I discovered an interesting perspective on my ancestry: the United States Federal Census data. Nearly every page of every census (except 1890 which was destroyed by fire), from 1790 through 1930, is available on microfilm. Meanwhile, the good folks at MyFamily.com, who (I believe) run Ancestry.com, have transcribed large portions of those microfilm images. Thus we can do computer searches.
However, I find, searching is not quite that simple. Sometimes the handwriting is difficult to read. Sometimes the names are misspelled. My own particular family seems to switch between using first and middle name. Some years, initials only are given. And, going back to 1840, only the head of household is listed.
Without access to birth or marriage records, or knowing maiden names, I can only trace back a small amount of the lineage. Still, the census records give interesting insights into my families as families, since the census pages show who was living as a single household. And, sure enough, grandpa and grandma still live next door! Or, at least, they show as the next household visited by the census taker.
However, I took a different approach, and filled in the gaps! My particular branch of the Barnards seems to have stayed in the same two parts of Pennsylvania for many decades. So, what I did, was look up ALL Barnards in Pennsylvania. As of the 1930 census, there were only 350 or so. I looked at all the names, but only recognized names from two specific townships.
However, that method of looking turned up immediate family I had not otherwise found. The grandfather, now a widower age 80, was listed as part of the household but with Barnard spelled as Barnhard. The remainder of the household was spelled correctly. Since I am descended from a different son, I hadn't found that household, hadn't yet looked at the actual census image, and missed part of the story.
My census records are not a "family tree" as such. Rather, they represent slices of my family's history, sliced layer by layer.
Each census was unique. That is, each census was a bit different from every other census taken in the United States of America. Different information was gathered; different instructions were given; and going back to 1840, distinction was made between slave and free. Click the links below for specific information about each individual census.
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