Another Meaning of *Heritage Hunting*

Hello Heritage Hunters!!

When we first started Heritage Hunting at Heritage Scrap, we talked about different meanings of *Heritage*. Of course there were at least as many different meanings as there were Hunters in the discussion! It means something different to each person. But as I was looking at photos posted by my Friends on Facebook, I found another meaning of *Heritage* as seen through the eyes of my good friend Bonna Kelley, aka Wuvie at DSP.

Wuvie has an incredible imagination! Some of her layouts at DSP have left me awe-stricken that anyone could even conceive of such wonderful and beautiful things. She has always been an inspiration to me. This layout that she posted on Facebook just grabbed me and said *Look here! This is what is happening in our society NOW! This is tomorrow's heritage!* What do you think??


When I read her journaling, I felt like I was reading about my own life! I love to read and I think it started with my mother reading to us each late afternoon while we were waiting for Dad to get home from work. Supper was usually simmering on the stove so the house was filled with scrumptious smells; we were all sitting close together on the couch by Mom being very quiet and listening to her beautiful voice inflections telling us some amazing story. It was heaven on earth to me as a young child. The Bobsey Twins, Black Beauty, The Night Before Christmas, and so many of my life-long favorites were shared back then.

Both of my parents have always been voracious readers also. I've read since then that reading as your own hobby in front of your children is one of the best ways to help them acquire their own love for reading. When I saw my parents reading every evening or saw books laying near their bed or their chairs, I always wondered what adventures I was missing! As I got older, I read ALL the time! I couldn't get enough of it! By the time I was an adult, I was reading for pleasure at least an hour or two each day. I had lists of books I wanted to read and kept it handy for when I went to the library. Later, when I had a ceramic shop with my folks and we would work all day, every day making products to keep the shop full, we would listen to books on tape instead of the radio while we worked. That continued for me after I was married and had an hour commute each way every day. Why waste time listening to commercials on the radio when you could listen to a good book!

Now it has all changed again! I read so much each day on the internet that I barely have time to hold a book in my hands and read for pleasure! If I'm not reading emails, blogs, or forums, I'm scanning over something it seems. When I finally get down to scrapping, I again turn to audio books or books on CDs. I am never very far from a good tale!

This next layout Wuvie has so generously agreed to share with us, is what I call *Future Heritage*. One day her son's children and grandchildren will be so thrilled to see this! My own kids just love to hear stories of when my husband and I were their age - the things we did, the things we learned in school, all about our aunts and uncles, and so forth. We should all keep heritage for future generations in mind while we plan our layouts. Isn't this layout so sweet?!?


Take a look at Wuvie's gallery at DSP - it is full of truly inspirational layouts. I'm sure you will love it! And thanks so much Bonna, for sharing your amazing talent with us!!

The United States Census

The United States Census

There are a lot of people in the United States, and it's not easy keeping track of them all. But one agency tries to do just that: the U.S. Census Bureau. Every 10 years, as required by the U.S. Constitution, the Census Bureau conducts a head count of all the people in the U.S. and asks them questions to help learn more about the country as a whole: who we are, where we live, what we earn, how many of us are married or single, and how many of us have children, among other topics. The data collected isn't trivial, either. It is used to apportion seats in Congress, distribute federal aid, define legislative districts and help federal, state and local governments plan for growth.

The United States Census is an extremely valuable tool in genealogy research. Several censuses give not only names, ages and birthplaces, but also state the relationship of people within a household. Depending on the questions asked in that particular census, you may also learn when your ancestors came to the U.S., if and when they were naturalized, how many children a woman gave birth to and other vital pieces of information.

Background Information

In the U.S., a census has been taken every 10 years from 1790 through 2000. All censuses taken after 1930 are still confidential and the information they contain is not open to the public. The census from 1790 through 1840 only named the head of the household and the numbers of people in categories — 3 males over 16, 2 males under 16, etc. The census from 1850 through 1930 lists each member of the household and usually gives the relationship to the head of the house. It also gives age (later years give birth month and year) and place of birth (usually just the state or foreign country). The 1890 census was almost totally destroyed by fire so there is a 20 year gap between 1880 and 1900.

Utilizing the Information

Before searching an index or searching for a particular census image, it may be a good idea to print blank census forms for each of the census years. These forms will allow you to review and see what information is actually available for each of the census years. There are also free spreadsheet type charts that allow you to track several census years for a particular person or family.

The census gives a lot of information and you should try to find your ancestors in as many censuses as possible. Take note of the names near your ancestor's. Sometimes people would adopt a nickname or middle name at an early age and use that exclusively throughout life. If you were not able to find a birth record for Hank Smith, you may find that as a 2 or 3 year old child he was listed as Charles Henry Smith. This indicates that the birth was probably registered as Charles and you won't ever find a record for Hank. Looking at as many returns as possible may also give you a pattern of migration. The oldest children might be born in Pennsylvania, the second 2 in Ohio and the younger ones in Indiana.

Dealing With Errors

Keep in mind how the census was taken and how the indexes were created. It was a very inexact science! The census enumerator took the information orally. He was probably in a hurry, many of the foreign immigrants had heavy accents and most families were large. He didn't always ask how to spell a name — and many people were illiterate.

The census taker usually interviewed at least one person in the household, but if no one was home and the farm was a long way from his home, the enumerator may have obtained the information from a neighbor. In any case, the person supplying the data may not have known the facts. The neighbor may not have known the children's ages or birthplaces or a husband may not have known his mother-in-law's place of birth. Many, many people are recorded as being born in the wrong state. Anyone may assume a person was born in the U.S. because he or she has no accent when actually the individual may have been born in a foreign country and come to the U.S. as an infant or young child. When an individual was asked when he came to the U.S., he probably searched his memory and said "oh, about 1883". He didn't consult records and the actual year may have been 1887. They probably recited their children's names rather quickly and son Georgie may have turned into daughter Georgia. Many people could be recorded as the wrong sex if they didn't have traditional names. A child who had gone to stay with a relative for a month, perhaps to help out with a new baby might be counted twice — or not at all. Because of all these potential human errors, it is important to check as many censuses as possible.

Unable to Find?

If you cannot find your person in an index and you feel reasonably confident that he should be there, or if you have no other leads, do not hesitate to check the whole county if it is a rural area. If you are looking in a large city, it is very difficult to check the entire city. You should use city directories and street indexes to try to narrow the area. If the people belonged to one ethnic group, a history of the city will tell you what areas which nationalities settled in.

Once you have checked all census returns back through 1850, the census becomes less valuable but still can provide evidence. Slaves were recorded by numbers, usually without names, and Native American (Indian) censuses are a separate set of records.

Other Censuses

Many states also had their own census, sometimes at more frequent intervals. There are census returns in other countries also. Canada and Great Britain have census for every 10 years since 1841. Because of their 100 year confidentiality rule, only 1841–1891 are open to the public. No matter what area you are researching, one of the first resources you should look for is a census.

Links

United States Census Bureau

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

Census Record Abstracts (free for printing)

Census Tools - Free Genealogy Spreadsheets

Genealogy Guide to the US Census

Which Census Year Should I Check First?

What Do All of the Census Abbreviations Mean?

Clues in Census Records, 1850-1930

Clues in Census Records, 1790-1840

Nonpopulation Census Records

Native Americans in the Census

New Post from Vintage Vicki, Forget-Me-Nots, and Kate!!

Sorry for no updates in a while! I was without internet service for a week and then I went on vacation for a week. I'm still trying to catch up! LOL It's so easy to get behind but so hard to get ahead!

Anyway, I will be posting a lesson for Heritage Hunting later on Sunday or Monday. It will be about the census, so if you have any census success stories or questions or anything, get ready!! And we'll see you next Tuesday evening at the Heritage Hunting chat in the Heritage Scrap chat room!!

Now, here are a couple of messages from the Heritage Scrap ladies!


Hi Everyone, Founder's Day is here! One year ago on August 1, 2008, Kate opened Heritage Scrap for business. We will be celebrating all month. Stop in the store and check out the incredible designer's collaboration of Heritage Builders - tools to use to document your pedigree and family history. I will be starting a challenge this weekend using the new collaboration kits. Look for details in the forum and for layouts in the gallery. Keep watching for updated information, we'll have more happening. Below, I will paste what Kate posted at the store - don't forget to stop in for some great sales! And please drop in throughout the month to visit and participate in the events. We all look forward to getting to know you! Theresa aka ForgetMeNots


It's our one year anniversary this Saturday and to celebrate we are putting the ENTIRE store on sale for 50% off! Also, beginning next week on Monday, we will have special challenges, a weekly product raffle and great savings on both new and current product catalogs.

Our new Designer Collab, Heritage Builders, is one of our finest collections to date. With these mini kits you can put together a gorgeous family tree. There are charts, ala carte elements, borders and some of the most beautiful backgrounds I have ever seen. Each kit is $2.00 during the month of August! You can find them HERE!!

Beginning Sunday, August 2nd - Friday, August 7th - spend $25 or more in the store and be entered in a drawing to win one a $25 gift certificate, good for all products in the shop. Winner will be announced Saturday, August 8th at 12pmET.

Sales starts Friday, July 31st - with a special one day storewide 50% off sale on Saturday, August 1st. Each week we will have something new for you - could be product giveaways, challenges, chats or games - stay tuned for the details.

Above all, we want to thank you for your patronage and support over the past year. We have grown a lot, learned a lot and remain focused on providing you with some of this industry's highest quality products. We appreciate your business and look forward to many more years, providing you with inspirational, unique and upscale art for your family research & heritage scrapbooking projects.

Wonderful Genealogical Site Found on the Internet

Wow! I have just found a website that is new to me - maybe not to you - that is awesome! It is About.com's genealogy section! They have articles on everything! There are articles for newbies right through to very detailed articles for experts. And the structure of the site is very user friendly - headings and subheadings allow you to drill down quickly onto any topic.

And they have links to a few great blogs and newsletters with RSS feeds so that you can get new material sent right to your yahoo or google home page or other feed reader.

The only bad thing that I have found so far is that I have a ton of tabs open, keep finding more and more articles to read, and just cannot read everything fast enough! I have been on the site for hours and can't get enough of it! Each time I read one article, a few more related articles are shown, then a few more, and a few more until I am lost in reading!

Check it out for yourself! Warning: Allow yourself plenty of allotted time - beginning in the evening may lead to pulling an all-nighter!

Heritage Hunting Chat and Assignment for July 7, 2009

Hi to all of you Heritage Hunters!!

Tonight at our chat we will talking about Birth Records and Documents and how to use them in your research. Chat is at 9:00 pm Eastern Time or 6:00 pm Pacific Time in the Heritage Scrap chat room. Come join in the fun! Tonight we have a Special Surprise!!

Your assignment this week will be to find a birth record or document for at least one member of your Pedigree Chart. You may then scrap it (digitally or with paper) or otherwise decorate it, or you may photograph your document, and upload it to the Heritage Hunting gallery. Anyone using at least 50% of their materials from the Heritage Scrap Shoppe will be entered into the random drawing for a prize from our shoppe to be announced later in the week. You may upload as many entries as you wish to share with us. Each eligible layout will be entered into the random drawing.

Heritage Hunting - Birth Records and Sources

Hello again all of you happy Heritage Hunters!

Ok, so you have a good handle on your pedigree chart and you have some family group sheets going on some of your ancestors and their families. Good beginning, firm foundation! Now lets start getting more detailed information about each person - documented and verified details!

Let's start with a person's birth - easy, right? Not!!! Just look at their birth certificate, right? Not!!! Not?? Yep, not!! Most municipalities and even states did not record births or require their recordings until late in the 1800s and even then, the practice was not common or enforced until well into the early 1900s. If your ancestor of that *transition* time period did in fact record the births of their children, you may have a problem finding exactly where they recorded those facts. It may be at their church or parish, at the county courthouse, or at early governmental offices such as a health department. You may find documents or letters confirming a birth within a veteran's military discharges or pension files. All of these places would probably have an *official* record of the birth so would be considered primary documents. They were probably filed by a close relative and close in time to the actual event.

Sometimes, the recording was done later - even as late as when the birth child was an adult! These are called *delayed birth certificates* and are usually filed by a secondary source person at a time far from the actual event. Obviously, these type records may be much less reliable. How does an adult know for sure exactly where or when they were born?? It is all hearsay or oral history (or legend) by the time the certificate was made.

Therefore, you may have to resort to other means of obtaining detailed and accurate birth information. Family Bibles are fantastic for these types of undocumented events as are family correspondence and newspaper announcements. Baptism or christening records from a church are great sources and even considered primary sources in many cases. Lastly and least reliable of all are census records. When comparing census records over a long period of time, you will notice that the census interval of time passed is always 10 years, the age of the ancestor may be greater than or less than the same 10 years! The difference is usually only by a few years but also can be by many years! Ages on census records usually tend to be older for the younger folks and younger for the older respondents, with the female inaccuracies almost always greater than their male counterparts.

The farther back in time that you go with your ancestors, the less accurate the birth date and place will be usually. This is especially true for ancestors who are migrating, emigrating or are further into some sort of transition. Again, if church records are not available, the next best thing would be family correspondence. Lacking that, I don't know any more to tell you! Time to hit the big guys for more advice!

Birth certificates and other sources did not always contain a lot of helpful information. Most will mention date and place, and usually parents, but that may be all you get! Of course with birth certificates of long ago as with those of today, there may be *fudging*. Even though there may not have been as many *unknown* or wrongly reported fathers then as now, further searching and verifying may be needed.

Sometimes you may come across more than one date, place, parents, or other detail - even from some normally reliable source. Save them all!! It may come to a decision on your part as to which piece of information seems most logical that you use or publish based on your overall, general knowledge of the person.

Obtaining copies of birth certificates can range from a few cents for a copy up to $20 - $25 or more for each one! Rates seem to be raising as more and more people join our hobby and give states an opportunity to profit from our curiosity!

Websites relating to finding and documenting birth documents:

United States Vital Records
Cyndi's List
Ancestry.com Learning Center
Family History Lesson Series

Websites to look for specific birth certificates or church records would probably be easiest to find using a search engine and name a particular place. The Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) has sent researchers all over the world scanning church records and other documents so you may be able to find scans of some birth certificates or documents by visiting their website, searching and then ordering microfilm through their regional family libraries.

This Day in History, July 6

On July 6th, 1785, the dollar was unanimously chosen as the official currency of the United States.

Other Notable Events, July 6

In 1699, pirate Capt. William Kidd was seized in Boston and deported to England where he was hanged.

In 1854, the Republican Party was formally established at a meeting in New York City.

In 1885, French bacteriologist Louis Pasteur inoculated the first human being, a boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog. The youngster didn't develop rabies.

In 1919, a British dirigible landed at New York's Roosevelt Field to complete the first airship crossing of the Atlantic.

In 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.

In 1933, the first Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The American League beat the National League, 4-2.

In 1942, diarist Anne Frank and her family took refuge in a secret section of an Amsterdam warehouse where they hid from the Nazis for two years. Finally discovered, they were shipped to concentration camps where Anne died.

In 1944, fire in the big top of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Conn., killed 167 people, two-thirds of them children, and injured 682 others.

In 1957, while attending a church picnic near Liverpool, 15-year-old Paul McCartney met 16-year-old John Lennon. Lennon's band was playing at the picnic and by the end of the day McCartney had joined the group.

In 1958, Alaska became the 49th U.S. state.

In 1971, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, one of the 20th century's most influential American musicians, died at age 69.

In 1976, women were first admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy. The other military academies soon followed suit.

In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, in a TV interview, said it was a "probability" that many young people now paying into Social Security "will never be able to receive as much as they're paying."

In 1992, a bomb exploded near the car carrying French President Mitterrand's wife during a visit to Kurdish settlements in northern Iraq. She was unhurt but at least two other people were killed.

In 1994, a firestorm killed 14 forest fire fighters near Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Also in 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Latvia, becoming the first U.S. president to travel to the Baltic region.

In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder deployed the remote-controlled Sojourner to explore the surface of Mars.

In 1999, U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton announced she was forming an committee to look into running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y. No first lady had before sought public office.

In 2004, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, chose Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., as his running mate.

In 2005, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was sent to jail for refusing to name her source in connection with the leaking of a CIA agent's identity to the media.

Also in 2005, London was chosen for the site of the 2012 Olympic Games in a close decision over Paris.

In 2006, a record $145 billion class action award against five tobacco companies was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court.

In 2007, a three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati dismissed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International