What the Census Knows, 1900-1940

The information on the census reports for 1900 to 1940 can give you information to better flesh out the lives of your most recent dead. This is a breakdown of each census report, and what the columns tell you, left to right. It’s an interesting read on its own, without ancestral context, simply to see what questions were thought to gather important information as the country developed.

The 1940 Census was released last year. Within months, volunteers had all of the information transcribed onto the internet so that people could search the census files by ancestor name; in the beginning it could only be searched by address. I spent weeks reading every census report for my hometown, looking for the names of my relatives, searching their last known addresses. It was how I discovered that my Great-Grandparents Riddle had left Lockport. Both of their previously known addresses were properties being rented to other families.

When I inquired with my family about where they might have been, I was told that they had owned a general store in Franklinville, NY for a while, while my Poppa commuted back and forth from the Harrison Radiator Factory in Lockport. And that they had a small farm in Somerset, NY just before that. The family story goes that they were having financial difficulties due to a delinquent son (who later went to prison for bank robbery in San Luis Obispo, California), which forced them to move. I found them on their farm in Somerset.

When I discovered their 1940 census from Somerset, I was suddenly reminded of a conversation my Grandpa and I had one night. His job had brought him down to the SUNY school where I attended college and we went out to dinner, which would have been when he lived in Franklinville. I was talking about high school as if he had attended the same one I did in his youth and he told me how he had gone to high school in another town, because they had moved for a while. That evening of conversation came flooding back to me, the snippets of his life he had shared. Knowledge is wonderful, and the census information is amazing; slivers of time like samplings of the past. But the memories that surface in the hunt for the past are the true treasured gifts for the living.

1900:

·         name of street; house number

·         dwelling houses numbered in order of visitation; families numbered in order of visitation

·         name of each person whose place of abode was the family

·         relationship of each person to the head of the family

·         color (white, black, mulatto, Chinese, or Indian)

·         sex

·         date of birth with month and year; age at last birthday

·         whether single, married, widowed or divorced; number of years married

·         number of children born to mother; number of children still living

·         place of birth; place of father’s birth; place of mother’s birth

·         year of immigration to the US; number of years in the US; date of naturalization

·         profession, occupation or trade of each person, male or female over 10 years; number of months person has been unemployed

·         whether attended school within the census year

·         whether can read; whether can write; whether can speak English

·         home owned or rented; whether owned free of mortgage

·         living farm or house; number of farm schedule

1910:

·         name of street; house number

·         dwelling houses numbered in order of visitation; families numbered in order of visitation

·         name of each person whose place of abode was the family

·         relationship of each person to the head of the family

·         sex

·         color or race

·         age at last birthday

·         whether single, married, widowed or divorced; number of years or present marriage

·         number of children born to mother; number of children still living

·         place of birth; place of father’s birth; place of mother’s birth

·         year of immigration to the US; whether naturalized or alien

·         trade or profession of each person; general nature of industry or business; whether an employer, employee, or working on own account; whether worked April 15, 1910; number of weeks unemployed

·         able to read; able to write

·         attended school anytime after September 1909

·         owned or rented home; owned free of mortgage

·         farm or house; number of farm schedule

·         whether a survivor of the union or confederate army or navy

·         whether blind; whether deaf and dumb

1920:

·         name of street; house number

·         dwelling houses numbered in order of visitation; families numbered in order of visitation

·         name of each person whose place of abode was the family

·         relationship of each person to the head of the family

·         owned or rented home; owned free of mortgage

·         sex

·         color or race

·         age at last birthday

·         whether single, married, widowed or divorced

·         year of immigration to the US; whether naturalized or alien; year of naturalization

·         attended school

·         able to read; able to write

·         place of birth; mother tongue; place of father’s birth; father’s mother tongue; place of mother’s birth; mother’s mother tongue

·         whether able to speak English

·         trade or profession of each person; general nature of industry or business; whether an employer, employee, or working on own account

·         number of farm schedule

1930:

·         name of street; house number

·         dwelling houses numbered in order of visitation; families numbered in order of visitation

·         name of each person whose place of abode was the family

·         relationship of each person to the head of the family

·         owned or rented home; value of home owned or cost of monthly rent

·         whether or not the family owned a radio set

·         does this family live on a farm

·         sex

·         color or race

·         age at last birthday

·         marital condition; age at first marriage

·         attended school; able to read and write

·         place of birth; place of father’s birth; place of mother’s birth

·         language spoken before coming to the US

·         year of immigration to the US; year of naturalization

·         whether able to speak English

·         trade or profession of each person; general nature of industry or business; class of worker; whether actually at work on regular working days; if not, number of unemployment schedule

·         whether a veteran of US military; what war

·         number of farm schedule

1940:

·         name of street; house number

·         number of household in order of visitation

·         home owned or rented; value of home or monthly rent

·         does this household live on a farm

·         name of each person whose place of abode was the family

·         relationship of each person to the head of the family

·         sex

·         color or race

·         age at last birthday

·         marital condition

·         attended school or college; highest grade of school completed

·         place of birth; citizenship of those foreign born

·         in what place did the person live April 1, 1935

·         whether at work in private or non-emergency government work March 24-30; whether at work or assigned to public emergency work the week of March 24-30; if not, whether they were seeking work; if not, whether they had some other job; number of  hours worked in week of March 24-30; duration of unemployment

·         occupation and trade; industry of employment; class of worker; number of weeks worked in 1939

·         wage and salary income received from the last year; did person receive income from sources other than wages

·         number of farm schedule

The census reports for 1940 were released in 1912 and it will be another 10 years before the 1950 census is released, in 2022. In order to protect the privacy of the people listed, they are only released to the public after 72 years.

My Ancestral Dead, My Beloved Dead

My ancestors are pillars of ice-blue fire, breathing in seasons like stars, stones and trees. My Ancestral Dead are fire that doesn’t burn.

Not so for the Beloved Dead. The energy of those who you have known in this physical plane, those you have touched, held, hugged and lost is not cool and calm. Hot salty tears burn my cheeks with a fever as the grief washes over me. The recent dead are changeable water, tumultuous with grief in one minute, still with acceptance in another, and then raging against the feel of loss… they are uneasy waters. Unless you feel called to step further on the path of this work, I recommend stating with clear intention that you are honoring the Beloved Dead and asking nothing of them in return. I routinely call on the energy of my forebears to watch over my nieces and nephew, but I do not ask that of the Beloved Dead.

It may seem strange that I do not ask the spirits who knew me to help watch over us. That’s the good thing about generations though- we keep coming. There are plenty of lives to call on, that I can leave the recently deceased be. It’s my belief that the Beloved Dead are transitioning what was left of themselves through the process of dying and moving on. I have experienced the moment of death with a loved one, and it opened something in me. When he died and his spirit left his body, when the life of him left the room, the air about me wavered and changed, as if a warm flame had been blown out. His body was not him anymore.

I do not claim to know what comes next or what happens to that bit of life. I don’t know what happens. But I have faith that something does.

You can’t discuss spirit without being metaphysical. As far as I’m concerned, spirit is energy and science has proven that energy exists. The way I talk about it is more romantic but that doesn’t remove the science; after all, I’m a writer, not a scientist. I believe what I believe because it makes sense to me based on what I’ve experienced. I am always open to adapting my beliefs. As I change and grow and evolve, so too will my concepts of faith and spirit.

My Great-grandfather, Harold Lafayette Riddle is one of my Ancestral dead, having died nine months before I was born. His life was a gateway between my ancestors and my beloved dead. Harold’s wife, my Great-grandmother Elsie, is one of my Beloved dead, an integral part of my life until her death my last year of high school. I may honor her on the same altar as I honor my ancestors, but I am aware that my connection to her is still partially in this plane, and not the other.

Anyone who came before me that I did not know is an ancestor. For example, my father’s mother, Ruth, is my ancestor; she died when he was five. Most of my known ancestors are a list of names with little known substance. Speaking the names aloud is a song that sings the story of my bloodline:

Marquis DeLayfayette Riddle, Sarah Clickner, Levi Gillette, Jane Berry, Layfayette Riddle, Frances Gillette, George Durant, Louise Burmah, Harold Lafayette Riddle, Adam Art, Katherine Maria Schmeelk, John F. Pils, George Art, Katherine Pils, Frank Burke, Robert George Art, Loretta Burke…

Sir Francis Eaton, Sarah Eaton, Samuel Eaton, Solomon Gool Eaton, Hannah Ann Treadwell, Philitus Tenney, Malvina, Bennett Eaton, Cordelia Tenney, Ammi Smith, Sophia Sears, Reuben Feagles Dutcher, Eliza Marsh Bird, Silas Parker Smith, Hattie Eva Dutcher, Royal Levant Eaton, Hattie Eva Smith, Ruth Emma Ruston, Richard Ruston, Ann, William Ireland, Phoebe Lenton, Charles Evan Ruston, Ruth Ireland, Thaddeus Rice Wicker, Cynthia Lusk, Bailey Harrison Whitcher, Ordelia DeLozier, Hiram King Wicker, Angeline Whitcher, Frank William Ruston, Minnie Estelle Wicker…

So many names, so many lives. These names are the direct line of people whose children bore children who eventually bore me. Were it not for them, I would not be me. The magnitude of that realization can feel like pressure bearing down, waiting for me to be something special or do something special. But standing in honor of these people doesn’t feel like pressure. Those lives are stones beneath me, giving me firm footing. I am because they were, whether they were people of good character or not.

A step to strengthen your ancestral ties is to begin writing down the names of your family tree you know. Ask your parents who their grandparents were if you didn’t know them. Ask your Grandparents who their parents were. Get as much information as you can. Where were they born? Where did they live? Where did they grow up? When did they marry? How many times? How many children?

As for your Beloved Dead, keep a list of those you were close to who have passed on from this world. For my own work, I have tried to keep a list that remembers those I was very close to, classmates I grew up with, people who helped shape and mold me, and people who affected a change my life in an enormous way:

Melinda Tanner, Mark Eaton, Jeff Patterson, Elizabeth Fricke, Willie Lingenfelter, Elsie Durant Riddle, Gabe Reynolds, Joel Pelletier, Victoria Eaton, Trent Illig, Edward Jerge, Donna Riddle, Jurgen Banse-Fey, Tommy Amyotte, Paul Seeloff, Richard James Riddle, Brett Elsess, Charles “Sienna Fox” Duvall, Andrew Begley, Coswald Mauri, Norm Herbert, Jad Alexander, Princess Leather Falcor (beloved pet), Dr. August Staub, Martha Dayton, Maurice “Strong Bear” Foxx, Melvin Chausse, Wilma Derbeshire Meade, John Simeon Croom, Karl Weber, Lunabelle the Jackalope (beloved pet), Larry Littman, Ellen Fitzgerald.

On Samhain, I will call out the names of my Ancestral Dead to come and bear witness as I honor those that I loved, that I have known and held. I speak the names of the Beloved Dead to remember them and hear memories stir at the sounds of familiar words on tongue. That is how I honor them, with voice and word and deed.

Known, or unknown, how best can you honor your ancestors? What legacy, in their name, can you offer your descendants?

*Looking Ahead: Some people are adopted and have no names that are known to them. Later on I’ll talk about working with your unknown ancestors, as well as taking on the ancestors of your adopted tribe, or family.