Reviewing April Goals

April ended too soon. Seriously. About this time last week, I thought I had until the end of this week to work on my April goals. Excuses? I was at the beach and completely lost track of the date. Or. Saturday is the Kentucky Derby and I confused the 1st Saturday in May with May 1st. (That's the best I can do.) 


Research:

Process September research from Pope County, Illinois; Livingston and Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. 

• Didn't even touch this stuff. 

Education:

Attend 2nd Saturday Family History Workshop sponsored by Kentucky Genealogical Society and Kentucky Historical Society. 

• April's subject was "The 1940 Census" presented by Cheri Daniels, Louise Jones and Jennifer Howard (all staffers at the Kentucky Historical Society). The crowd was one of the largest for a 2nd Saturday workshop.

Attend Legacy Family Tree Webinar "Genealogy on the Go - the Families App" presented by Malcom Green.

• Learned a few things even though I've used the Families app for about a year.

Complete and submit NGS Home Study Course Lesson #6.

• Someday I'm really going to do this. 

Writing:

Write a detailed research plan for identifying William Taylor's parents (a brick wall 3rd great-grandfather).

• Done!

Write 10 blog posts.

• Only eight posted. I really want to get back in a better blogging groove. 

Maintenance and Organization:

Clean up 20 sources in genealogy database.

• Done!

Add/clean up metadata for 200 genealogy photos.

• 251 photos processed.

Other:

Index, index, index the 1940 U. S. Census.

•  3,040 records indexed plus 1,960 records arbitrated for a total of 5,000 records processed. 

Wordless Wednesday - Hopkins

Unknown, Unknown, Bessie Hamlin Hopkins, Henry Madison Hopkins,

Lucinda Howard Hopkins and James Arton Hopkins

James and Lucinda were my great-grandparents.

Wedding Wednesday - Barnabas Hankins & Sarah Fox

Barnabas Hankins and Sarah Fox were married in Hopkins County, Kentucky. Their marriage was recorded on a list of marriages performed by John Bourland in 1810 even though they were married in 1 Jan 1811. 

Barnabas was the son of John Hankins and Sarah Gill. Sarah was the daughter of Titus Fox and Elizabeth Wright.

Source: Hopkins County, Kentucky, (Hopkins County Clerk, Madisonville), minister's return (1811), Hankins-Fox; Kentucky Department for Libraries & Archives Microfilm #554916. 

Barnabas and Sarah were my 4th great-grandparents through their son, Houston G. Hankins.

Amanuensis Monday - Will of Hugh Munford

The will of Hugh Munford was proven 8 Nov 1806 in Laurens County, South Carolina.

In the name of God Amen 
October the 29th 1802

I Hugh Munford of Laurens District and state of South 
Carolina being very weake in Body But of Perfect mind and 
Memory Thanks be Given unto God for the same. Calling to Mind 
the Mortality of My Body and knowing that it is appointed 
Onst for all Men to Dye Do Make and Ordain this my last 
Will and Testament and Principly and first of All I do Recom-
mend My Soul Into the Hands of God that Gave it and My Bo-
dy to the Earth to be Buried in a Desent Christian Manner at 
the Discretion of My Executors Nothing Doubting But to Receive 
the same again by the Mighty Power of God and as Touching my 
Worldly Estate wherewith it hath Pleased God to Bless me in this 
life I do Give Demise and Dispose of the same in the Following:
Manner and Form.
Imprimis I do Give and Bequeath unto James Munford my son 
One Dollar
I do Give and Bequeath unto Nancy Finney my Daughter 
one Dollar
I do Give and Bequeath unto Margaret Scott my Daughter
I do Give and Bequeath unto Hannah Bell my Daughter One Dollar
I do Give and Bequeath unto Johnston Munford my son all my Lands 
Buildings Together with a Bay mare he now Claims and the Rest my Estate
household Goods & furniture, stock and all property by me possesed I do 
Give to my son Johnston and my youngest Daughter Anney Munford 
to be By them Equally Divided And I do Hereby appoint Geo Whitmore Eq 
Executor of this my Last Will & Testament & I do Hereby Utterly Revoke and Disanul 
Every Other former will by me made Ratifying and Confirming this and no 
other to be my Last Will Testament the Day & year first above written
Signed Sealed Publised and pronsured [sp?] by the [??] Hugh Munford [Signed by his mark]

In Presence of us.
James Gibson
William Lane
William Dillard


Source: Laurens County, South Carolina, Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964, Estate of Hugh Monford; Box 49, Package 7; digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 May 2011); Will signed 29 Oct 1802 and proven 18 Nov 1806.

Hugh Munford was my 5th great-grandfather through his daughter, Agnes "Nancy" Munford Finney.

1940 U.S. Census: Houses in the Background

After taking a stroll through her childhood neighborhood in the 1940 U. S. Census with my mother, it occurred to me that I have pictures of some of those houses. I don't have a good shot of the exterior of my grandparents house but several of the neighborhood houses are in the background of snapshots made in their yard. These pictures were taken in the 1930s, 40s and 50s but, except for the street eventually getting paved, everything looked pretty much the same across those years. The numbers listed correspond to the map from yesterday's post.

Before we get to the houses, here are a few of the 

neighborhood kids in my grandparents' front yard about 1938.

That's my mother on the right. 

My aunt and her first born in 1944.

Almost in the same spot as the previous photo

but with a better view of the house next door (#267).

My grandmother, Emma Taylor Hopkins, in her front yard.

That is house #265 on the right.

Mom in her front yard with house #218 behind her.

Mom with house #217 in the background.

She's standing in the middle of the road.

Mom (again in the road) with house #162 in the background.

House #163 sat far enough back on their lot

that it isn't in this shot but that is their hedge behind her.

My grandparents, Emma & Elmer Hopkins, 

with house #276 behind them.

My grandmother with house #??? from the map.

(I didn't find that family in the census so it doesn't have a number.)

My grandparents' front porch (house #266).

That's me with my grandmother (and, no, it was not made in the 1940s).

Don't forget about the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project to index the 1940 census. 

1940 U. S. Census: Following the Census Taker's Path

Do you ever wonder how the census taker went from house to house? Did they go up one side of the street and then down the other? How many blocks did they go on one side before hitting the other side of the street? Did they go back and forth across the street working both sides with one pass? 

Have you made assumptions that the families listed before and after one of your ancestors were their next door neighbors or maybe someone across the street? That may well be the case but it also could be that some of their closest neighbors are several pages away. 

I intended to wait for the index to do any searching in the 1940 U. S. Census but with everyone talking about their finds this week, I caved on Thursday and looked for both of my parents. When I found my maternal grandparents household, I mentioned it to my mother. I'm not sure how the conversation turned to the neighbors, but it did. She was talking about people who lived near them and rattling off names faster than I could find them. It soon became clear that some of their closet neighbors weren't listed especially close to her family.

This map shows the "number of household in order of visitation" from the census pages. #266 is my grandparents' house which faces Johnie Street. There are more than 100 households listed between them and the families directly across the street and almost 50 between them and the family on the opposite corner. There is two blocks between household #250 and #252. (Mom didn't remember household #251 so I couldn't plot it.) #262 is next door to #280 and across the street from #276.

Map of Loyall, Harlan County, Kentucky clipped from Google Maps

I didn't try to plot every house in the neighborhood (mainly because Mom isn't sure exactly where some families lived) but there are enough to get a feel for how the census taker traveled. It appears she came down Mapother Street (#160, #161, #162) then turned the corner onto Johnnie Street (#163, #164). From there she went up Chad Street and hit several other streets not shown on this map clip before coming down the other side of Mapother (#217, #218). After that she was on Bailey Street before moving back to Johnnie Street (#252, #260) and for some reason jumped down to Mapother to pick up #262 before returning to Johnnie Street. For the most part she went in order down one side of a street with an occasional random move that does not seem to make sense. 

So. Keep in mind that the family listed right after your ancestor may not have lived next door and a family listed 10 pages away might have lived just across the street. 

And. If you have a relative who was alive in 1940, they might like a trip down memory lane through the pages of the census. I think Mom really enjoyed reminiscing about her childhood friends.  

And while we are on the subject of the 1940 U. S. Census, have you signed up to help index? If you haven't, it's not too late to get started. This project will be ongoing for months until every person is indexed. You can keep up with the latest news by following the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project Blog. 

Annotations on map clip were made using Awesome Screenshot.

Happy Birthday, Papaw

Elmer Dennis Hopkins was born 118 years ago today.

Papaw & Me

Motivation Monday - April Goals

This is going to be easy since I left three big items on the table last month. 

But first - if you haven't registered to index the 1940 U.S. Census, please do it now. At the kick off this morning from NARA, it was announced that 300,000 volunteers are needed and 100,000 have signed-up so far.   

#1 Priority for Coming Months:

• Index, index, index the 1940 U.S. Census.

Research:

• Process research from Pope County, Illinois, Livingston County and Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. (Rolled over from March.)

Education:

• Attend 2nd Saturday Family History Workshop sponsored by Kentucky Historical Society and Kentucky Genealogical Society. This months' subject - The 1940 U.S. Census.
• Attend Legacy Family Tree Webinar - Genealogy on the Go - the Families App with Malcolm Green (4/11)
• Complete and submit Lesson #6 of the NGS Home Study Course. (Rolled over from March.)

Writing:

• Write a detailed research plan for identifying the parents of William Taylor (a brick wall, 3rd great-grandfather). (Rolled over from March)
• Write 10 blog posts.

Maintenance/Organization:

• Clean up 20 sources in genealogy database.
• Add/clean-up metadata for 200 genealogy photos.