It’s Been Confidential for 72 Years: The 1950 Census

There’s been great information published about the upcoming release of the 1950 US Census. I have been collecting it and want to share with you a reference of helpful resources, along with activities that you can do to prepare for the release!

Important date: 1 April 2022

What is going to happen

The 1950 US Census will be released, 72 years after it was taken.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Artificial Intelligence will give us an initial index including name and locations on the day of its release. The AWS artificial intelligence/optical character recognition (AI/OCR) Textract tool is being used to create that initial index. The index will be available for the P1 Population Schedule and the P8 Indian Reservation Schedule. Since the index will probably not be perfect at first, the National Archives asks us to submit name updates to the index using a transcription tool that will be available on the 1950 Census website.

Interesting facts about the 1950 Census

5% of those responding were asked additional questions, including those about where the person lived a year ago, education, employment, marital status, military service (for males) and the country of their parents’ births.

An exciting fact about this census was that it was the first time Americans abroad were enumerated. In practice the enumeration of Americans in the armed forces, US government employees and vessel crews were counted more reliably than others living aboard. Family and neighbors might report others living abroad.

It would also be the last time that enumerators went around to large multifamily dwellings. In future, the blank forms would be mailed.

What’s different from past census releases

Last release: 2 April 2012. We had to wait an extra day because 1 April fell on a Sunday!

The 1940 US Census was made available to us unindexed. Digital images are great, but without an index you had to identify a set of images to look at, then look at each image to see if your family member was on it. The process involved people figuring out the census enumeration district in which their ancestor lived, then going through the pages for that district page-by-page and line-by-line. Simultaneous with the release, volunteers and genealogical record companies began creating indexes, transcribing the census line-by-line and page-by-page. More than 163,000 volunteers were organized by FamilySearch and managed to create an index for the more than 3.8 million images in a lightning four months. (If you have not been part of a FamilySearch indexing project, please consider it. It is an amazing thing to do. Two indexers transcribe data, and a third arbitrates any differences between the two transcriptions.) This time, on the day of release we have an initial index of names and locations, which will be a good starting place.

This year, for the first time, those who have over 165 terabytes of available computer memory and download the whole census dataset in bulk.

What you can do now

1. Bookmark NARA’s 1950 Census Records webpage. That is where the link to the dedicated website will be posted.

2. View the Questions Asked on the 1950 Census and also view samples of all the Census Forms in the 1950 Census Dataset.

You will probably want to start with: Form P1 – Census of Population and Housing (front). The back of the page with housing information was not microfilmed, and only aggregate data exists.

3. Watch the videos at the National Archives Genealogy Series: 1950 Census and download the handouts. Previous presentations have been recorded for later viewing.

4. Gather blank questionnaires and fill in the censuses during your lifetime. Imagine how glad you would have been if your ancestors had done this for you! Head over to the US Census Bureau to learn more about the Censuses and Download census forms at the Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decades.

On each page for the decennial census, there will be a link to download that Decennial Census Questionnaire & Instructions. From that page you can download a sample questionnaire. Or you can go directly to the 1950 Census page where you can download blank forms and view the index of questions.

On the Through the Decades webpage you can find a link to download “Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses From 1790 to 2000” in that includes information and questionnaires from the 1790 up to the 2000 US Census in pdf format.

On 1 April 2022

Travel to the NARA’s 1950 Census Records web page, where there will be a link the dedicated website.

Many thanks to all those at NARA who worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to bring this data to us on time.

RootsTech 2022 lives on

Another RootsTech has come and gone, but RootsTech 2022 is really is not over! The classes that were recorded for RootsTech 2022 are still available. In fact, RootsTech made a decision to keep classes online for 3 years (unless the content creator asks for them to be removed). That means you have access to content from 2021 and 2022. Be sure to have a free FamilySearch account so that you can create a playlist as you search for classes.

The web address is https://rootstech.org. Use the menu on the upper right corner and select the option “Sessions” to search for sessions, or “Speakers” to search for a particular speaker.

When you search for Sessions, there will be a search box on the top and a list of filters on the left side of the Session page. I find using the filters more cumbersome than searching, but viewing the topics available can be helpful. To use the filters, click on the down arrow next to a filter to see the options available. After selecting an option, the available classes will show up on the right side of the screen.

An example search for the term: military will have our military classes.

Most of the classes have a downloadable syllabus or handout, and you should be able to find contact information for the instructors if you have questions.

RootsTech Connect was an overwhelming success, with 700,000 people officially registered. More viewed sessions without registering. Expect that there might be a virtual component in any upcoming RootsTech, which is great news for anyone who cannot travel.

Thanks to those who stopped by virtually to visit my classes at RootsTech, and left a greeting or a question.

You can find my sessions at:

• 3-part series Researching Ancestors in the U.S. Military: Online and in Military Archives (2022)
• 2-part series Write Their Story: From Timeline to Young Readers Book (2022)
• Tip: Learning from US Military Records That Did Not Burn (2021)

or find them all by clicking on: Dr. McMahon’s RootsTech classes.

Archaeology and Genealogy

This past semester I took an introductory class in archaeology. Archaeology is part of anthropology, so the class involved more than digging. I learned that archaeology was one of the four branches of anthropology, with the other three being: Physical (Biological) Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology and Linguistic Anthropology.

Archaeology and genealogy share some similarities. Like genealogy, archaeology looks at peoples and their cultures through the physical things that they leave behind. Historical archaeology is most like genealogy because it covers the time of recorded history.

Archaeology borrows three principles from geology: the Archaeologists use principles from geology to determine time frames of artifacts: the Principle of Superposition, the Principle of Association, and the Principle of Strata Identified by Fossils/Artifacts.

The Principal of Superposition is where the oldest artifacts are at the bottom. Just as genealogists begin with themselves and work backwards to older ancestors, an archaeologist digs through layers, from newest to oldest and the story is the sum of those layers

The Principle of Association means the materials that are close together are of similar age. This reminds me of the collateral relatives that genealogists research to find answers, and cluster research.

Principle of Stratification lets archaeologists estimate the age of artifacts by the layers in which they are found. Genealogists dig through the layers of each generation to find their ancestors and families.

Digging a site is a destructive process, where genealogy is constructive. Genealogical work is similar to archaeology in the way that it uncovers the artifacts that are combined with their context to build the story of how people lived and moved through their space. Unlike genealogy, digging a site is destructive. Once a site has been excavated, it is destroyed. (It may be possible to virtually reconstruct a site through the use of technology.) Similar to genealogy, when little is known about an ancient culture, archaeologists begin with what is known about the present and work backwards.

Context is incredibly important in archaeology. Having an artifact without understanding where it was found and what was around it robs it of most of its value. The context of our ancestors’ lives is what gives our work its value. Understanding their lives and times, the challenges they faces is the richness on genealogy.

Next semester on to Physical Anthropology which promises to discuss inheritance and DNA testing.

Be a family history archaeologist and uncover the stories of your ancestors!

Happy Holidays 2021!

Hello Everyone,

We hope this blog post finds you well and celebrating a happy and healthy holiday season.

This year brought Zoom classes, a class accepted by RootsTech Connect 2022, graduation from the amazing ProGen Study Group program, an archaeology class, more WWI research and a new book coming out soon.

So, stay tuned for more Zoom classes, books and more from us.

Here’s to what 2022 brings!

May all your weeks be filled with genealogy.

Book Review: “New Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy”

Being the owner of the Second Edition of the “Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy” (2002), I was glad to review this all-new, revised and expanded version of the book. Irish genealogy can be challenging, and Ireland’s history has had an impact on researching Irish ancestors.

As in previous editions, the book contains a concise outline of the history of Ireland and how it applies to genealogical research. The book contains the maps, as well as definitions of geographical and administrative areas that you will need to know while researching Irish ancestors.

If your ancestors emigrated from Ireland, your research needs to begin at home. The book gives brief insights into how to start in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and Great Britain.

The author asserts that using seven (7) major record sources, a researcher should be able to go six or seven generations back in their family tree in Ireland. This distance may be impeded when ancestors in the same place have the same or similar names, or the records may not exist. A beginning researcher would benefit from learning of these sources; an intermediate researcher is probably aware of them, but might benefit from knowing more details about how to access and use them. There are also a variety of other records, some of them potentially less obvious, that are introduced and may prove useful for placing an Irish ancestor at a place during a certain time.

The “Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy” was originally published in 1991, revised in 2002 and revised again in 2008. This new 2020 edition is expanded from previous editions, and Irish researchers may find it worth the investment to upgrade to the 2020 edition.

This 2020 edition represents a major effort to include the ever-growing number of resources that have become accessible online. Although the Second Edition did have a chapter about “Irish Genealogy and the Internet,” this new edition contains more timely and relevant information. A new section that organizes “Insights and Strategies” includes expanded and new content. There is a three-step guide to tracing your Irish ancestors, which is followed by a case study demonstrating how to employ the steps. In the new content includes a brief chapter about when and how to DNA. Identifying genetic cousins and collaborating with them to pool records and held  family is definitely a way to pool

The book includes specific details and expands on how to use the strategies with ample examples. Included in the examples, the author embeds a demonstration of how to extract data from the available records, which readers might find helpful to organize the data they collect during their research. The case study of a Scots-Irish ancestor may be especially helpful if this is an area of your research.

This book is dense with usable information, and it may take a while to digest. A researcher might choose to work through this book as an instructive text. A researcher could benefit from taking the time to read through the book slowly, focusing on a record set or strategy, and then applying what was read to their own research. This approach could be more useful than sitting down and reading the book from cover-to-cover. The book can also serve as a reference for a researcher building a family tree.

The term “pocket guide” is a bit of a misnomer; you would need large pockets to carry this book around with you! Cosmetically, I found the font in this latest version was easier on my eyes than that of the Second Edition.

Mitchell’s work to revise and update this book was worth the amount of work he so obviously invested. With its updated and relevant content, it is worth considering upgrading to the 2020 edition in your genealogical library.

“New Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy” by Brian Mitchell is available at Genealogical.com.