The United States federal census records are a goldmine of information about our ancestral families. Every ten years, the US government enumerated the residents of the country in order to count the people for allocating representatives to the US Congress House of Representatives. Besides counting the residents, the government also asked additional questions. It’s these questions that really help us learn more about our families.
Currently, we have access to census records from the first census in 1790 to the most current census of 1950, which came out for our use this past April 1. However, the 1890 census records were involved in a fire in 1921 in the Commerce Department Building in Washington, DC, and were later destroyed.[1] There are only a few examples remaining. If you are lucky, you may find your family on one of those pages. The search page for these fragment pages on Ancestry is here: 1890 United States Federal Census Fragment.
Other Sources
I have no family in those fragments. I need to use other resources to locate my
family in the time between the twenty years of 1880–1900.
Veterans Schedule. The 1890 Veterans Schedules of the US Federal Census can be a great substitute if your ancestor served in the Union Army during the Civil War. I found my husband’s great-grandfather, Amos Gorrell, in this collection. He lived in Blackwater, Cooper County, Missouri. Besides learning about his service, the form also gives other neighbors who also served. Check to see if any of the other men from that location had served with him.
City Directories. Another collection at Ancestry that covers the time around 1890 is the database U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995. With this database, we can narrow down the time period we’re interested in so we only get returns for the time period around 1890. I enter 1890 in the year in the “any event” box and then a box comes up where I can select +/- 2 years or +/- 5 years/.
Let’s look for John Anton Hork in Portland. The results returned three possible entries in Portland in 1891 and 1892. There are two for 1891.
The first one is from pages listing people who were too late for classification in the general directory.[2] The second 1891 was a color version of the same book. Because he was listed in the too late for classification, it is a clue that he probably just moved to the city recently.
 |
| There he is at the bottom of the left-hand column |
In 1892, he was listed on the regular pages as John A. Hork, also as a tailor.[3] When looking at the page, there are two other Hork names. Susie Hork was living at the same address as John A. The other Hork was Miss May, who lived at a different address but I know the makeup of the family from the 1880 census and this is also another daughter of John Anton.
Newspapers. You might find references in newspapers during this time period. I searched for John Anton Hork at Newspapers.com using Iowa and the dates 1885 to 1890. I know from previous research, that two of his children were born in Stuart, Guthrie County, Iowa during those years. I found this ad that he put into the Democrat-Gazette of Davenport, Iowa, on 28 February 1888.[4]
What do I do with all this information?
I create a timeline,
citing each statement with the source. I use Word, but a spreadsheet program or
note-keeping program would work just as well. As I locate records for this time
period surrounding 1890, I add them to the timeline and create a source
citation. I now have a better idea of where my ancestor was between 1880 and
1890 and the loss of the 1890 census isn’t as tragic.
#52Ancestors-Week 42: Lost
This is my fifth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week on one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.
[1]
For complete information of what survived, see “1890 Census,” National
Archives (https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1890).
[2]
Portland City Directory, 1891 (Portland, Ore: R.L. Polk & Co., 1891),
p. 62, Anton Hork; “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/
: accessed 21 Oct 2022), Oregon > Portland > 1891 > Portland, Oregon,
City Directory, 1891 > image 9 of 617.
[3]
Portland City Directory, 1892 (Portland, Ore: R.L. Polk & Co., 1892),
p. 530, John A. Hork; “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/
: accessed 21 Oct 2022), Oregon > Portland > 1892 > Portland, Oregon,
City Directory, 1892 > image 570 of 1334.
[4]
“Wanted,” Democrat-Gazette (Davenport, Iowa), 28 Feb 1888, p. 4, listing
for John A. Hork, tailor.
If only my ancestors were considerate enough to live in towns and cities covered by directories that are digitized & available. One directory from late 1800s showed head of household name only but in parentheses showed how many people in HH! Very helpful.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's interesting. I've never seen that.
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