March 30, 2012
March 27, 2012
March 25, 2012
10 Census Questions That Lead to Answers
You’ll get more than just answers in a census record: you’ll also find clues in each one that point you to other record collections at Ancestry.com. Here are 10 of our favorite next-step clues from the census. Use them to learn more about your family’s history and craft a few new searches, too!
Download this free guide
Download this free guide
March 18, 2012
1890 Census Fire
Some said it was a cigarette. Some said it was a conspiracy. But no one really knows for sure what started the fire on January 10, 1921, that destroyed a large portion of the 1890 U.S. federal census.
What everyone agrees on is this: it was a tragedy of immense proportion.
The census, with critical historical information on more than 6 million people in the U.S., was being stored in the basement of the United States Commerce Department. The other census records were inside a fire- and water-proof vault when the flames started, but the 1890 census was sitting just outside its protective walls.
Firemen rushed to the scene to put the fire out, but what wasn’t already destroyed by fire and smoke was drowned in water: 25% was said to have been destroyed by the flames; 50 % by the smoke and water that followed it.
And what happened to the remaining 25%? Most of it was shuffled around from place to place until it was finally destroyed in the 1930s... Read More
What everyone agrees on is this: it was a tragedy of immense proportion.
The census, with critical historical information on more than 6 million people in the U.S., was being stored in the basement of the United States Commerce Department. The other census records were inside a fire- and water-proof vault when the flames started, but the 1890 census was sitting just outside its protective walls.
Firemen rushed to the scene to put the fire out, but what wasn’t already destroyed by fire and smoke was drowned in water: 25% was said to have been destroyed by the flames; 50 % by the smoke and water that followed it.
And what happened to the remaining 25%? Most of it was shuffled around from place to place until it was finally destroyed in the 1930s... Read More
March 13, 2012
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic
William Sanders probably wondered when the horror would end. The Carter County, Missouri resident watched his 14-year-old son, Leonard, die on October 8, 1918. Two days later, his 21-year-old son, Willie, died, followed by 7-year-old Timon, 15-year-old Simon, 3-year-old Dallas, and finally 17-year-old Maude. He lost six children in a span of nine days. Ten days later his 48-year-old wife Sarah died, leaving William a widower with three children under the age of 10.
William’s stunning tragedy wasn’t unique. Families across the United States, and around the world, grappled with a killer of unprecedented proportions - the Spanish Influenza. My grandfather, Henry Bergman, a healthy 37 year old man, fought his way back from near death when the flu struck him. He was one of the lucky ones.
It’s fairly certain that the disease didn’t originate in Spain. It was likely called the Spanish flu because Spain was one of the first countries in Western Europe that publicized significant numbers of flu-related deaths in the general population. Even today, nearly a century after the pandemic, virologists still remain fascinated by the origins of this catastrophic illness and its worldwide deadly march. While it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when, where, and why the illness developed, documented cases appeared among British troops in France in late 1916 into 1917. Other countries reported sporadic outbreaks of flu, including a particularly ominous outbreak in Kansas in early 1918. Wherever it started, most agree that the conditions in France, the major battleground of World War I, contributed to an opportunistic perfect storm for this deadly strain of flu to strike throughout the world. Soldiers were on the move and they carried the illness with them...
Read More
William’s stunning tragedy wasn’t unique. Families across the United States, and around the world, grappled with a killer of unprecedented proportions - the Spanish Influenza. My grandfather, Henry Bergman, a healthy 37 year old man, fought his way back from near death when the flu struck him. He was one of the lucky ones.
It’s fairly certain that the disease didn’t originate in Spain. It was likely called the Spanish flu because Spain was one of the first countries in Western Europe that publicized significant numbers of flu-related deaths in the general population. Even today, nearly a century after the pandemic, virologists still remain fascinated by the origins of this catastrophic illness and its worldwide deadly march. While it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when, where, and why the illness developed, documented cases appeared among British troops in France in late 1916 into 1917. Other countries reported sporadic outbreaks of flu, including a particularly ominous outbreak in Kansas in early 1918. Wherever it started, most agree that the conditions in France, the major battleground of World War I, contributed to an opportunistic perfect storm for this deadly strain of flu to strike throughout the world. Soldiers were on the move and they carried the illness with them...
Read More
March 11, 2012
Westward Movement: The Kentucky Microcosm
by Roseann Reinemuth Hogan, Ph.D.
In tracking a family's movements from place to place, what family historian has not wondered why his or her family moved to that particular town in Illinois or Oklahoma or California at that particular time? We all wonder, justifiably, what could possibly motivate a family to make such a monumental, expensive, physically arduous, and potentially dangerous journey. While the motivations of individuals or families can rarely be known for certain, we can surmise a great deal from studying the large migration trends throughout history.
The great westward migration in the United States was accomplished over time and in many stages. One of the first migration routes was over the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains into Kentucky and Tennessee. Later, the frontier pushed farther west to the plains, and then to the West Coast.
As our pioneer families packed their worldly belongings and bid farewell to friends and kin, they were not only making a very personal decision, but they were also participating in a massive social movement. Frontier theorists believe that the migrations into Kentucky exemplify the complexity of population movements and social change. Therefore, the settlement of Kentucky represents a fascinating and unique opportunity to study in a microcosm the westward movement in United States history. An exploration of this particular westward movement can tell us about the migration experiences of our ancestors—whether they migrated to Kentucky or to the West Coast...
Read More
In tracking a family's movements from place to place, what family historian has not wondered why his or her family moved to that particular town in Illinois or Oklahoma or California at that particular time? We all wonder, justifiably, what could possibly motivate a family to make such a monumental, expensive, physically arduous, and potentially dangerous journey. While the motivations of individuals or families can rarely be known for certain, we can surmise a great deal from studying the large migration trends throughout history.
The great westward migration in the United States was accomplished over time and in many stages. One of the first migration routes was over the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains into Kentucky and Tennessee. Later, the frontier pushed farther west to the plains, and then to the West Coast.
As our pioneer families packed their worldly belongings and bid farewell to friends and kin, they were not only making a very personal decision, but they were also participating in a massive social movement. Frontier theorists believe that the migrations into Kentucky exemplify the complexity of population movements and social change. Therefore, the settlement of Kentucky represents a fascinating and unique opportunity to study in a microcosm the westward movement in United States history. An exploration of this particular westward movement can tell us about the migration experiences of our ancestors—whether they migrated to Kentucky or to the West Coast...
Read More
March 8, 2012
Indiana Census Records: 1860
With the information provided in the census (names, ages, birthplaces and more, depending on the census year), you can immediately fill in holes in your family tree. Censuses help you pinpoint a family's location at a particular time. When you know where a family lived, you know where to look for other important records, such as county records of births, marriages, and deaths...
Request a Free Lookup From This Database.
Request a Free Lookup From This Database.
March 7, 2012
Kentucky, 1850 Census Microfilm Records
This data set includes an index to the 1850 census of the actual records themselves — in the census t aker's own handwriting! The index references almost 192,000 Kentucky heads-of-household counted in this especially valuable census...
March 6, 2012
Indiana, 1850 Census Microfilm Records
This data set includes an index to the 1850 census of the actual records themselves — in the census taker's own handwriting!! The index references almost 257,000 Indiana heads-of-household counted in this especially valuable census...
March 4, 2012
Illinois, 1850 Census Microfilm Records
This data set includes an index to the 1850 census and scanned images of the actual records themselves — in the census taker's own handwriting! The index references almost 235,000 Illinois heads-of-household counted in this especially valuable census...
Request a Free Lookup From This Database.
Request a Free Lookup From This Database.
Georgia, 1870 Census Index
This data set contains an alphabetical index of approximately 333,000 residents who were counted in 132 Georgia counties in the 1870 United States census...
March 2, 2012
Virginia and West Virginia, 1870 Census Index
This data set contains indexes to approximately 491,000 entries from 152 counties in Virginia (381,215 entries) and West Virginia (109,495 entries)...
North Carolina and South Carolina, 1870 Census Index
Explore this index for North and South Carolina in 1870. Discover an ancestor's full name, county and locality of residence, source information, plus more. This data set contains indexes to approximately 494,000 census records from 121 counties in North Carolina (295,007 entries) and South Carolina (199,064 entries)....
Request a Free Lookup From This Database.
Request a Free Lookup From This Database.
March 1, 2012
Baltimore, Chicago, and St. Louis, 1870 Census Index
This data set contains indexes to approximately 352,000 census records from three major cities: Baltimore, Maryland, Chicago, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri....
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