Re-Reading Census Returns

Last week I attended the National Genealogical Society Meeting in Richmond, Virginia. In one of the lectures, the lecturer tried to stress the importance of going back and re-reading each and every census we had in our files. Everyone either laughed or groaned, at which point the lecturer announced that she knew it was a big job but that it was worth it. I was one of the laughers. However, I started re-reading each census return for each person as I worked on his or her file. I have probably done about a hald dozen since Monday, and in each I have fond something new. I had studied them all carefully in the first place, but as time goes on so that more is learned about the family, more is learned about genealogical research in general, and more questions arise with each new piece of information received on a family group, there are things which seemed totally unimportant on the first reading, but several years later constitute an important clue to finding that loose end needed to tir up the famly with no hanging questions. It is absolutely amazing to me how many little things I missed which are now important. The census returns do much more for you than just give the members of the family and place if residence on a certain date. All those seemingly unimportant questions asked by the census enumerator take on new meaning when more is learned about the family group as a whole. Try reading a couple of ones that you had copied a couple of years ago, and since learned much more about the family dynamics, and see what pops out at you that is important now but wasn't before. The other point stressed by the census lecturer is to check the neighbors. This has been emphasized at every lecture I have ever attended on census records. Neighbors also have to be re-checked after more research is done. Last night I was reading a census which I had printed onlya few months ago. I was reading the copy of the image, not my transcription, and was immediately struck by a person next door to my family with the surname Deyo. When I originally read this census I had no idea that that the maiden name of the mother of the girl whose line I was following was Deyo. Tonight I will have to see where this clue takes me.

KEEP READING THOSE LISTS

I have signed up for various lists, bothplaces and surnames. Some days I feel like I am just wading through a lot of stuff, none of which applies to me. Then comes the gem that makes it all worthwhile. The lists can be read quickly by checking the "Re:"s. If you read the first of a thread and it is of no interest, just delete the rest with the same name. That speeds it up a lot. My Herkimer County list had a subject name "Finks." I have Finks from Herkimer County, so started reading. First I was just asked for information so sent a genealogy report of what I have on the name. Then the correspondent started sending me stuff she had gotten from others. What a treasure trove! One of them quoted records of the Palatine immigration located in the British Museum. Another talked about Bounty Land received. This 24 hours of correspondence has yielded more results than I could find in days in a research facility. Another success storn is the Mead Researchers group. I had asked a question on the Conn list about Sherwoods, Husteds, etc. I got a reply from a woman who had the same lines and who suggested I join the Mead Researchers, as there was much intermarriage going on. The only direct Mead ancestozs I know of are a man who never lleft England, and his daughter who came here--but not with the Mead name. I spend a lot of time deleting stuff from this list, but the few posts that are of interest to me make the list worthwhile.