Generations Gone By Made Me Do It!

Seriously, my dear bloggy friend who writes Generations Gone By rekindled that genealogy bug in me after a four year hiatus when she told me of Footnotes free access to the 1930 census for the month of August. I just had to type in a few names, just for curiosity's sake. A few emails back and forth later, and I've been hooked again! Of course, Footnotes didn't give me all I wanted, but then I discovered that my local library subscribes to Ancestry.com, another super cool genealogy site. So it was I found myself sitting at a computer library yesterday afternoon, talking to the monitor about a missing relative when a lovely woman named Nancy set down next to me and asked what I was doing. As fate would have it, Nancy has been involved in genealogy for 40 years because she's adopted. A few tips here and a few keystrokes there and my missing relative was found!

So, Generations, this post is for you!



Remember these kids? Well, their father (who would be my great grandfather on my maternal side) is Morton Smith, born about 1872 in New York. His father is Richard P. Smith, born in Pennsylvania in roughly 1837...this would be my great-great grandfather. His father, who was also named Richard P. Smith, was born in Pennsylvania on March 13 1799. Then my great-great-great grandfather was William Moore Smith, born in Pennsylvania on June 1, 1759 and, finally, my great-great-great-great grandfather was, in fact, William Penn Smith, born Sept 7, 1727 near Aberdeen, Scotland and died in Pennsylvania May 14, 1803. Gens, you know some of the other names (closer to our generation), so, how'd I do?

Movers and shakers in a brand new country, these are some fascinating people.

Things I have learned in the short time I've been doing this: Did you know they don't release census details until 72 years after the census was taken? That means we won't have 1940's census until 2012 and we won't have 1950's census until 2024! Did you know that the census from 1830 only counted male heads of household? Gee...weren't we forgetting a bunch of people? Finally, based on data I've found, Morton had to have been married twice. I wonder what happened to his first wife. She did give him a son, yet another Richard P. Smith, in 1893. I didn't spend much time on her, though, because she's not my great-grandmother. Wife number two is my great grandmother and I haven't found her family yet.

Having said all that, I can't believe Gens did this to me...I'm like an addict! Now, on to the women!

What about you all? Any missing relatives?

I don't know if I'll ever forgive her...

(This is my maternal grandmother, the oldest, with her three

younger siblings. Now, if I could only find them on the census records.)

Who? My dear friend, T, who hosts Generations Gone By, a genealogy blog that is really all about life with a little genealogy throughout. Why am I holding a grudge against her? Simply because I SPENT TWO HOURS LAST NIGHT on Footnote, playing with their free access to the Federal Census of 1930. Seriously...do you know how cool that is? You can find grandparents and great grandparents. The great thing about census records is they also provide the names of other members of the household, as well as place of origins for the parents of the person of record. So, if you find Great Grandpa Jim, you can discover that his mother was from Ireland and his father from New York, giving you more information that might have had otherwise.

This free access is available to everyone, not just people T is trying to drive mad! Curious? Head over to Footnote and drive yourself mad, lose two or three hours, and end up with new questions you didn't even know to ask.

Gee, T, thanks!