Come to Your “Census” in the Jon F. Popkey Genealogy Room
by Michelle Kratts, Library Clerk & Genealogist-in-Training
Ancestry.com is a treasure trove of census data. You can access this database from any of our public library computers. (Sorry, remote access is not available for this database.) Finding a family member in a census is an excellent way to begin your research. A census is an official enumeration of the population in a particular area. Upon finding your ancestor you can unveil a lot of personal and amazing details about their family group. This information could include country of origin, year of immigration, employment, and children.
U.S. census records are available in ten year intervals beginning with 1790 and ending with 1930.
Caution: Remember that census enumerators are merely human! If you can’t find who you are looking for be creative. Some of our ancestors did not speak English very well and the enumerators spelled names as they heard them. Some even anglicized names. My Italian great great grandparents were Ventresca’s, but I found them listed as Ventry’s—a common interpolation of this name.
Believe it or not, I even found romance in a census document! One day I happened to look over a 1900 census from Wheeling, West Virginia, with a magnifying glass—a good idea as there is a lot of information and tiny print. This particular census contained my great grandmother, Katherine Bandi’s Swiss American family. I had just read something about checking over all of your ancestor’s neighbors thoroughly, as well as your own family. Many ethnic groups lived in close proximity to one another. I happened to gaze down below my grandmother’s name, and there I saw my grandfather, Emil Barthel, listed in the next home the enumerator visited! Of course, I hadn’t noticed this before as they had misspelled my grandfather’s name: Ameil Barthes. But I knew it was him as the birth dates matched, the family members matched and I knew he had lived in Wheeling at this particular time. It made me smile to think of how my grandfather must have fallen in love with the pretty girl next door named Katie. Was it an arranged match? Was it young love? Or was it the Brewery which employed young Emil that put him in the marrying mood? I like to think it was love…
On another note, we also need volunteers who would like to help compile data from local cemeteries and church records. Please contact Michelle Kratts at 754-4720 if you’re interested in helping out.
Filed under: Genealogy Room
I am thinking of fixing up the tombstones of my grand-parents David Thaler and Caroline Wahl (Cooper)
Thaler but have never had the opportunity of visiting the cemetery so cannot go to look at them. They passed on in194? and December 1952 or 3.
Where is the cemetery located - I am having a job locating it on the map on the internet. It is the Riverdale Cemetery. We are in our 83rd year so had better find out while we still can drive. Are Leo Thaler and Anna Thaler buried there too? Thank you for your help in advance.
Mrs. Austin Bush,
Riverdale Cemetery is located at 5605 Lewiston Road in Lewiston, NY. The phone number is 716-285-4968. There should be an abc listing of residents. The staff will make you a copy of what you need for $3.00 per page. For a fee, they will most likely mail you a copy of the information available.
Thank you for your request.