RE: [Genealib] Finding missing people in ancestry

Mon Jun 26 09:20:44 EDT 2006

A person born in 1862 in an area now part of West Virginia was born in
Virginia.  I'm sure Eric is aware that West Virginia only broke off from
Virginia and became a separate state in 1863.  I have helped several
people not aware of that.  One woman had been looking near Berkeley
plantation in Charles county, VA with no luck.  She KNEW that her
ancestors had settled near Berkeley Virginia in the 1700s.  I explained
about the state's splitting during the Civil War and we looked near
Berkeley Springs, WV.  We found her ancestors there.  

It is vital to consult a gazetteer.  What we think we know is so often
wrong.

Joyce Adams Brannan

Technical Services Librarian

Julia Tutwiler Library, Station 12

University of West Alabama

(205) 652-3677

jbrannan at uwa.edu

________________________________

From: genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
[mailto:genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu] On Behalf Of Susan
Scouras
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 7:40 AM
To: Librarians Serving Genealogists
Subject: RE: [Genealib] Finding missing people in ancestry

I would imagine people still residing in WV were more conscious of the
question, and the censustakers may have had either instructions or their
own ideas about what to record.  Again, we emphasize the county name, so
if anyone has a town or county associated with the person in question,
that is the best clue.

Susan Scouras

Librarian

WV Archives and History Library

The Cultural Center

1900 Kanawha Blvd. East

Charleston, WV  25305-0300

(304) 558-0230, Ext. 742

	-----Original Message-----
	From: genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
[mailto:genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu] On Behalf Of Grundset,
Eric
	Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2006 9:09 AM
	To: Librarians Serving Genealogists
	Subject: RE: [Genealib] Finding missing people in ancestry
	Importance: Low

	This sort of birthplace confusion for VA/WVA is not limited to
the 1870 census. One of my great grandmothers was born in West Virginia
in 1862 and lists Virginia has her birthplace through the 1910 census
(living in Maryland by the 1880s) and only West Virginia in 1920 and
1930! The dust had apparently not settled by 1880 for everyone living
outside of West Virginia! I'm sure there were plenty of others who did
the same thing. We always recommend to people to check for the family in
both states just to be sure.

	Eric

	Eric G. Grundset 
	Library Director 
	DAR Library 
	National Society Daughters of the American Revolution 
	1776 D St., N.W. 
	Washington, DC 20006-5303 
	202-879-3313 (phone) 
	202-879-3227 (fax) 
	egrundset at dar.org 

		-----Original Message-----
		From: genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
[mailto:genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu]On Behalf Of Susan
Scouras
		Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 11:50 AM
		To: Librarians Serving Genealogists
		Subject: RE: [Genealib] Finding missing people in
ancestry

		This brings to mind a quirk in the 1870 census regarding
West Virginia given as a birthplace.  The state was formed from Virginia
in 1863, with whole counties becoming part of West Virginia, meaning
that the dividing line between Virginia and West Virginia was clearcut
from the beginning in terms of records, etc.  We always advise
researchers to follow the county, and "ignore" the state for the most
part.  

		The 1870 census was the first following West Virginia
statehood, and people who had been born in a Virginia county which
became part of West Virginia were unsure of how to answer the birthplace
questions.  Naturally, their county of birth had been in Virginia at the
time of their birth, so if you were born in one of the Virginia counties
that became part of West Virginia, did you answer "West Virginia" or
"Virginia?"   West Virginia had plenty of Confederate veterans and
sympathizers living within its borders, and many of them answered
Virginia.  Others thought that Virginia was the logical answer, while
others were proud to call themselves native West Virginians from the
start.  By 1880, the dust had settled, and except for a few diehard
Confederates, if Virginia appears in a West Virginia census as place of
birth, it means the person was born in a Virginia county that remained
part of "old" Virginia, and not a county that became part of West
Virginia.  

		Keep this in mind when you see people living in other
states in 1870 who list Virginia or West Virginia as a birthplace.  I am
sure they had the same confusion over how to answer.  

		Susan Scouras

		Librarian

		WV Archives and History Library

		The Cultural Center

		1900 Kanawha Blvd. East

		Charleston, WV  25305-0300

		(304) 558-0230, Ext. 742

			-----Original Message-----
			From: genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
[mailto:genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu] On Behalf Of Barbara
Hill
			Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 2:20 AM
			To: Librarians Serving Genealogists
			Subject: Re: [Genealib] Finding missing people
in ancestry
			Importance: Low

			At 02:28 PM 6/23/2006, you wrote:

			I think we all have Census brickwalls. Even with
all my training, I 
			have a 3rd great-grandmother who, although she
lived in New Orleans 
			from the early 1850s until 1904 when she died, I
have only been able to 
			locate on the 1860 and 1880 census. The rest of
the family that she 
			should be with is also not findable in those
years, though I know with 
			absolute certainty they lived there.

			I've heard that the 1870 census was the worst
one ever taken in the South and it seems to be true, as I've read an
entire East Texas county and several families were missing from it even
though they were definitely living there.  Apparently the problem was
that the former Confederates were in no mood to comply with the Federal
census. 

			(Of course this doesn't account for the above
case being missing in 1900 also.)

			Barbara Hill 

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