digital images now accompany the online history of the Cleveland Heights Youth Theater. Pictured here is a rehearsal of a 1950s children's TV show that was broadcast from downtown Cleveland. 

By donating these digital images, the family is helping others learn more about the youth theater and the key role it played in the lives of participants.

Do you have photos, documents, postcards, printed genealogies, or other items from the past that might be of interest to an institution if digitally donated? Think of this as another way to share your family's history!

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For more about preserving family history for the future, please see my concise guide, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

Finding Tiny Bits of Family History in Old Negatives

My late father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986), was a lifelong photography buff, leaving behind hundreds of negatives, photos, and slides. Starting at the age of 14, he photographed his family, his home, his travels, and more.

As I reorganize Ed's collection in preparation for storing in archival albums, I'm  scanning some of the negatives he never printed. 

Turn negatives into photos

There are a number of apps that will do this (see Elizabeth Swanay O’Neal's Heart of the Family post here). 

Or do scan the negative, then invert the image using photo software (as I showed in my blog post here).

Once the negative is displayed electronically as a positive, it's much easier to enlarge and figure out who or what was photographed. Otherwise, the family history might remain trapped on the negative--which may deteriorate before too long.

Enlarge and look for clues

The photo at top, from a negative I scanned and inverted, was taken about 1919 by Ed Wood. It was sandwiched between photos of his brothers, which were dated that year (this particular negative had no date). 

Enlarged on the screen, a clue stood out. Reflected in the mirror is the headboard of a bed. My husband and I recognized its distinctive shape instantly, because one almost exactly like it was part of the Wood family's household for decades. Perhaps Ed's father, a busy carpenter and builder, made the headboards for the family? 

With this clue in mind, I strongly believe we're looking at the bedroom of my husband's grandparents--the parents of the teenaged photographer who snapped the photo circa 1919. 

My hubby noticed that there's no doorknob on the door, only an old-fashioned latch that lifts, with a bolt for locking. I'm charmed by the wallpaper and the fabric covering the shelf, plus the graceful chair--a glimpse of how these ancestors lived.

By turning negatives into viewable photos and enlarging the images, it's easier to notice and share clues like these--tiny insights into the family's past. 

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For more ideas about preserving the family's past for the sake of future generations, please see my recently updated book (available in print or as an ebook), Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

1950 US Census: Formats For Citing Your Source

Now that I'm downloading 1950 US Census records from the US National Archives to attach to ancestors on my family trees, I'm thinking about how to document my source for these key records. In general, there are several acceptable citation formats, as summarized by the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Here are two possibilities updated for the 1950 Census in particular.

Citation example following suggestion of Elizabeth Shown Mills

Genealogy expert Elizabeth Shown Mills has citation suggestions on the Facebook page for her best-selling book, Evidence Explained, and on her own Facebook page, both original posts dated April 1. 

Following her recommendation, here's to cite the three-person family of Louis Woolf, which begins on line 5 and ends on line 7 of the Census excerpt shown above. 

1950 U.S. Census, Westchester County, NY, New Rochelle, ED 67-43, sheet 9, household 105, lines 7-9 (Louis Woolf family); U.S. National Archives, 1950 Census (https://1950Census.archives.gov/search). 

Note that the street address isn't needed, nor are the names of other people in the family, because all of that is covered by the household number and line numbers.

Citation example following suggestion of Claire Kluskens

Claire Kluskens, Genealogical Projects Archivist for the U.S. National Archives, suggests a slightly different format for citing this Census as a genealogical source. You can see her suggestion on the History Hub here.

Following her recommendation, here's how to cite the same three-person family of Louis Woolf.

Louis Woolf family, Lines 7-9, Sheet 9, Enumeration District 67-43, New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC, downloaded from https://1950census.archives.gov/ on April 23, 2022.

Citation example following Ancestry's format

Above, how Ancestry cited the 1950 US Census as the source of a different record I just attached to my family tree. Note that the citation includes year, record group, residence date, and the town, county, state. I can edit this citation on my Ancestry tree to add more specifics (family name, ED, sheet number, HH number, line numbers, etc.). As it stands, I would need those extra details to retrace my research path.

IMHO: Short, sweet, and practical 

My personal plan is to adapt the formal citation formats. Short, sweet, and to the point will work best for my personal purposes.

As long as I provide specifics, I believe others will be able to retrace my steps and see what I saw about an ancestor in the 1950 Census, at any time in the future. 

Here's my concise but detailed version of the citation, neither formal nor official by any means.

1950 U.S. Census, New Rochelle, Westchester County, NY, ED 67-43, sheet 9, household 105, lines 7-9 (Louis Woolf family).

This is my preference, for personal use, and it may not work for everyone. 

IMHO, the key elements of documenting a source are shown in my abbreviated version, for my personal use: I cited the 1950 US Census, providing the town, county, state, ED, sheet number, household number, and line numbers, plus head of household and family name. 

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

1950 US Census: Seeking Big-City Ancestors on NARA site?

 

Having located nearly all of the closer ancestors I wanted to find in the 1950 US Census, I'm branching out to more distant ancestors.

At left, my search on the US National Archives site for someone living on East 141st Street in Cleveland, which is ED 92-945. 

Searching quickly only for Cuyahoga County, Ohio, ED 92-945, I was surprised to see "No Records Found" as shown here on the results page. 

Simply choosing the state/county and entering a specific ED is not enough to find ancestors living in big cities! 

Look for big city in NARA drop-down menu

NARA's drop-down menu for county does have a city/state choice of Cleveland, Cuyahoga. I didn't choose that option initially, but I quickly figured out how to improve my search.

Once I redid my search, and chose the city along with the county and the ED, the correct population schedules showed up in the results.

I checked with several experienced researchers and they confirm that if the city is one of the choices on the drop-down menu for county, be sure to select the city. 

Two Volumes of "Scots-Irish Links" by David Dobson

 

My husband's family tree includes the McClure family from Donegal but originally from Isle of Skye, ancestors who are known as Scots-Irish. 

So when the Genealogical Publishing Company kindly sent me a review copy of the two volumes that make up David Dobson's latest work, I was delighted to take a look. 

Disclaimer: Although I received this publication for free, please note that the opinions in this post are entirely my own.

Consolidated index is handy

Scots-Irish Links, Consolidated Edition, consists of two volumes, each more than 900 pages, reprints of carefully-researched works that were previously published. If you have an intense interest in Scots-Irish genealogy, and need to consult surname-based research going back hundreds of years, these pricey volumes might be worth the investment.

What makes them particularly useful is that each volume contains a consolidated index. Instead of having to look up names in more than a dozen briefer books researched by Dobson in earlier years, today the reader can flip through a single index at the end of each volume.

Searching for McClure names in County Donegal, I found a listing for Robert McClure, as well as a listing for John McClure. 

These clear, concise entries told me not just surname and given name but also the location and the year, along with an abbreviated reference I could follow back to the source.

More about sources 

Dobson provides a listing of "references" indicating the meaning of the abbreviated citations in each volume (see sample here). 

As a researcher based in New England, I'm not familiar with most of these sources. It's been a good learning experience to follow up--especially considering that I hope to discover other Scots-Irish ancestors from my husband's family tree in some of these sources!

Scots-Irish Links by David Dobson is available as a two-volume set or individually priced. See the Genealogical Publishing website for more information about contents and pricing.

Elusive Ancestors Hiding in the 1950 US Census

The positives: I've had very good success finding many ancestors in the recently released 1950 US Census. 

The negatives: Some folks remain stubbornly elusive. 

No 1950ish address

The top reason I haven't found a particular ancestor is because I have no 1950ish address. Even if I have a 1940s address, some of these people moved frequently.  Remember, it was a time of great mobility in America and there was also an acute housing shortage in many regions.

Where's wounded WWI vet Frank Maurice Jacobs (1896-1974), my 1c2r? I'd hoped he was still living in the residential Hotel Tudor in New York City, which was his 1942 address while working in the advertising industry. Nope, he didn't show up when I browsed the many dozens of pages for that Enumeration District. With no 1950 address, he could be anywhere in Manhattan (or possibly an outer borough, although I doubt it). When full indexing is complete for New York, I'll do a deep search for him by given name, middle initial, and birthplace, with possibly other search twists.

No longer living on own

Another reason I haven't found an older ancestor is because he or she moved into a retirement home or was living with an adult child whose address I don't yet know.

This might very well be the case with hubby's great aunt Nellie (Rachel Ellen) Wood Kirby (1864-1954), who has been elusive, as I wrote a few days ago. In the 1940 Census, Nellie was in a Chicago apartment. When she died in 1954, she was in a nursing home. I've browsed the Census for both Enumeration Districts and she turned up in neither place. She's on the back burner until full indexing for Illinois is ready and I can search by name and birthplace and/or other search parameters.

Wood, Smith: common names

Let's face it: Wood, my husband's surname, isn't exactly unique. His uncle John A. Wood (1908-1980) is a tough case, since I don't yet have a clue which state, let alone which county, he might have been in. I know his 1951 address when he got married--but he wasn't there in 1950 when I looked! He's on the back burner until full indexing for Indiana and nearby states has been completed. Then I can search for him with his middle initial and birthplace and/or other search parameters.

Similarly, my great aunt Sarah Mahler married a man named Sam Smith and they moved to California during the 1940s. Sam never used a middle initial. When full indexing is ready, I'll search for a household with Sam, Sarah, and one of their children, or use some other creative strategy--they can run but they can't hide. 

Searching by name, initial, birthplace, and/or other fields (like age) might turn my negatives into more positive results!

PS: Try searching state, county, surname on NARA IF not a big city

Before the Census is fully indexed for all states by those big genealogy sites, try searching state, county, and surname on the US National Archives 1950 Census page. That's only if your target ancestor was NOT in a big city.

I wanted to find my hubby's grandfather Brice L. McClure, who wasn't where the family remembered him living in 1950. After a variety of searches that went nowhere, I tried looking where he and his late wife had lived when she died in 1948--in a town in Wyandot county, Ohio. 

Success! He was living in that very same house, about to sell it and move out of the county. But not yet. So even before the big genealogy sites finish indexing bit states, try the NARA site because its indexing is fair enough to find someone, even with creative spelling.

"Negatives" - Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors theme for week 16.

Happy Easter Photo from 1913

 

Alas, I never met my late mom-in-law, Marian Jane McClure Wood (1909-1983). She was the beloved only child of Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970) and Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948). 

Here she is, all dolled up for Easter, in a 1913 photo that I've colorized using My Heritage's photo enhancement tools. What an adorable face (made clearer by My Heritage)! 

Penny Postcards from Easter of 1914

 

In April of 1914, my hubby's uncle Wallis W. Wood (1905-1957) received two colorful Easter postcards. 

He lived in Cleveland, Ohio and received penny postal greetings for every conceivable holiday, sent by his Wood and Slatter relatives.

Shown at left is the postcard from his aunt, "Nellie" Wood Kirby (1864-1954) and her husband, Arthur Kirby (1860-1939). 

Nellie was an older sister of Wallis's father, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939).

 

Although I've tried to find Nellie in the 1950 US Census, I haven't yet succeeded. I checked the 1949 Chicago directory (online for free at the Library of Congress) and didn't see her name listed under Kirby. 

Nellie was living in a nursing home when she died, and I haven't found her there in the 1950 Census, nor at the address where she lived in 1945, according to the city directory. I'll keep looking!

Here's a pretty postcard sent to Wallis by his aunt Ada Mary Ann Slatter Baker (1868-1947), who lived in Toledo, Ohio when she mailed this card.

By 1920, Ada and her husband, James Sills Baker (1866-1937) were living in Cleveland and most likely visited with Wallis and his family quite often.

Ada was the older sister of Wallis's mother, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). 

Now 108 years later, these postcards live on in the Wood family's collection!