Decided not to do the Family History Writing Challenge

I really thought it was possible to work on the Do-Over and do the challenge but find I'm feeling pushed and not doing a good job on either. So the Do-Over gets my full attention.

Bit the bullet and ordered the birth certificate for my dad. Interesting, I can get the certificate on-line and really quickly for the small fee of $80.00 or get it snail mail for $12.00. I really want it right now, hate waiting, but the difference in price went towards new baseball cleats. I am really anxious to see if they even have one and what it might say. Feels kinda' like Christmas morning seeing what Santa will bring. 

Citing sources has been time consuming but as I go through each document, there are details I've missed. The 1930 census shows my grandfather as a farmer but a little code to the side says he was employed. That confirms the letter he wrote to his brother in 1926 where he talks about the farm and the job with the railroad. I knew he farmed and I knew he was employed but now I also have a time frame. I can't imagine working a full time job and handling a farm at the same time. My dad used to talk about the sugar beets they grew and he would have been 9 or 10 (depending on the birth certificate) working with his brothers on the farm as well. 

While I wait to see how old my dad really was in 1930, I will move on to the 1940 census. Wonder what details I've missed there? 

Changing families for the Do-Over

Thomas McEntee started the Genealogy Do-Over.  I was instantly in, planing to do the Yeakley side of the family until today. I know it needs work and it is missing sources. I was pretty excited.

Today while waiting for the Do-Over to start, I read through the posts on Facebook and the blog. I thought I'd do something proactive.

I pulled the 1920, 1930, and 1940 Census for my dad's family. My uncle recently passed away and there is a family gathering next week. I wanted to take something with me to share about my uncle. I printed the blank forms and started to fill in the data, translating the codes for employment. I found some things I didn't know or didn't take the time to understand. I was pretty happy until I realized that on two of the census reports, my great grandmother's birthplace was listed as Virginia. That can't be right since she was born in Tennessee. Or was she?

My mom did genealogy for 30 years, tramping through graveyards and traveling from courthouse to libraries. I never questioned her research, she has a lot of documentation. She did cite sources. However, I found nothing on the birthplace for my great grandmother. Is it wrong?

I need a do-over. If I can miss something so different in a census report, something I have looked at multiple times, how much more information have I missed assuming the answers were right. I can't wait to get started!

Census reports

I started out with a new book called Writing the Family Narrative. I got as far as page 34 when I read a sentence about census reports. It stopped me dead in my tracks because I hadn't really looked at them before as a complete record. I got the names, ages, sex, and marital status but hadn't really looked at the checked boxes.

I have been having a problem with my 2nd great grandmother and discovered that Susannah was a 2nd wife and not another name for Sally. The boxes checked were "married within the year". I hadn't seen that before but it goes a long way to explain the name issues. More work certainly needs to be done but it now appears Sally was the first wife and the mother of the children while Susannah  and my 2nd great grandfather married when they were both in their 50's.

Given that information, I have copied the blank census forms and am filling them in page by page. I wondered why my great aunt never married but the census says she was handicapped. Wow, what a lot of information I missed.