This particular version of the checklist came from the Capital Area Genealogical Society in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. There are dozens of variations of this form. I have a different paper copy of the form sitting on my desk |
Now we fast forward to today. All of the U.S. Census records are online in multiple copies and freely accessible. In addition, many of the types of records listed in my original source checklist are also readily available online. Because of my early negative experience with the Census, I was, in a sense, forced to look at a broader selection of records. What do I find today with new researchers? I find a fixation with the U.S. Census and little more. But the tragedy of the easy availability of a core of records centered around the U.S. Census is that today's researchers are blinded by the bright sun of the U.S. Census and cannot see any of the other useful records. They are spoon fed the U.S. Census and cannot get past that record.
One of the most common symptoms of this lack of vision is the common complaint that they cannot find a relative in a certain U.S. Census year. The dialogue goes something like this:
Q. (Researcher or someone helping the researcher) Can I ask a question?
A. (Me) Sure, go ahead.
Q. We (I) have been looking for this particular ancestor and we find (him or her) in the 1910 and 1930 U.S. Census but cannot find the family in the 1920 U.S. Census. What should we do? We are completely stumped.
Now there are multiple layers of problems with this particular question. The simple answer is that the family is there in the Census but the index is faulty and they need to go look at the Census location page by page. But the issue is much deeper than that rather simple answer. The real question is what do they think they are going to find in the 1920 Census that they cannot find from other readily available sources of the same time period? At this juncture, I should point out that the Genealogical Source Checklist above, while helpful, is far from exhaustive.
The underlying problem faced by this researcher is the inability to view the family in the historical context of the time and visualize the cloud of possible records that might accompany the family. The technique here is to examine the two extant census records and begin the process of discovering other records that might exist depending on exactly where the family lived. At this point, my answer is usually a series of questions:
- Where did the family live?
- What was the occupation?
- Were they renting or owners of their property?
- Did they speak and write English?
- Have you tried searching for each family member separately?
The questions can go on almost indefinitely. At some point, the idea that there might be other important records to examine finally occurs to the researcher and off they go to look for a record they had not thought of previously, mainly because they were fixated on the U.S. Census.
Back to the checklist example, I have included above. Here is a sample list a link to a different online form following the same pattern:
http://www.pusogensoc.org/psgs/about/genealogy-center/research-forms/
Guess what? We have online sources that give us exactly the same type of information. That is, they guide us to various sources. The most valuable of these, of course, is the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki. Basically, this whole website is nothing more or less than an enormous expansion of the checklist I used to use in the Family History Library.
I used the example of the U.S. Census in this post to illustrate the point that there are so many types of records available that no one can really claim to have searched everywhere for one particular family. On the other hand, it is also a good idea to milk the records you do find for all that they are worth, especially as suggestions as to where to find additional records.
thanks for these tips and the checklist!
ReplyDeleteNone of the links work as of 2/18/17
ReplyDeleteI just checked and they do work.
DeleteI just came across this site....thanks to the owner for there tips and providing this site. Secondly, I just checked the 3 links above and the first 2 were there with no apparent problems, the 3rd link showed me a page but it did say Error 404??? So I'm not sure if this link is working....2/23/17 @ 1:15 PM EST
DeleteAs of today, 1/5/18:
ReplyDelete- The Puget Sound link redirects to a page on their site, but it's not for the checklist.
- The Essex Public Library link redirects to a "404 Page Not Found" page on their site.
Today, 03/30/18, all three links worked for me.
ReplyDelete