
1860 U.S. Federal Census
In response to my blog of 7th January Kerry Church Records Missing, one of my readers – John Patrick Sullivan commented and also added his own valuable observations on U.S. Federal Census records. I would always advise readers searching for their Kerry ancestors ‘Start your search at home’ ‘At Home’ means where your ancestor immigrated to. When you have got as much information as possible from birth/marriage, naturalisation and Census records, only then should you make your way to Irish/Kerry records.
John says:
‘For those searching through various genealogical records in the United States, many of Kay’s points also apply. There are many, many, many gaps in the records. Some of the gaps are due to fire, flood and other typical calamities. Other records were destroyed on purpose. As was the case in Ireland, we lost many records during our Civil War. Both Union and Confederate Armies were guilty of burning down court houses and post offices throughout various states. Most of my U.S. “Brick Walls” were erected as a result of our Civil War.
Last point on U.S. records, especially in regard to transcribing the Federal Censuses. During our Great Depression, job programs were created to put people to work under such programs as the WPA (Work Progress Administration) to build national parks, highways, and other infrastructure projects. During this same time period, the Census Bureau undertook a project to microfilm 34 million records from the 1900 Federal Census (other years followed). They also decided on a means of indexing these same records using a new and somewhat controversial system…SOUNDEX. Given the huge range of ethnic names in the American melting pot, it was quite an undertaking. It involved a substantial number of persons who were both newly hired and newly trained. In the end, it did create jobs, put money in circulation, food on the table and gave librarians, historians and genealogists a new tool to store and retrieve valuable records’.
Information on U.S. Federal Census Records here.
Agree about US records. Found baptism sponsors had emigrated to same city as my ancestor by using “Ballylongford” in search of San Francisco newspapers and found several obituaries with surnames of interest.