Lara: What did Elias do for work?
Sherry: Elias was, he was, well they had oil fields on his property.
L: Oh.
S: An oil well, so he made money doing that and I really don’t know I think he had a farm, I think he had farmlands. He was a farmer and that’s about all I know. Because they did have a barn and Grandma Pearl said sometimes the bums would travel through and come out of the hay mound and she’d go in the barn to do chores and someone would be climbing down out of the hay mound, they were people traveling through and they never hurt anybody or anything.
L: Hobos.
S: Hobos. She called them bums too.
"She used to sing this song…"
Sherry sings:
I went to a house and I knocked on the door,
The lady said bum-bum you’ve been here before,
Hallelujah, bum again, Hallelujah, bum again
You’ve been here before
Sherry, "That’s one of the songs Grandma told me."
----------------------------
At the beginning of this project I spent three days glued to the computer. It was after I'd started interviewing Mama. I was transcribing the tapes when I decided to search engine some of the names in the stories.
It was like being dropped into a thick mountain side area and being totally lost!
I'd be jotting down notes of possible connections and following maybes and then stop dead in my tracks and think...how am I going to get to know about my family like this?
Which brought up another question: Why don't we already know everything about our family?
I re-entered the few place names I'd "got" and stared at the maps.
Distance, is one reason why there is more unknowing about our family than there is knowing. On both "sides" of my family tree (my maternal and paternal) there "was always" considerable distance between us. Part of that ties in with the story of many Americans advancing through time...although there are settlements, there has also been an awful lot of scattering.
I myself have "lived" in more than fifty places which is way more than my parents....
"And they have lived in more places than their parents is the general rule when we do these kinds of maps," a teacher explained to me during a seminar in which we were mapping our roots.
Our movement, both physically and in spirit, ties many American families into larger trends in our country.
Distance...is what I feel when I look at place on the maps on the computer.
The largest patch of green on the map near Moundsville is the Marshall County Fairgrounds.
I had been told that Moundsville was called that because of the waste piles of coal.
I cruise into a Moundsville information site via the computer and find out that the name claims to have origins older than that...the area is home to the Adena Indian burial grounds. Nobody'd told me that when they'd mentioned the landmarks. I guess landmarks are like the cold hard facts. Common points to remember, common points in which to dive first before swimming deeper into the personal. In between the facts and the personal that's the place where the poetry bubbles and boils.
the mounds like
resting giants...the mounds like mounds of other civilizations...the mounds like...
Something all the people talk about when they talk about this place.
The mounds as seen from different perspectives! Coal piles, burial grounds.
The mounds like beacons on this journey of trying to understand where we came from...
I have scant information to work with in the beginning of this project. Well, I have a ton of things learned about my country, but I have never had many details about my family, my roots. It seems odd that at this time in my life when I'm personally wondering how to move forward, I find myself trying to find out where we've been. This is, I think, part middle age landing and part of a global movement that seems to suggest that if enough of us get back in touch with our reality, we can work on that reality in the present, for the future.
Staring at the maps--zooming in and out--making lists of the place names as if they might whisper to me what I am looking for, I determine that although I don't, as yet, know exactly where my people came from, by all accounts we seem to have come from that part of West Virginia where another State makes a box imprint on the map. I half wonder if it looks like that in reality. I know it doesn't because over the years I have driven all through America...searching for something, like the something that might be inside of a box and I can't see it from over here.
Days pass and I get an email back from reaching out to a distant relative. The little bit of information jumps out as if from the trunk...a word, a name...and I find that this helps me get more precise about something.
Grandma Pearl grew up in a place called Miracle Run.
I "google it" and find...
There's a Blue Goose Road.
Even just a place name sparks a memory. My mother had a car she called the goose, the blue goose or the red goose, some kind of colored goose. That was the car she gave up for Daddy. Her Grandma Pearl wanted to see just how serious mama was about this boy Ed. Sherry'd gone home for the summer after a year a scholarship-earned secretary school and written Ed a letter a day, even snuck out of church one Sunday morning and called him all the way in New York on a payphone. Pearl was fit to be tied, more worry than they're generally worth, Pearl knew of men. Sherry'd worked so hard to be an A student and a newspaper editor and a guitar playing church member and now this?!? Pearl said he looked lazy. Pearl grounded her for life. Pearl couldn't keep Sherry from going back to college which she did in her Gray Goose that she'd bought with her own money. Pearl teamed up with her daughter (my grandmother) Betty and they went over to Midland and took mama's car and gave her a fat lip! Literally, Sherry wouldn't back down from her position of he's the one. Fortunately for mama, Daddy had a sportscar. And he promised to be the one. Anywhere she wanted to go...now mama was really moving on. It's no wonder emotions were running high.
At my desk in front of the computer it's kind of like driving a car on this journey of family tree. All the narratives I've heard swirl around with mystery and history.
I'd read a bunch of early American history about the area. I'd also read that at the time a man named Blacksville after his family name--Black and made a "town" out of a settlement (which sprouted out of land plots and a tangled history of pre-Revolutionary land claiming and forging)...there were land owners and "squattors."
At my desk I wrestled with the either/or scenarios. And I thought long and hard about placing my ancestors in the picture either way. Whether they were the ones on the deeds or the "squattors"...they FIT.
They were there.
Due South of what is called Brave, Pennsylvania--my people journeyed through Miracle Run.
Census 1900, Enumeration Description:
Battelle Magisterial District (West side)
"All of district west of a line beginning at Pennsylvania State line on Dunkard Creek near William Cummins' thence with said creek to Wadestown, thence with Fairmont Pike to top of ridge near George C. Stiles' heirs', between Dunkard Creek and Miracle Run, thence with said ridge or divide to the Marion County line near Galletin."
Great Grandma Pearl & her sister Anna
Along in our research we were bummed out to find out about another fire!
Sherry: Yeah, she used to tell me that…and, ah, as far as Grandma’s history…
She was very beautiful, very, very beautiful with creamy white skin, really black hair and beautiful big brown eyes and she was a queen, she was selected to be like the hometown queen…
L: Of Moundsville?
She was very beautiful, very, very beautiful with creamy white skin, really black hair and beautiful big brown eyes and she was a queen, she was selected to be like the hometown queen…
L: Of Moundsville?
S: Of Moundsville or Blacksville, of somewhere in that area where they lived….Camel’s Run, you know those were some of the towns where she lived near….
And she won this one special beauty contest and they gave her a ruby ring. And, that was quite a prize back then.
L: Did you ever see it?
S: I never got to see it and I never got to see the picture of Grandma Pearl because at the homestead, the house burned down…
L: The Fox’s homestead?
S: Yeah…the Fox’s homestead burned down. Grandma Pearl’s home where she lived. It was a beautiful country farmhouse, all white with dark green trim and it had a separate little house, like a cottage where the kitchen was in there and her mother would cook for the helping hands that came to the farm and prepare the meals in there because that’s one reason why they didn’t have the kitchen attached to the house so with the fires going for the cooking it wouldn’t catch the rest of the house on fire…
L: wow
S: But I don’t know what started the fire or anything.
And she won this one special beauty contest and they gave her a ruby ring. And, that was quite a prize back then.
L: Did you ever see it?
S: I never got to see it and I never got to see the picture of Grandma Pearl because at the homestead, the house burned down…
L: The Fox’s homestead?
S: Yeah…the Fox’s homestead burned down. Grandma Pearl’s home where she lived. It was a beautiful country farmhouse, all white with dark green trim and it had a separate little house, like a cottage where the kitchen was in there and her mother would cook for the helping hands that came to the farm and prepare the meals in there because that’s one reason why they didn’t have the kitchen attached to the house so with the fires going for the cooking it wouldn’t catch the rest of the house on fire…
L: wow
S: But I don’t know what started the fire or anything.
L: And was…so when the fire happened…Ida and Elias…
S: They rebuilt the house, they did rebuild. Yeah.
L: And was Grandma Pearl still there?
Sherry says, “I think she was grown up, I think she may have been married by then and anyway, why I bring that up was because the original house was burned but then after Mom had me and Gail and Paula, they went on a trip to visit the Foxes and I was with them and the house was beautiful and the porch and it was a very beautiful old country farmhouse. It was nice and big.”
__________________
__________________
S: They rebuilt the house, they did rebuild. Yeah.
L: And was Grandma Pearl still there?
Sherry says, “I think she was grown up, I think she may have been married by then and anyway, why I bring that up was because the original house was burned but then after Mom had me and Gail and Paula, they went on a trip to visit the Foxes and I was with them and the house was beautiful and the porch and it was a very beautiful old country farmhouse. It was nice and big.”
__________________
__________________
Along in our research we were bummed out to find out about another fire!
More information on the 1890 Fire and the Special Enumeration of Union Veterans and Widows can be found in the NARA Prologue article, "'First in the Path of the Firemen' The Fate of the 1890 Population Census," Part 2, by Kellee Blake, available online at:
http://www.nara.gov/publications/prologue/1890cen2.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Special Federal Census Schedules
By George G. Morgan 08 October 1999
One of the first resources genealogists use is the census. Federal population census records provide a benchmark for determining the location of people at a specific point in time. Depending on the year, the amount of information you will find in the census records will vary, with the 1790 census showing only head of household and headcounts and the later censuses providing every household's residents' names, ages, places of birth, occupations, value of property, and other details.
In addition to the population schedules with which we are familiar, there are other special census schedules that may be of interest. These include Slave Schedules, Mortality Schedules, Agriculture Schedules, Manufacturing Schedules, and Veterans Schedules, all of which were prepared to provide information for administrative or decision-making purposes. In "Along Those Lines . . ." this week, let's discuss several of the special census schedules that may be new to you.
Slave Schedules
In the 1850 and 1860 censuses, free African Americans were enumerated by name. Slaves, however, were enumerated separately from white persons and information about them was very brief. In effect, slaves were listed under their owner's name, and the only information included in these separate schedules were age, gender, and a racial designation as either black or mulatto. If the slave had some physical or mental disability, this may have been listed. Slaves over the age of one hundred were listed by name and, in some cases, may include details of their origin and their life. Otherwise, the inclusion of names is limited.
The information included in slave schedules is exceedingly limited and provides little conclusive evidence of a specific person. The value of the schedules, however, lies in verifying that a specific person owned slaves and in confirming hypotheses formed from other material. For instance, your family tradition may include information that one of your male ancestors was born in 1842 in Augusta County, Virginia, and was born into slavery to a specific slaveholder. The 1850 census slave schedule for that county might confirm that the slaveholder did, in fact, own slaves and that there was a male slave whose age corresponds with the 1842 birth year. This corroboration may spur you forward to seek tax rolls, property records, probate files, and other records for that slaveholder which might name your ancestor.
Mortality Schedules
Mortality schedules are an interesting and often overlooked resource. They provide a listing of persons who died in the twelve months prior to the census, and can sometimes help locate an individual who has otherwise disappeared. Mortality schedules are also useful in African American research in the 1850 and 1860 censuses because the names of deceased slaves are included for the first time.
The 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and special censuses taken in 1885 included questions concerning the deaths of people in the previous twelve months—from 1 June of the previous year to 31 May of the census year. Information recorded on the mortality schedules included the name of the deceased, sex, age, color (white, black, or mulatto), place of birth, month in which the death occurred, occupation, disease or cause of death, and the number of days the person was ill. In 1870, the parents' place of birth was added.
Mortality schedules can be invaluable for locating a person who died in the year prior to the census; locating records of African American, Native American, Chinese, and other persons; and determining places of birth for some persons where no other such information exists. Determining the place and date of death on a mortality schedule can point you to other records created in the same geographic area as a result of the person's residence in that area or his or her death.
Locations where mortality schedules may be obtained can be found in The Source, available at http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/product.asp?pf%5Fid=12046&dept%5Fid=10101000.
Agriculture Schedules
Agriculture schedules were taken from the 1840 through 1910 censuses. They include a great deal of information about specific farms and can be used to supplement what is found in other census records or to replace land and property records that are missing, were destroyed in courthouse fires, etc. Typical information on the agriculture schedule includes the name of the owner of the farm, how long he has farmed that land, acreage, the value of the farm, expenses to operate the farm, the type and value of the farm's produce, and the quantity of each type of livestock.
Unfortunately, the 1890 schedules were part of the records destroyed in the fire that destroyed the vast majority of this census material, and the 1900 and 1910 schedules were destroyed by Congressional order. What remains, however, are the 1840-1880 records and they are not stored in a central location. For a complete list of where these records are located, please check The Source at http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/product.asp?pf%5Fid=12046&dept%5Fid=10101000.
Veterans Schedules
Another often-overlooked census record type is the veterans schedule. Veterans have been specially enumerated in the census since 1840 when Revolutionary War pensioners were listed on the reverse side of the regular population schedules. The U.S. government published a volume of these pensioners in 1840 titled, "A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Service," which has since been reprinted by the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore.
In 1890, a special census was performed for Union veterans and their widows. Some of this material was destroyed in the 1921 Washington, D.C., fire which claimed most of the 1890 census. However, portions of this material survived and contains information such as the Civil War veteran's name, his widow (as appropriate), his rank and unit with which he served, dates of enlistment and discharge, length of service, post office address, and any disability. In some cases, Confederate veterans were enumerated in these schedules.
Veterans schedules are ideal for verifying military service dates and the specific unit in which an individual served. These pointers can be used to search out pension records, military histories, and other materials.
Why Look at These Schedules?
When you encounter dead ends, especially when no record seems to exist or when an ancestor seems to disappear into thin air, alternate records may provide a missing link. Some of the records described above are more useful than others, particularly the Veterans Schedules, the Mortality Schedules, and the Slave Schedules. However, if your ancestor was involved in farming or ran a manufacturing industry, an Agriculture Schedule or a Manufacturing Schedule may provide rich content to expand your knowledge of the family farm or business.
As I continue working on my family history, it is my curiosity about details of my ancestral tapestry that keeps me digging deeper. Learning more about my ancestors' lives gives me a better understanding of who I am, how my ancestral families came to be where they were, and why they made the decisions they did. This is part of the joy of genealogy. I hope you'll continue to explore these avenues too—using tools like these special census records.
Happy hunting!
George
A Follow-Up to the Above "Special Federal Census Schedules"
In last week's "Along Those Lines . . ." column, I discussed special census schedules. With regard to the Veterans Schedules from the 1890 enumeration, I incorrectly stated that "some of this material was destroyed in the 1921 Washington, D.C. fire." In fact, the Veterans Schedules were not part of the materials destroyed. However, a large portion of these schedules for the states of Alabama through Kansas and a significant part of Kentucky were apparently destroyed before being transferred to the National Archives in 1943. A small amount of these states, however, were included in one bundle of materials. Therefore, don't discount the fact that there might be some fragments of these materials, as well as for the other states—Kentucky (portions) through Wyoming and Washington, D.C., may be available. For a complete listing of microfilmed 1890 Veterans Schedule records, please refer to The 1790-1890 Federal Population Censuses: Catalog of the National Archives Microfilm published by the National Archives Trust Fund Board in Washington, DC, in 1993 and reprinted in 1995 (ISBN 0-911333-63-0). It includes a detailed description and a state by state list of contents in the "Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War. M123. 118 rolls."
Editor's Note
More information on the 1890 Fire and the Special Enumeration of Union Veterans and Widows can be found in the NARA Prologue article, "'First in the Path of the Firemen' The Fate of the 1890 Population Census," Part 2, by Kellee Blake, available online at: http://www.nara.gov/publications/prologue/1890cen2.html
Copyright 1999, George G. Morgan. All Rights reserved. "Along Those Lines . . ." is a weekly feature of the Genealogy Forum on America Online (Keyword: ROOTS). The article originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online. You may send e-mail to alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like to hear from you but, because of the volume of e-mail, is unable to personally respond to each letter individually. He also regrets that he cannot assist you with your personal genealogical research. George is also the author of "The Genealogy Forum on America Online," which is available in the Ancestry Online Store at: http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/
product.asp?pf%5Fid=1101046&dept%5Fid=10102000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Special Federal Census Schedules
By George G. Morgan 08 October 1999
One of the first resources genealogists use is the census. Federal population census records provide a benchmark for determining the location of people at a specific point in time. Depending on the year, the amount of information you will find in the census records will vary, with the 1790 census showing only head of household and headcounts and the later censuses providing every household's residents' names, ages, places of birth, occupations, value of property, and other details.
In addition to the population schedules with which we are familiar, there are other special census schedules that may be of interest. These include Slave Schedules, Mortality Schedules, Agriculture Schedules, Manufacturing Schedules, and Veterans Schedules, all of which were prepared to provide information for administrative or decision-making purposes. In "Along Those Lines . . ." this week, let's discuss several of the special census schedules that may be new to you.
Slave Schedules
In the 1850 and 1860 censuses, free African Americans were enumerated by name. Slaves, however, were enumerated separately from white persons and information about them was very brief. In effect, slaves were listed under their owner's name, and the only information included in these separate schedules were age, gender, and a racial designation as either black or mulatto. If the slave had some physical or mental disability, this may have been listed. Slaves over the age of one hundred were listed by name and, in some cases, may include details of their origin and their life. Otherwise, the inclusion of names is limited.
The information included in slave schedules is exceedingly limited and provides little conclusive evidence of a specific person. The value of the schedules, however, lies in verifying that a specific person owned slaves and in confirming hypotheses formed from other material. For instance, your family tradition may include information that one of your male ancestors was born in 1842 in Augusta County, Virginia, and was born into slavery to a specific slaveholder. The 1850 census slave schedule for that county might confirm that the slaveholder did, in fact, own slaves and that there was a male slave whose age corresponds with the 1842 birth year. This corroboration may spur you forward to seek tax rolls, property records, probate files, and other records for that slaveholder which might name your ancestor.
Mortality Schedules
Mortality schedules are an interesting and often overlooked resource. They provide a listing of persons who died in the twelve months prior to the census, and can sometimes help locate an individual who has otherwise disappeared. Mortality schedules are also useful in African American research in the 1850 and 1860 censuses because the names of deceased slaves are included for the first time.
The 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and special censuses taken in 1885 included questions concerning the deaths of people in the previous twelve months—from 1 June of the previous year to 31 May of the census year. Information recorded on the mortality schedules included the name of the deceased, sex, age, color (white, black, or mulatto), place of birth, month in which the death occurred, occupation, disease or cause of death, and the number of days the person was ill. In 1870, the parents' place of birth was added.
Mortality schedules can be invaluable for locating a person who died in the year prior to the census; locating records of African American, Native American, Chinese, and other persons; and determining places of birth for some persons where no other such information exists. Determining the place and date of death on a mortality schedule can point you to other records created in the same geographic area as a result of the person's residence in that area or his or her death.
Locations where mortality schedules may be obtained can be found in The Source, available at http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/product.asp?pf%5Fid=12046&dept%5Fid=10101000.
Agriculture Schedules
Agriculture schedules were taken from the 1840 through 1910 censuses. They include a great deal of information about specific farms and can be used to supplement what is found in other census records or to replace land and property records that are missing, were destroyed in courthouse fires, etc. Typical information on the agriculture schedule includes the name of the owner of the farm, how long he has farmed that land, acreage, the value of the farm, expenses to operate the farm, the type and value of the farm's produce, and the quantity of each type of livestock.
Unfortunately, the 1890 schedules were part of the records destroyed in the fire that destroyed the vast majority of this census material, and the 1900 and 1910 schedules were destroyed by Congressional order. What remains, however, are the 1840-1880 records and they are not stored in a central location. For a complete list of where these records are located, please check The Source at http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/product.asp?pf%5Fid=12046&dept%5Fid=10101000.
Veterans Schedules
Another often-overlooked census record type is the veterans schedule. Veterans have been specially enumerated in the census since 1840 when Revolutionary War pensioners were listed on the reverse side of the regular population schedules. The U.S. government published a volume of these pensioners in 1840 titled, "A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Service," which has since been reprinted by the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore.
In 1890, a special census was performed for Union veterans and their widows. Some of this material was destroyed in the 1921 Washington, D.C., fire which claimed most of the 1890 census. However, portions of this material survived and contains information such as the Civil War veteran's name, his widow (as appropriate), his rank and unit with which he served, dates of enlistment and discharge, length of service, post office address, and any disability. In some cases, Confederate veterans were enumerated in these schedules.
Veterans schedules are ideal for verifying military service dates and the specific unit in which an individual served. These pointers can be used to search out pension records, military histories, and other materials.
Why Look at These Schedules?
When you encounter dead ends, especially when no record seems to exist or when an ancestor seems to disappear into thin air, alternate records may provide a missing link. Some of the records described above are more useful than others, particularly the Veterans Schedules, the Mortality Schedules, and the Slave Schedules. However, if your ancestor was involved in farming or ran a manufacturing industry, an Agriculture Schedule or a Manufacturing Schedule may provide rich content to expand your knowledge of the family farm or business.
As I continue working on my family history, it is my curiosity about details of my ancestral tapestry that keeps me digging deeper. Learning more about my ancestors' lives gives me a better understanding of who I am, how my ancestral families came to be where they were, and why they made the decisions they did. This is part of the joy of genealogy. I hope you'll continue to explore these avenues too—using tools like these special census records.
Happy hunting!
George
A Follow-Up to the Above "Special Federal Census Schedules"
In last week's "Along Those Lines . . ." column, I discussed special census schedules. With regard to the Veterans Schedules from the 1890 enumeration, I incorrectly stated that "some of this material was destroyed in the 1921 Washington, D.C. fire." In fact, the Veterans Schedules were not part of the materials destroyed. However, a large portion of these schedules for the states of Alabama through Kansas and a significant part of Kentucky were apparently destroyed before being transferred to the National Archives in 1943. A small amount of these states, however, were included in one bundle of materials. Therefore, don't discount the fact that there might be some fragments of these materials, as well as for the other states—Kentucky (portions) through Wyoming and Washington, D.C., may be available. For a complete listing of microfilmed 1890 Veterans Schedule records, please refer to The 1790-1890 Federal Population Censuses: Catalog of the National Archives Microfilm published by the National Archives Trust Fund Board in Washington, DC, in 1993 and reprinted in 1995 (ISBN 0-911333-63-0). It includes a detailed description and a state by state list of contents in the "Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War. M123. 118 rolls."
Editor's Note
More information on the 1890 Fire and the Special Enumeration of Union Veterans and Widows can be found in the NARA Prologue article, "'First in the Path of the Firemen' The Fate of the 1890 Population Census," Part 2, by Kellee Blake, available online at: http://www.nara.gov/publications/prologue/1890cen2.html
Copyright 1999, George G. Morgan. All Rights reserved. "Along Those Lines . . ." is a weekly feature of the Genealogy Forum on America Online (Keyword: ROOTS). The article originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online. You may send e-mail to alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like to hear from you but, because of the volume of e-mail, is unable to personally respond to each letter individually. He also regrets that he cannot assist you with your personal genealogical research. George is also the author of "The Genealogy Forum on America Online," which is available in the Ancestry Online Store at: http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/
product.asp?pf%5Fid=1101046&dept%5Fid=10102000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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