Roberts Roots & Branches

The other day it popped into my head that I made a HUGE error in the last Roberts Roots & Branches Newsletter. So, here is the correction as it should read:  "See the 1940 census on page 5." Yep, you probably found it anyway, but I did incorrectly put down the wrong page number.  Blame it on the proofreader! Have a great day!

I worked my usual monthly shift at the local Family History Library.  The shift is 3 hours, I stayed 6 hours because I scored many discoveries! Here is what I found: 9 US Federal Census Records 4 Iowa State Census Records** 2 Iowa birth record 1  Social Security Death Record           Total:  16 new documents Very exciting! Here is why I am suddenly finding so much: copied from FamilySearch.org (4-25-2012) That is 5,153,318 searchable records since January 2012!   Especially helpful when you are searching for the surname Jones!   Thank you Indexers! **I just LOVE the Iowa State Census records!  The 1925 Iowa State Census records asks for the individual's father's full name and birth place AND the mother's full name (maiden) and birth place!  It is especially wonderful when you find a mother or mother-in-law living with a family, because you obtain two generations of maiden names!!! No...

Dear Blogger, HATE THE NEW DASHBOARD VIEW! I would love to send you an email, but I cannot find a button, in fact I cannot find ANYTHING!  Thank you for screwing up an easy to use program. Thank you for moving everything all at once, makes it so much easier for users, rather than just changing things one at a time.  I get that you need to update for whatever computer/software reasons, however do you really have to do it all at once? Sincerely, a blogger PS:  Also thank you for making a 5 minute post into 20 minutes.  Appreciate that the updates will save me a ton of time!

Yesterday I spent 3 hours at the Family History Library. Today I just spent 6 hours today adding over 48 documents to my Roots Magic program, source index, and digital document file. I am finally caught up! However, I now have 3 pages of research questions of things I  need to look up!  The search continues.  .  .that's the fun and addiction of it all! As I prepare for my family history trip, I am getting very nervous! Why? I wanted to collect and find all the documents I could possibly find before I leave for Iowa.  There is no sense in traveling across the country when I could have searched the internet or looked at some films or books at the Family History Library. I did an extensive search last fall and winter finding only a few things until I ended at the intersection of nothing and nowhere !  Suddenly, I search as I prepare for this trip, the heavens are opened and it's raining documents and sources! Yesterday alone I located 3 US...

To date, the 1940 census for Wyoming is 92% indexed according to FamilySearch.org.  I personally have indexed 400 names for the state of Wyoming.  In addition, I have indexed 360 names for Illinois,  80 names for Virginia, 240 names for Colorado, 120 names for Kansas and 80 names for Iowa.  For a grand total of   1,280 names on the 1940 census. Oregon, Virginia, and Utah are all 99% indexed.  Delaware, Colorado and Kansas are 100% completed. Overall 15.99% complete. How many have you done?  Every name helps us get the whole census complete for computer searches!

One page at a time on FamilySearch.org. in the 1940 census in Rock Springs, Kemmerer, and Frontier, Wyoming! There are 7 districts in Rock Springs, and there are a total of  286 images in all of the districts. So yep, I looked at all 286 images to locate and find the Roberts family in Rock Springs. In addition, there are two districts for Kemmerer and Frontier, with a total of  96  images. For a grand total of  382 digital images in Wyoming. Then for Hugh and Margaret's daughter in Des Moines, Iowa, I knew she hadn't moved since 1920.  So I took her address and used the Stephen P.  Morse web site here .  If you have the address you have to use the map and find the crossroads to narrow down the enumeration districts to search.  It was very simple and took only about a total of five minutes to locate Sarah Ann Roberts Jones in the 1930 census!  So, there you go a quick look at how I found 44 families in the 1940 census!

It is very easy to index the 1940 census. You are just required to type in the census line number household number  surname given name title (Jr or Sr) sex color/race age status (married, single, widowed, divorced) place of birth place of residence on April 1, 1935 county of residence on April 1, 1935 state of residence on April 1, 1935 That's it to the indexing.  Nothing fancy, and all the pages are printed the same so there is no searching for information! Wyoming is currently available to index!

I began indexing about a month before the 1940 census was released.  So, I was practiced and warmed up for the release date! I began by indexing Colorado, and the pages were beautiful! Sounds a little crazy, but if you have ever gotten so close to a record you've bumped your nose, only hoping that the closer you got the clearer the record got, then, and only then can you appreciate the beauty of a crisp clean record! Since the Colorado sheets, I have come across a few pages that were a little fuzzy, and some with misspelled names, places, or ink blotches, but overall the 1940 is beautiful! As I thought about 1940, I realized that the United States overall was better educated, census takers included!  In addition, immigrants had been here for a longer period of time so their accents were clearer to understand! Some of the fun things on the 1940 census: +if you were absent, "ab" was listed next to your name. +you were required to state where you lived in 1935 +...

...like 72 years... ...are you ready to see the Roberts family in the 1930 Census?

 Roberts in the 1940 Census You may thank me for all my hard work, by leaving a comment and PLEASE enjoy seeing the Roberts Family  in the 1930 census.  If you want to know how I found them stay tuned!  This list is by no means comprehensive, however, it is pretty amazing that all of these families are available since there is still no index!!! John Richard Roberts died in 1939, so you won't find him  on the 1940 census children: Llewellyn Roberts family lived in Frontier, Lincoln, Wyoming click here to see them on the 1940 census Nellie Roberts & Paul Kolata family lived in Frontier, Lincoln, Wyoming click here to see them on the 1940 census William & Selina Marchone   family lived in Frontier, Lincoln, Wyoming click here to see them on the 1940 census Hugh Roberts   family lived in Frontier, Lincoln, Wyoming click here to see them on the 1940 census Theodore Roberts   family lived in Frontier, Lincoln, Wyoming cli...

Take a peek tomorrow  on this blog and I will have up the links to   (most of ) the Roberts family  in the  1930 US Federal Census

is a web ring. What is a web ring? A group of similar themed blogs that join together and interlink sites together.  The websites are linked so that you can visit each site one after the other, until you complete the "ring" and return to the site where you began.  Web rings have a moderator who decides which pages to include and approves new sites. So, click under the badge on the left on the tabs: " list " , " next ", " previous ", or " random " to search and browse other family history blogs and go "Blogging for Ancestors." Please comment if you find a site in this web ring that is interesting or pertains to the Roberts family!  I'll also link to the sites in this web ring.

It is so different planning for a family history trip today, than it was even just 10 years ago!  I can take everything with me on my laptop and on a flash drive.  Previously, I would print out as much as I could and add those papers to all of my other files, in a file box.  You always took too much information with you, because it would be horrible if you were out of town and didn't have the information you needed!  Today, however, not only do I have my laptop and flash drive, when I get internet access, I can access the blog.  So, different! Another difference is the preliminary planning.   Previously, that meant finding addresses for the courthouses, clerk's offices, cemeteries, museums, libraries, and historical societies and making hotel reservations.  With the internet not only can I find the addresses I need, but I can find the holdings and even access the card catalog of the places I am going!  I can MapQuest driving directions and plan ...

. . .it's a family history trip! Yep, a trip to to find, search, re-search, and locate Hugh and Margaret's descendants in Iowa and Ohio.  Hugh & Maraget's daughter, Sarah Ann Roberts (11)  and her husband Joseph Jones (19) settled in Des Moines, Iowa while Hugh & Margaret's son Hugh Thomas (12), and his wife Esther Clough (203), first moved to Iowa and then Ohio. So, pack up the laptop, IPad, camera, GPS, notepads and extra $$ for gas.  It will be fun, exciting and a special experience to meet relatives! Bet you're all jealous!!!!  While your spending your vacations with your family, I'm spending my vacation looking for dead people and traipsing through cemeteries!  At least there will be no fighting in the backseat of my car--now you're jealous! As always, can't wait to share everything I find! (Because of privacy and security issues I'll not blog about it until I get home!)

The how’s, when’s, and why’s of life, I’ve followed step by step. Searching where, when, and how you lived and where you laid your head. I’ve traced your faded footsteps, your voyage in this life, and walked where you walked; Hoping to connect, to understand and learn, who you really were; Reminding all you lived  your legacy remains, as your body sleeps.

A Russian scientist discovered a cache of fruit and seeds in a squirrel burrow on the frozen banks of a Siberian river.  From there the scientists were able to regenerate the seeds using modern agricultural technology.   The results:   an extinct flower (Silene stenophylla) over 30,000 years old. The moral of the story, you just never know when you “squirrel” away documents and research information when they will “bloom” using “modern technology”! Source for story & picture: KSL.com published online here by:  Mel Borup Chandler