How To Use The Census In Your Genealogy Research

You've gone through the preliminaries.

You've collected all your household vital records, interviewed relatives, gathered additional records from living relatives and followed-up on some of the leads that were developed. Now, you're stuck and not sure what to do next in your genealogy research.

If you've worked your way far enough back, it might be time to start checking the Census.

But first, you'll want to understand that while the Census Bureau collects some great genealogical information, it has the responsibility of confidentiality. As a result, the Decennial Census of Population and Housing on individuals does not become available to the public until after 72 years.

That's why you have to have worked your way far enough back in your research before you'll find the Census helpful.

But here's what you'll really like ... not only will the Census records help you locate where an acestor lived, after 1840 the Census collected age, place of birth, occupation, personal wealth, education, spouse, children, hired hands, and even immigration information. A gold mine for genealogists.

Copies of the original decennial census forms from 1790 through 1930 are available on microfilm for research at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC (http://www.archives.gov/), at Archives regional centers, and at select Federal depository libraries throughout the United States. In addition, these records are available at various other libraries and research facilities throughout the United States.

You can also check with the reference librarian at your local library and see if they're set up to borrow microfilm through the National Archives' census microfilm rental program.

There's something else you're really going to like ... immigration records are also on microfilm at the National Archives. These records have been collected for all major U.S. ports since 1820. They include Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans. The western ports of San Franciso and Seattle are also archived, though those records weren't started until late in the 19th Century.

Here's what these immigration records include: the full name, age, sex, place of origin, and destination for every passenger on the ship. The records even include those who were born or died during the voyage.

And there's more. You can also track down some naturalization records through the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Naturalization is the process by which a a person becomes an American citizen. By law, a person can be naturalized in any "regular" court. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has records for the entire country beginning in 1906, but before this time, the procedure will only be located in the records of the court where it took place. These records often provide a person's birth date and location, occupation, immigration year, marital status and spouse information, witnesses' names and addresses, and more.

For Pre-1906 Naturalizations:

Contact the State Archives for the state where the naturalization occurred to request a search of state, county, and local courts records.

Contact the NARA regional facility that serves the state where naturalization occurred to request a search of Federal court records

For Naturalizations After 1906:

After 1906, the courts forwarded copies of naturalizations to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Naturalizations from Federal Courts are held in the NARA's regional facilities for the Federal courts for their area. Learn more: http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/naturalization/

Here are some additional resources that you might find helpful for learning learn more about the Census and how to access all the incredible information available to genealogy researchers:

USGenWeb Census Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/

Censuslinks.com
http://www.censuslinks.com/

U.S. Census Bureau's Genealogy Page
http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/

Census Finder
http://www.censusfinder.com/

There's nothing quite as exhilarating as uncovering new information about your ancestors. If you've reached a point where you aren't quite sure what to try next in your genealogy research, The Census might just be your best bet. Even if you aren't at that point, it's a resource that you should familiarize yourself with. Sooner or later, it's likely that's where your research is going to led you.

Debbie Pettitt is the webmaster of Ancestry Review, an online site dedicated to helping genealogists weave through all the available Internet genealogy, ancestry and family tree resources to find those that best suit their needs. For more information, please visit http://ancestryreview.com

Feed The Tree - The Genealogy of The Pixies, Throwing Muses, The Breeders and Belly

One of my very favourite sub-scenes of music is the interweaving family tree that includes The Pixies, Throwing Muses, The Breeders and Belly. I could write endlessly about any of these bands, even about individual songs, so I am going to try to strictly limit myself to a very potted history and include a few example videos by each band, as well as a diagram that explains a great deal more (well, that's if you can read it...it's sharp as a pin on my computer, but the quality doesn't seem to be so great in Blogger). The diagram, too, could be endless, and there is much that is not incuded...but that should inform a healthy comments debate of additions eh?

Recording during the late 1980s and the 1990s, I believe that these artists, and in particular The Pixies, really added something new to the musical landscape; and they have certainly been very influential on other musicians.

I shall start with The Pixies, as they are probably the best known of the bunch, and are really the 'daddy' of this scene (although Throwing Muses were around before The Pixies formed). Headed by Charles Michael Kitridge Thompson IV (!) under the pseudonym Black Francis, they were formed in Boston in 1986. Their full-length debut, Surfer Rosa, recorded by Steve Albini, was released in 1988 (following the release of EP Come On Pilgrim), and was quietly successful, particularly in the UK (more so than in their native US), and won both Melody Maker and Sounds' Album Of The Year title. They supported fellow Bostonians Throwing Muses on tour early on in their career, which introduced them to industry professionals and the wider public.

I would describe their sound as alternative, guitar-based surf punk. Their albums displayed a wide range of song styles and The Pixies seemed to have a really novel, original and unique way of doing things. Strange sound collages crash against surreal imagery on subjects as diverse as UFOs, Mose Allison, incest and biblical references, and the albums are peppered by lyrics in Spanish as well as in English. These lyrics are often 'spacey' or violent, yet it is clear that their author is eloquent and articulate. Their use of volume and dynamics is also of note, with quiet, lazy, restrained sections contrasting with loud hell-for-leather, beat-the-crap-out-of-your-guitar choruses, and gutteral growlings interspersed with sweet, almost falsetto, tunefulness. They were of particular influence on the grunge music scene of the early 1990s (Nirvana claimed, in interview, to have been trying to emulate their sound with Smells Like Teen Spirit), and have been cited by many, including David Bowie, U2 and Radiohead, as one of their favourite bands.

Black Francis, now rechristened Frank Black, has since been prolific, both solo and with his band Frank Black And The Catholics.

And so, before we move on, here are a couple of interesting tidbits for you...

The song Debaser (from the album Doolittle - which was provisionally titled Whore) was inspired by the film Un Chien Andalou, by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali...anyone that has seen this film will remember the eyeball-slicing scene vividly! The song Ana (from Bossanova) is an acrostic - the first letters of each of its six lines spelling out S-U-R-F-E-R.

Divinyl's tip for best introductory album = Doolittle.

Throwing Muses were formed in 1983 by Kristin Hersh and her step-sister Tanya Donelly. They self-released a set of demos (The Doghouse Cassette) in 1984, also releasing a self-titled EP later that year. Their debut album proper (again eponymous) was released in 1986. Muses were the first American act to be signed to British record label 4AD, which has housed all of these key bands, as well as lots of other great artists. 4AD is also responsible for one of my favourite compilation albums, which came free with the magazine Uncut in 1998 and features Lush, His Name Is Alive, Dead Can Dance, Lisa Germano, Mojave 3, Red House Painters and others. (Check out their website for a fuller overview of their artists/releases.)

Hersh has an extremely distinctive vocal style and the lyrics are quirky, sung over tempo shifts and catchy guitar hooks. This is still somewhat anguished 'alternative rock' (e.g. lots of references to mental illness in their lyrics - Hersh suffers from bipolar disorder and is compelled to write by auditory hallucinations which 'force' songs upon her), but it is tuneful, poppy and accessible. Hersh continues to record solo today - a more acoustic sound and stunning songwriting - and also, in 2003, formed the power rock trio 50 Foot Wave. She has been kind enough to share free-to-download mp3s from her solo career, as well as songs from Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave at her website Throwing Music.

Divinyl's tip for best introductory album = Limbo.

Best introductory Kristin Hersh album = Hips And Makers (which was co-produced by Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye).

Kim Deal of The Pixies formed The Breeders (taking the name from the teenage band of she and twin sister Kelley, also in this incarnation - the word being one which homosexuals use to refer to heterosexual people) with Throwing Muses' (with whom they had been on tour) guitarist Tanya Donelly and bassist Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster. Formed in 1989 and releasing their first full album, Pod, in 1990, this was a much more girl-based sound, where angular guitar-playing and feedback are complemented by the melodic singing voices of both Deal and Donelly (don't get me wrong, these women can howl too!). They were signed to 4AD after Ivo Watts-Russell heard their demo, and their debut was recorded (again by Steve Albini, with whom Deal had worked when she was in The Pixies) in only one week. And so to a fact, before we leave The Breeders - with their album Title TK (2002), they heralded the "all wave" philosophy of recording analogue instruments and vocals and eschewing computer technology and digital recording techniques.

Divinyl's tip for best introductory album = Last Splash.

Whilst The Breeders are still going (or at least haven't officially split - the last album they released was Title TK), Tanya Donelly (the most 'capped' in this pantheon) left in 1991 to form...

Belly. Who were a much more chart- and MTV-friendly band who fit nicely into the division of early 90s indie rock that also included groups such as Lush, Echobelly and Dubstar. Belly are, in my opinion, under-appreciated. Their first EP, Slow Dust, was released in 1992 and reached number one on the British indie chart. There followed two albums - Star in 1993 and King in 1995. And that was it (but it was enough to garner Grammy nominations)...unless you count a (great) album mixing 'best of'/B-sides and rareties not released until 2002. Their sound was much more 'pop' than their sibling bands, at times dreamy, at times thrashy, the lyrics still replete with weird, haunting and surreal imagery. They had their biggest success with the single Feed The Tree.

Donelly continues to work as a solo artist and has made some lovely songs; however, in my opinion, her solo efforts have varied widely in quality - it's all a bit hit-and-miss. You can visit her website, where there are free downloadable demos from Belly's album Star and also from her solo catalogue.

Divinyl's tip for best introductory album - Star. And by Tanya Donelly as a solo artist - Whiskey Tango Ghosts.

N.B. All still images original by Divinyl.

http://divinylblogs.blogspot.com