1940 Census Searchable On Ancestry

I might be a day or so behind, as I just checked my gmail account for genealogy stuff, but Ancestry has indexed all of the 1940 census, and it is now searchable.

This was a huge thing for me, because whenever I tried the tricks offered using the street name and enumeration district from the 1930 census, I came up empty.  In my searches, I could not for the life of me, find East Meadow Street in the 1940 census.  Stamford, CT was a big city back then, being a huge boom town since the late 1800's, and the massive immigration of the Irish.  There was no way I was going to through, page by page by page, to find them.  So I waited.  Sometimes patiently lol.

This one contains my grandfather, Gordon E. Nichols and his family.  Including my great grandfather Arthur E. Nichols, who passed away later in 1940.  I am glad he was still alive for the census, although I suspect he was probably already sick.
(Source:  Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.)

I did make a correction to the transcribing, as they were listed as "Nicholas".  I can't blame the wonderful indexer, as the handwriting on this one is not great (big surprise there, wonder if they ever thought to make the census takers do a handwriting course).

And this is my grandfather Mayo H. Blanchard, and his family.  He is always pretty easy to find, due to his unusual name. I also made a small correction to the transcribing on this one, as my uncle's name is Alfred, not "Affred".  That was the census taker's fault.

(Source: Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.)


My father and mother will not show up in the 1940 census, as they were born 1942 and 1943, respectively.  But many of my aunts and uncles are there. It is kind of funny to see them as little children.  I want to do nothing more than spend the day working to find others, but I must get my homeschool planning done for my boys first, since we begin the new year on Monday.

I will be definitely getting my files set up so that I can get back to searching, as soon as I possibly can.

And I just want to take a minute to thank all those wonderful volunteers who have worked so hard to make the 1940 census available to all of us.  It is so appreciated! 

And We Are Moved

The official move wasn't without a few hiccups, but it's done.  We are officially in NC! :)

My poor genealogy research has taken a hit, as I haven't really done anything on it since 2 months ago.  I need to get back to it.  I have a project I was working on, for a barter situation, that I need to finish up with.

I did just order the DNA kit for my father to take, for the Nichols Project. Maybe this will finally give us some answers, or at least direction, on this brick wall.  I will keep you updated, once we get the results.  We chose the Y-DNA37 test.

I will also keep you updated on some of my research for my friend, as well as my own.  I haven't set my filing system up here yet.  It's all kind of mish mash in the containers I chose for it.  Need to get that done for sure before I do anything else.  I have a "to do" list a mile long for this stuff, on top of starting a new school year for our homeschooling.  Should be interesting.

I did just sign up for two great free webinars though.  Need to start working on the education side of things.  One is "Neglected History" with Megan Smolenyak.  That one is August 1st.  The other is "Using Our Nation's Library" with Laura G. Prescott, on August 20th.  I have never done webinars for genealogy before, but definitely looking forward to them!

Hope you are all enjoying your research!

Moving and DNA

I didn't mean to completely disappear from this blog, but life is a bit chaotic at the moment.  We are nearing the end of a process of giving up all but our most basic things (clothes, family mementos, etc.), to get ready for a major move.  My two boys and I are relocating from NH to NC in early July.  So, obviously, the genealogy research has been put on hold.  I have been into my family tree on Ancestry a few times, but am trying not to look at too many documents, because I will not remember what I already researched during this transition time.  All of my genealogy stuff is packed, along with the printer.  Temptation is a great thing, so I had to get those packed and take that away.

On another note, my cousin has offered to pay for DNA for our Nichols line.  I was shocked, but excited.  We haven't broken down the brick wall that is my great grandfather, so this will at least give us a direction to go in.  According to what I have been told, and researched on my own, it should at least give us the general line of Nichols that we descend from.  Then maybe, by starting back at the beginning and working forward, I can find Arthur, his parents, etc.  I should get the check this week sometime, and will update you when we get the results.  My father will be the one taking the test for me.  If you are interested in the Nichols DNA project, you can find more information here.

So please be patient, as I will get this blog back on it's feet once we get settled in NC and get our bearings in our new environment.

Ancestry Family Trees

I have read a lot of posts online, mostly on blogs, concerning the use of Ancestry family trees.  Both professional and non-professional genealogists are split on whether these should be used as "working" trees, or be a completely accurate tree (ie: every single person documented with sources out of the gate).

I personally am of the mind that my tree is a work in progress.  Both on my Blanchard side of the family, and the Goyette side, I can trace my tree back quite far.  I have found out this information through others who have the documentation to prove it.  I don't yet, but am working on it, one person at a time.  

I see my Ancestry tree as a place to work, adding sources as I find them.  The final product is what I add to my genealogy program on my computer.  I update the online tree at Ancestry, so that it is as accurate as possible, when I find new information that either proves or disproves a fact/theory.


I do wish their was a place on my tree to add a note stating that this is a working tree, and that no one should take any person as "proven" until I can confirm sources.  But, I think anyone who is serious about their family history will see this.  There will always be those who just copy people from one tree to another, willy nilly.  You can't prevent them from doing this.  They are not really interested in the stories of their family, but rather collecting people on their trees, like trophies.


It is very exciting to find that I have some pretty well known people on the Blanchard side of my family, but I am just as excited to find out the stories and facts about those every day people on my tree, like my Great Grandfather Nichols.  As I have said before, the every day, ordinary people are the ones who worked hard to make this country what it is, and their stories are just as important as those who made a name for themselves.


How do you use your online tree?

 

CamScanner App for Android

image courtesy of Google Play

My old standby printer, an HP Deskjet, has finally decided it doesn't want to work anymore.  I still held onto it a few years ago, even though I bought a new wireless printer, because the copying and scanning functions were working fabulously still, and it was one of those printers you could refill the ink cartridges without it going haywire.  It won't copy anymore.  Frankly, this is ok.  I have to move in a few months, and I need to pare down what I take with me.

Enter a neat little app that I downloaded a few weeks ago, but hadn't played with yet.  I found CamScanner in the Google Play store on my Android phone and decided to give it a try.  My cousin is anxiously awaiting a copy of my grandparent's marriage license, and I hadn't gotten it into the mail to him yet, so thought I would use this as my test piece.

You take a picture of the item to be scanned using the camera on your phone, from within the CamScanner program.  It will then crop it to be just the document, and then enhances it. I first saved it as a simple jpg (you can click on it to see it larger). 

You also have the option of converting it to a pdf, before you send it to where you want it to go.  I really like this option.  I prefer pdf's over jpg's, but that is a personal preference.

The app gives you a lot of options for sending your document to another location.  You can email it to  yourself or someone else, you can upload it to Dropbox, Facebook, pretty much anywhere.  

This is definitely going to be a useful tool for my genealogy research, and also my homeschooling with my children.  Super simple, easy to print out what you scanned.  Win-win.

Don't Ignore the "Maybe"

While sitting around not feeling good yesterday, I spent the better part of the day on the computer, working on Ancestry.  I have been very lucky lately to find a lot of information on many of my family lines.

I was in sort of a haze, uploading some old family photos to my great aunt, Marie Ede Wykowski, when I decided to another "search" on her.  And there it was.

This obituary jumped out at me.  It was for a Charles M. Plank of Danbury, CT.  It took me a minute to remember that the Plank family lived on Meadow St in Stamford, CT with both my grandparent's families.  I had seen them in the census records, and I have a photo of my grandfather Gordon Nichols with a Charlie Plank (apparently they were good friends).  But it didn't register at first why my great aunt would be listed in this obituary.

 Gordon Nichols Sr. with Charles C. Plank

Then I read it....I had forgotten that she married Charles C. Plank, and this man's obituary that I was looking at, was their son.  I had always heard her name as Wykowski, so it took me a few minutes to absorb what I was reading.  Once I added her first husband, the children (listed in the obituary), a ton of information opened up, including the death record for Charles C. Plank, her first husband.  I also now have the names of long lost cousins to add to my tree, and possibly get in contact with.

That is a huge thing for me, finding living family, since I don't know most of them.  We moved to NH when I was seven years old, and didn't stay in touch with most of them, especially after my grandparents passed away in the late 1970's.

So always go read those random hints and sources that pop up, even if you don't think they might be connected.  You just might discover another line in your family.

How I Got Addicted

I have always been interested in where I come from. But this photo, along with a comment from my father about 20 years ago, fueled the addiction.  My dad suggested I try to find out about his Nichols family.  Nothing was known.  A few tid bits here and there.

As I began digging, this gentleman, Arthur Ellsworth Nichols (b: 1858), has been the thorn in my side. I have been able to trace quite a few generations back on both sides of my family tree, except for him.  The man who gave us our last name, and I cannot find anything that is certain on him prior to my grandfather's birth.  

I won't stop looking though.  Not until we know.  There is a lot to be learned from our ancestors, and I get a thrill every time I find a new one.  Someday this man's history will come to me.  It may not be earth shattering as far as achievements, but more times than not, those are the people in my family history that I relate to the most.

The quiet, hard working people.  They remind me of myself, my parents, and God willing, my children.  It amazes me, how things can be handed down generation to generation, just by living our daily lives.  Our beliefs, our convictions, our pride, our strengths, and yes even the bad things such as prejudice. 

With this blog, I hope to continue to connect with others online who are related.  I have found many cousins and long lost relatives I didn't even know I had, by using the internet.  It is such a fabulous thing to talk to someone in Japan, who is a cousin, by way of my great great great grandfather.

If you feel there might be a connection in our family histories, don't hesitate to contact me: genealogynichols at gmail dot com.  

Enjoy the adventure!