Census Sunday: Joseph Huigens family in the 1940 US Census

Here is my transcription of the census entry for my father's family from the 1940 US Census. This was his second appearance in the US Census.

State: NE
County: Sheridan
Township, or other division of county: Rushville pct
S. D. No. 5
E.D. No. 81-26

Location
1. Street, avenue, road, etc.
2. House number (in cities and towns)

Household Data
3. Number of Household: 88
4. Home owned or rented: R
5. Value of home (if owned) or monthly rental (if rented): 8
6. Does this household live on a farm? Yes

7. Name of person:	Higgins, Joseph A*	Higgins, Julia M	Higgins, Arnold F	Higgins, Lawrence J	Higgins, Rita	Higgins, Bernice M	Higgins, Joseph A
8. Relationship of this person to head of household:	Head	Wife	Son	Son	Daughter	Daughter	Son
9. Sex:	M	F	M	M	F	F	M
10. Color or Race:	W	W	W	W	W	W	W
11. Age at last birthday:	49	45	23	22	21	18	13
12. Marital Status:	M	M	S	S	S	S	S
13. Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940:	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
14. Highest grade of school  completed:	H2	8	H4	7	H4	H3	6
15. Place of birth:	Nebraska	Nebraska	Nebraska	Nebraska	Nebraska	Nebraska	Nebraska
16. Citizenship of foreign born:
17. Residence on 1 April, 1935 - City or town:	Same house	Same house	Same house	Same house	Same house	Same house	Same house
18. Residence on 1 April, 1935 - County:
19. Residence on 1 April, 1935 - State or foreign country:
20. On a farm?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
21. Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Gov't. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No):	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
22. If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during -week of March 24-30? (Yes or No):	-	No	Yes	-	-	No
23. If neither at work nor assigned to public emergency work. ("No" in Cols. 21 and 22), Was this person SEEKING WORK?(Yes or No):	-	No	-	-	-	No
24. If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No):	-	No	-	-	-	No
25. Indicate whether engaged in home house-work (H), in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (Ot):	-	H	-	-	-	S
26. Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940:	60			60	50
27. Duration of unemployment up to March 30, 1940 - in weeks:			52
28. Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work, as frame spinner, salesman, rivet heater ,music teacher:	farmer		CCC painter	carpenter helper	waitress
29. Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, retail grocery, farm, shipyard, public school:	on farm		building constr	building consruction	restaurant
30. Class of worker:	OA	NP	GW	PW	PW	NP
31. Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks):	52	52	46	30	28	12
32, Income in 1939 (12 months ended December 31, 1939): Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions):	0	0	230	225	80
33. Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary (Yes or No):	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
34. Number of farm schedule:	63

Source citation: 

1940 U.S. census, Sheridan County, Nebraska,  Rushville pct , population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 81-26, Sheet No. 5B, household 88, line 47, Joseph Higgins; digital image, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census (Beta) [database on-line, accessed 5-Aug-2012]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.

Census Sunday: Another 1790 entry

Today I decided to see if there was anyone else in my family tree that would have been in the 1790 US Census. I have previously blogged about finding Peter Strayer and George Stauch and George Schaeffer. I went through the family tree again and discovered that Johann Georg Klinefelter, another fifth great-grandfather and father-in-law of George Schaeffer, died in 1794 in Shrewsbury, Dover Co., PA. I went looking for him in the 1790 US Census and found him with no trouble.

(1790 U.S. census, Shrewsbury, York Township, York County, Pennsylvania, p.3 , col. 2, line 1, John Clinefelter; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Apr 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M637, Roll: 9; Page: 359; Image: 195.)

He's there at the top of the second column as John Clinefelter. There are other Shrewsbury Clinefelter and Kleinfeller [sic] households at the bottom of the first column. They are probably related somehow, maybe sons or brothers.

By clicking on an ancestry.com leaf, I also discovered that someone had posted a photocopy of a page from a book called "Early German Settlers of York County, Pennsylvania" by Keith A. Dull. (Dull, Keith A. 2009. Early German settlers of York County, Pennsylvania. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books.) Originally published in 1997, a revised edition was last published in May 2009. The library in Ft. Wayne has a copy (not sure which edition) so I added it to my list for that library on Worldcat.org. It should be a great source of information on my Strayer, Stauch, Schaeffer and Klinefelter lines and any other early German families of that area that I don't know about yet.

Census Sunday: Emery Ogden Family in 1940 US Census

Here is my transcription of the census entry for my mother's family from the 1940 US Census.

State: SD
County: Shannon
Township, or other division of county: Unorganized T35 + 36, R43+44
S. D. No. 2
E.D. No. 57-2

Location
1. Street, avenue, road, etc.
2. House number (in cities and towns)

Household Data
3. Number of Household: 301
4. Home owned or rented: R
5. Value of home (if owned) or monthly rental (if rented): 5
6. Does this household live on a farm? Yes

7. Name of person:	Emery Ogden	Esther Ogden	Shirley Ogden	Donald Ogden	Rosaline Ogden	William Ogden
8. Relationship of this person to head of household:	Head	Wife	Daughter	Son	Daughter	Son
9. Sex:	M	F	F	M	F	M
10. Color or Race:	W	W	W	W	W	W
11. Age at last birthday:	43	38	8	6	4	1
12. Marital Status:	M	M	S	S	S	S
13. Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940:	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
14. Highest grade of school completed:	6	H3	2	0	0	0
15. Place of birth:	South Dakota	Illinois	Minnesota	Nebraska	South Dakota	Nebraska
16. Citizenship of foreign born:
17. Residence on 1 April, 1935 - City or town:	R	R	R	R
18. Residence on 1 April, 1935 - County:	Shannon	Shannon	Shannon	Shannon
19. Residence on 1 April, 1935 - State or foreign country:	South Dakota	South Dakota	South Dakota	South Dakota
20. On a farm?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
21. Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Gov't. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No):	Yes	No
22. If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during -week of March 24-30? (Yes or No):	-	No
23. If neither at work nor assigned to public emergency work. ("No" in Cols. 21 and 22), Was this person SEEKING WORK?(Yes or No):	-	No
24. If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No):	-	No
25. Indicate whether engaged in home house-work (H), in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (Ot):	-	H
26. Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940:	70
27. Duration of unemployment up to March 30, 1940 - in weeks:
28. Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work, as frame spinner, salesman, rivet heater ,music teacher:	Farmer
29. Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, retail grocery, farm, shipyard, public school:	Farm
30. Class of worker:	OA
31. Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks):	52	0
32, Income in 1939 (12 months ended December 31, 1939): Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions):	0	0
33. Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary (Yes or No):	Yes	Yes
34. Number of farm schedule:	46

Source citation: 

1940 U.S. census, Shannon County, South Dakota,  Unorganized T35 + 36, R43+44 , population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 57-2, Sheet No. 18A, household 301, line 1, Emery Ogden; digital image, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census (Beta) [database on-line, accessed 5-Aug-2012]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.

According to my mother, this farm north of Pine Ridge, SD was a dairy farm. My grandfather, with a 6th grade education, was working 70 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, paying $5 a month in rent, all to keep a roof over his family's head, clothes on their backs and food on the table. I'd love to be able to see the Farm Schedule. It seems these were probably destroyed after the summary data were compiled. Damn. I have 19th century farm schedules for some of my US and Canadian ancestors and they are full of information about turnips and honeybees. I wish I had this same level of detailed info for my 20th century ancestors.

Latest 1940 US Census Find

I finally found the last of the five ancestral households I wanted to find. I spent most of last night looking through MN ED 56-46 (HENNING VILLAGE) for my Johnson great-grandparents. Lots of Johnson families in Henning, but I could not find Gust and Rose, my Johnson ancestors. They were in MN ED 56-45 in 1930 and according to the Morse and Weintraub Unified 1940 Census ED Finder, they should have been where I was looking.

Tonight I decided to try looking in MN ED 56-45 (HENNING TWP. EXCLUDING HENNING VILLAGE). Guess who was the first household listed on page 1?

That wasn't so hard, was it? I just hope it's that easy to figure out why I can't find my wife's father or his parents on Roselle St. in Oak Park, IL.

More 1940 US Census Finds

I found my mother's family. They have a page all to themselves in Shannon Co., SD, ED 57-2.

And here in Mission, Todd Co., SD ED 61-,1, is my great-grandfather, William F. Ogden with his second wife. Nearby is a Charbonneau family which may be his in-laws. I also found his daughter Ethel with her husband John Kilber. These are my mom's Aunt Ethel and Uncle John.

That's four out of the five households I wanted to find. I've been through Henning, Otter Tail Co., MN several times looking for my last set of great-grandparents. I've found over a dozen Johnson families in this smal town, but not my Gust and Rose. I guess it's time to look into other EDs near Henning.

1940 US Census Finds

I found my great-grandparents, John and Mary Huigens in Creighton, NE on ancestry.com:

While looking for them, I also found the families of their sons' BJ and Ed, my grandmother's uncle, John Kennedy, Jr. with his wife and kids, and my grandmother's sister Iona with her husband Fred Dostal. There are probably a lot more relatives in Creighton. They will have to wait until there's an index.

I then found my 13-year-old dad with his family in Sheridan Co., NE. The census taker spelled the name Higgins, but that's them all right. I'm surprised to see that my grandfather had completed 2 years of high school. That's unusual for a farm kid back then.

I'm still looking for my mom's first appearance in the US Census with her family on a farm near Pine Ridge in Shannon Co., SD. Only the NARA has the SD pages on-line but it is a slow hit-or-miss proposition on each page and there are 8 Enumeration Districts to choose from. It may take awhile, but I'll find her.

Census Sunday: 1940 US Census

I've identified the eleven ancestors that I want to look up on Tuesday.
2. Joseph A. Huigens, Jr
3. Shirley A, Ogden
4. Joseph A. Huigens
5. Julia Huigens
6. Emery J. Ogden
7. Esther L. Ogden
8. John Huigens
9. Mary Huigens
12. William F. Ogden
14. Gustaf A. Johnson
15. Rose Johnson

That's a lot of people. More than I thought I'd find. My dad's other grandparents died in the early 1930's. My mom's grandmother died in 1938.

Fortunately I can reduce this to five households.
1. Joseph A., Julia and Joseph A. Huigens
2. Emery J., Esther L. and Shirley A. Ogden
3. John and Mary Huigens
4. William F. Ogden
5. Gustaf A. and Rose Johnson

Next comes determining where they lived in 1940 and then the Enumeration District (ED). For four of these households, this is a piece of cake. They lived in the same place they did in 1930. So all I have to do is find the ED for 1930 and use Stephen Morse and Joel Weintraub's 1940 ED Finder to convert them. Here's the results.

1. Joe and Julia Huigens family in Sheridan CO., NE 1930: 81-27 1940: 81-7, 81-12, 81-18, 81-26
2. Emery and Esther Ogden family near Pine Ridge, Shannon Co., SD
3. John and Mary Huigens in Creighton, NE 1930: 54-6 1940: 54-6
4. William Ogden in Mission, SD 1930: 61-40 1940: 61-1, 61-26
5. Gust and Rose Johnson in Henning, MN 1930: 56-45 1940: 56-46

So that's a little more complicated than I thought. Only two are a direct one-for-one. Still it won't be too bad. These are rural, sparsely populated areas, so I won't have too many pages to look through. By reading the ED descriptions, I can make some educated guesses which EDs to start with.

According to my mom, her family was living on a dairy farm near Pine Ridge, SD when her sister Margie was born in Nov. 1940. That's not where they were in 1930, 1935 or 1945. There are only 8 EDs for Shannon Co., SD: 57-1 through 57-8. Again, these are areas with low populations so it won't take long to scan through them.

It looks like I'm all set for Tues. The harder part will be trying to find various generations of aunts, uncles and cousins. That's a whole other ballgame.

Census Sunday: George Shaeffer 1790 US Census

Yesterday after posting about my Schaeffer line, I decided to do some quick research on my 4th great-grandfather, George Schaeffer. I have his wife, Elizabeth Klinfelder, living in Pennsylvania between 1760 and 1835. His daughter, Catherine Schaeffer, my 3rd great-grandmother, was born in Pennsylvania in 1784. That lead me to surmise that I could probably find George somewhere in Pennsylvania in 1790. I searched the 1790 US Census for a George Schaeffer living in Pennsylvania. I found several, but one was living in Dover, York County, which is where the family of Catherine's husband, Andrew Strayer, comes from. I clinked on the link to view the image and I immediately recognized it. I posted it a couple of weeks ago because John Peter Stayer and his father-in-law appear near the top of the page. About halfway down the page is George Shaffer. 

It will take a lot more research to verify that this is the right George Schaeffer, but his close proximity to future in laws makes me think I've found the right man. Plus his wife was born in York Co., PA. I still have no info on when and where he was born and died, but this is a start.

Census Sunday: Johan Peter Stroher 1790 US Census

Here is the oldest US Census record I have for any of my ancestors. My 4th great-grandfather is listed as Peter Stroher, second from the top in the left column. Below him is his father-in-law George Stauch, my 5th great-grandfather. My other colonial ancestry lines (Ogdens, etc.) were Loyalists who headed up to Canada after the US won its independence, so they're not in the US census until they come back later for homesteads in South Dakota.