When I was a kid my maternal grandmother lived with us until she died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1940. She was born in South Wales and was so small when she was born that they placed her in a sugar bowl and fed her with an eyedropper. The doctor said that she would not live but she was soon promoted to a shoe box and grew to a height of four-feet two inches.
When I was a boy, I always thought that she was so small because she was so premature. As a kid, it didn't dawn on me that her sister, who looked like her twin, was just as small and she had a normal birth as far as I know.
My grandmother learned to read English in her old age and I helped her with the words. She had lived in Utah since she was a young women and had outlived three husbands when she lived in our home. Her first husband died in the Scofield, Utah mine explosion along with about 250 other unfortunate souls. His name was George Martin and he sired two children before his demise in 1900.
My grandmother's second husband was George Taylor from whom I got my middle name (or my first name when I write as Taylor Jones the Hack Writer). Like Martin, he was a miner. My grandmother's last husband was named Burton and he was retired and dead before I was born so I don't know what he did for a living.
My grandmother's oldest son was named Dave Martin and he fought in the Great War. The Great War was the First World War where phosgene, and mustard gas were employed to do nasty deeds.
We kids use to help Grandma Martin Taylor Burton eat her breakfast every single morning. She always cooked two breakfast because the kids liked what she cooked better than what they could cook themselves.
I remember the day my grandmother died and I remember her horrible death snore as she passed on to the Great Beyond. I was eight years old.
So, I know something about my grandmother. I wasn't sure of the year of her death so I went to http://historyresearch.utah.gov/indexes/ and typed Burton, Mary Emily Taylor into the search box and up popped 1940.
That is called Genealogical Research.
I know nothing about my four great-grandmothers. If my grandmothers mentioned them, I don't remember the details.
So what if I wanted to find them?
Could I do it?
I could search census records, marriage records, death records, immigration records, and family records.
That would be a lot of work, right?
Well, let me tell you what is going on right now. Rather than ordering microfilm of old records, these old records are being indexed. That way, you will be able to find your ancestors quickly with a simple computer search.
For example, I just went to familysearch.org and typed in Mary Emily Taylor Burton. There were a lot of entries and I couldn't find her specifically, so I cheated. I put in my father's name and up popped his information. I clicked on "pedigree chart" and then clicked on my mother's name. That took me to my mother's pedigree chart and I quickly learned the name of my great-grandmother and learned that when I was trapping around Cornwall, England I was in the place of her birth, not North Wales. Her husband was the Welshman from Glamorganshire.
Once records have been indexed, it is much easier to do genealogy research. Many old records were microfilmed years ago. Now, you can help index these records. A couple of weeks ago I started indexing the 1900 Census records. I've now indexed such records for the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
To start indexing, go to familysearchindexing.org. Follow the simple instructions. Note that you do not need to download the software if you have Java Script on your computer (as most folks do). You can quickly download the java script at http://java.com/en/ if that is the way you would like to go. If you don't want to use Java, download the software.
Indexing a census record is easy if you can read the handwriting. There are lots of sites on the internet that show old handwriting. An example is sullivanpress.com/Spencerian.htm I printed out the alphabet and use it as a guide when working on the 1900 census.
To index, you will be taking information from a census record and placing it into a table. First, you look at the upper right-hand corner of the census record for a big letter "A" or "B". That goes in the first box of the table (and all the way down the table in the first column).
Now look for a sheet number right under where you found the letter. That will go in the second column all the way down the page.
Now you are ready to index.
Type the following in each record: A or B, Sheet Number (these will come up automatically as you tab along the table), family number, surname, first name and initial or second name, title (Jr. Sr. Prince, Colonel, etc.), relationship (head, wife, sister, son, cousin, boarder, servant, etc.), race, sex, birth month, birth year, marital status, years married, children total, children living, place of birth, father's place of birth, mother's place of birth, year immigrated. You can note the occupations but do not put an occupation into the record.
Now hit tab until you get to the next family number and do it again.
There will be 50 records on a page. If a needed field (one with a *) is blank, use the "blank" button. If a whole record (line is blank), use the "blank line" button. If a space is unreadable, use the "U" button and if the whole line is not readable use the "U line" button.
As I index the census records for 1900, I see the difficulties some families had. Many children may have died of disease, Young mother's died possibly in childbirth. Children died in other ways, some most likely in the Civil War. Some families have adopted or step children from a second marriage. I had one record that was an institution where families where listed as prisoners, even little children. I wondered what could put a whole family in prison? Do you know?
As the Hack Writer, I like to look at the human experience. I never though much about getting such from a census record.
Well, don't just sit there. Start indexing. It's fun.
The End
copyright©2007 John T. Jones, Ph.D. (Taylor Jones the Hack Writer)
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