Comments on: Imagining History from the 1870 U.S. Census http://clioweb.org/2004/12/14/imagining-history-from-the-1870-us-census/ Just another WordPress site Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:14:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Gordon Seyffert http://clioweb.org/2004/12/14/imagining-history-from-the-1870-us-census/#comment-28 Gordon Seyffert Mon, 14 Feb 2005 22:45:38 +0000 http://www.clioweb.org/archives/2004/12/14/imagining-history-from-the-1870-us-census/#comment-28 Jeremy, while you may have had to fight with a microfilm reader to access the 1870 census manuscript, that is no longer necessary. In fact, you can read the Rose entry now in the comfort of your own home, as I just did, and at no cost to you. All that is necessary is for you to have a library card with PIN, if using a public library, and for the library to subscribe to HeritageQuest Online among their resource databases. This database is used principally by genealogists, such as myself, and may not be a part of your own higher ed institution library's on-line offerings. The description of HeritageQuest Online at my local library reads as follows: "Images of the U. S. Federal Census, 1790-1930, plus over 25,000 volumes of family and local histories, full-text and searchable. Library & Home Use." When I enter the site, there are four options, the first of which is "Search Census." The second screen has a basic search which prompts me for surname, given name, census year and state. I entered "Rose, 1870, Virginia" and left the given name blank. The third screen gave me all the entries by county, although I also could have viewed them at the state-wide level if I so chose. Montgomery County had five entries, and from the ages given and your suggestion that there would be a large family, it was easy for me to select the eldest individual for examination. Each selection comes in page pairs, and your family was on Subpage B. The head of household was clearly listed as a basket weaver, and the "nothing" for occupation was the listing for the wife, where normally the occupation would have been "keeping house." So, as I see it, "nothing" was the census taker's comment on the housekeeping "gusto" shown by the woman of the house. Perhaps the Rose family you found is mentioned in a genealogy which has been filmed by HeritageQuest. To find out, select "Search Books" in place of "Search Census," and you will soon have the opportunity to enter the surname in the category of your choice. You will doubtless be presented with several pages of entries, but it is easy to scan the titles for a "Rose Genealogy." You may then read or scan the book cover-to-cover, or use the book's own index to pursue your quarry. Aside from HeritageQuest, you might consider searching the Rose surname message boards at genforum.genealogy.com and/or boards.ancestry.com -- using either the given name or the place name as a search string. The possibilities are endless, but my point is that it's now easier than ever to obtain information about specific individuals or families appearing in the 1870 census. Jeremy, while you may have had to fight with a microfilm reader to access the 1870 census manuscript, that is no longer necessary. In fact, you can read the Rose entry now in the comfort of your own home, as I just did, and at no cost to you. All that is necessary is for you to have a library card with PIN, if using a public library, and for the library to subscribe to HeritageQuest Online among their resource databases. This database is used principally by genealogists, such as myself, and may not be a part of your own higher ed institution library’s on-line offerings.

The description of HeritageQuest Online at my local library reads as follows: “Images of the U. S. Federal Census, 1790-1930, plus over 25,000 volumes of family and local histories, full-text and searchable. Library & Home Use.” When I enter the site, there are four options, the first of which is “Search Census.” The second screen has a basic search which prompts me for surname, given name, census year and state. I entered “Rose, 1870, Virginia” and left the given name blank. The third screen gave me all the entries by county, although I also could have viewed them at the state-wide level if I so chose. Montgomery County had five entries, and from the ages given and your suggestion that there would be a large family, it was easy for me to select the eldest individual for examination. Each selection comes in page pairs, and your family was on Subpage B. The head of household was clearly listed as a basket weaver, and the “nothing” for occupation was the listing for the wife, where normally the occupation would have been “keeping house.” So, as I see it, “nothing” was the census taker’s comment on the housekeeping “gusto” shown by the woman of the house.

Perhaps the Rose family you found is mentioned in a genealogy which has been filmed by HeritageQuest. To find out, select “Search Books” in place of “Search Census,” and you will soon have the opportunity to enter the surname in the category of your choice. You will doubtless be presented with several pages of entries, but it is easy to scan the titles for a “Rose Genealogy.” You may then read or scan the book cover-to-cover, or use the book’s own index to pursue your quarry. Aside from HeritageQuest, you might consider searching the Rose surname message boards at genforum.genealogy.com and/or boards.ancestry.com — using either the given name or the place name as a search string. The possibilities are endless, but my point is that it’s now easier than ever to obtain information about specific individuals or families appearing in the 1870 census.

]]> By: Jeremy http://clioweb.org/2004/12/14/imagining-history-from-the-1870-us-census/#comment-27 Jeremy Sat, 15 Jan 2005 13:09:10 +0000 http://www.clioweb.org/archives/2004/12/14/imagining-history-from-the-1870-us-census/#comment-27 You're welcome, Dale. That class was my first introduction to census records, which I initially found most unenjoyable because of the bad legibility and even worse microfilm reader we had on campus. Finding that entry not only helped me reassess my opinion of census records, it also reinvigorated my interest in history in general. You’re welcome, Dale. That class was my first introduction to census records, which I initially found most unenjoyable because of the bad legibility and even worse microfilm reader we had on campus. Finding that entry not only helped me reassess my opinion of census records, it also reinvigorated my interest in history in general.

]]> By: Dale Light http://clioweb.org/2004/12/14/imagining-history-from-the-1870-us-census/#comment-26 Dale Light Sat, 15 Jan 2005 02:51:00 +0000 http://www.clioweb.org/archives/2004/12/14/imagining-history-from-the-1870-us-census/#comment-26 Nearly a third of a century ago I was a research associate at Ted Hershberg's Philadelphia Social History Project, now long defunct. It was an attempt to collate information from census enumerator books [1850-1880], from street and business directories, and from a geographical grid and to represent it all in machine readable form. For three years I worked nearly every day with enumerator sheets and often I would, like you, try to imagine what the lives of the individuals whose statistics were recorded there were like. None of the entries I saw were as dramatic as the one you referenced, but they were evocative nonetheless. Your post, like Proust's madeline, stirred waves of memory. Thank you. Nearly a third of a century ago I was a research associate at Ted Hershberg’s Philadelphia Social History Project, now long defunct. It was an attempt to collate information from census enumerator books [1850-1880], from street and business directories, and from a geographical grid and to represent it all in machine readable form. For three years I worked nearly every day with enumerator sheets and often I would, like you, try to imagine what the lives of the individuals whose statistics were recorded there were like. None of the entries I saw were as dramatic as the one you referenced, but they were evocative nonetheless. Your post, like Proust’s madeline, stirred waves of memory. Thank you.

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