26 December 1919



Be Prepared to Help Census Enumerator

The actual work of taking the United States census for 1920 will begin on January 2nd.  The enumerators will make a house to house canvas to secure the information which they are required to collect.  It will be a matter of great assistance to the enumerators and will enable them to accomplish their work more rapidly and more accurately if the members of each family will prepare themselves with the following information in advance and have it ready for the enumerators when they come.

First:  The name and age of each member of the family, place of birth, education, place of birth of parents and native tongue.

Second:  In case of a farm or ranch the amount of hay, live stock, butter, and eggs, milk, fruit, vegetables, minerals, if any, and the value of all products o the farm or ranch—a detailed statement of all the products during the year 1919 should be prepared for the enumerator.

Third:  If you are going to be absent from your usual residence during the month of January 1920, you should be especially careful to take the necessary information with you so that you can answere the necessary questions when called for by the enumerator wherever you are.

If each family will give attention to this matter it will enable the enumerator to secure the desired information without much trouble or delay and will enable the census bureau to have an accurate report of the population and wealth of the State of Wyoming.

All information is confidential and will not be disclosed by the enumerator.
(Rock Springs Rocket, 26 December 1919, page 1 online at Wyoming Newspaper Project)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Isn't this a wonderful article!

This article actually appeared the day after Christmas in 1919, explaining to our ancestors that the census takers would be knocking on doors and asking questions.  Yes, these are the same census records we can now find on FamilySearch and Ancestry.com! 

My favorite line is the last line, "All information is confidential and will not be disclosed by the enumerator." 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking Where They Walked: Park Hotel

Image
Park Hotel, Rock Springs, Wyoming, September 2013, RR&B 19 Elk Street, Rock Springs, Sweetwater, Wyoming The Park Hotel opened in 1914 and was the hub of Western Wyoming until the late 1950’s. It was the largest and most modern hotel in the city. Advertisements boasted of hot and cold water in each of its 38 rooms, twenty of which had private baths and toilets. The fourth floor was added in the 1920’s. The Park Hotel catered to commercial men and automobile tourists traveling the Lincoln Highway. The hotel had a boisterous barroom and a sedate restaurant with sparking white table cloths. Rock Springs Miner, 30 January 1914, page 1, Wyoming Newspaper Project online. One memory of the Park Hotel, is related by Thomas P. Cullen, “One summer afternoon while walking up Elk Street toward the C Street Crossing, my attention was drawn to the small crowd assembled near the north end of the Park Hotel. A slight man, of short stature, stood rolling up his pantlegs
Read more

What is a mortcloth?

A mortcloth, or pall, is a funeral cloth used to cover a coffin in the funeral ceremony or the deceased prior to burial.   The deceased’s family usually rented a mortcloth from the local church and after each use, the fabric was washed and readied for use again.   The word comes from the Latin word “pallium” meaning cloak. The Mortcloth case of 1792 begins:   “ For many centuries, and probably up to the 20th, the Church of Scotland was the sole supplier of mortcloths.   As the name would suggest, they were cloths used to cover the dead prior to burial, and after use, were washed ready for rehire. The Church hired these for a few pence, or in some cases loaned out these cloths, until the time of the funeral. The revenue raised by this service, typically around £40 pa, was distributed to the poor of the parish at frequent intervals.”   In the late 1780’s a local Society of Colliers decided to purchase and rent out their own mortcloths preventing the local church from making re
Read more

Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales

Image
Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagillt) The parish of Bagillt was gazetted on 23 May 1844, having been created from the townships of Bagillt Fawr, Bagillt Fechan, Coleshill Fawr and Coleshill Fechan, which were formerly in the parish of Holywell. It is located in the Northern part of Wales. (Genuki, http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/FLN/Bagillt/index.html)   The 1841 British Census finds Margaret(2) Roberts, aged four years living with her parents and siblings in Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales. In 1831, J. Poole penned: "Bagillt is a bustling place, and will continue so, as long as her smelting and coal works go on in their present prosperous state. Well conducted boats go from this place to Chester every day; with a favorable wind, these little barks make the 17 or 18 miles in little more than two hours."   (J. Poole, Gleanings of the histories of Holywell, Flint, St. Asaph and Rhuddlan, 1831 as qtd.  in http://www.genuki.org.uk/
Read more