Internet Genealogy - Expanding Your Search by Using US Census Clues to Uncover Social Status
The history books seem to focus on the immigrants who came to the New World to improve their lives.
They arrived on the shores of America looking for freedom of religion, land, a better financial future.
Some immigrants came to America already flush with inherited wealth (did you know that Napoleon Bonaparte's brother settled in New Jersey?) while other immigrants lived the American Dream and became "self-made" men.
You may wonder why social status matters to a genealogist.
The answer is that understanding your ancestor's social status provides valuable leads in tracking down records and even finding lost ancestors as well as enriching your family history with more details of your ancestors' lives.
For example, I noticed a child missing from a family group on one census only to reappear on the next census.
It was helpful to know that the family was of an economic status to send their children to private school, which led to me finding the child on a census in another state living in a boarding school.
Like today, people with greater personal wealth are more apt to leave will, deeds, and other records that reveal their family connections.
As in the Old World, wealthy Americans lived in their own social circles, associating with others of the same social and economic status.
Because they could afford help they had more free time to pursue interests beyond subsistence farming.
An ancestor who disappeared only to reappear on the census in later years may have had wealth to travel or spare time to serve in public office (have you tried looking in Washington, DC for a lost ancestor?).
When doing online genealogy to trace your family tree are you able to spot on a census the signs of wealth and social status? What were the clues to wealth in the days before designer labels, platinum cards, and high-end sports cars? Learning to read the census clues can help you plan your family tree research and gain new insights into your ancestors' lives.
Personal Wealth: The 1860 Census was the first census to record the value of real estate and personal property.
On July 14, 1860 an up and coming Illinois lawyer was recorded on the US Census.
He had a tidy investment of $5000 in real estate located in a city and his personal estate was valued at a whopping $12,000.
The family had two paid servants living in their home.
The clues are there that the family was comfortably middle class, comfortable enough to venture into public service, and grounded enough in their community to make a successful run for political office.
On that July 14th lawyer Abraham Lincoln already had his party's nomination as the Republican candidate for President.
Farmer vs.
Landed Gentry: An ancestor's occupation holds clues to their social status.
Earlier census simply recorded whether a household was engaged in agriculture or not, however the 1850 Census was the first to note the occupation of individuals.
From 1850 forward the census records are filled with men who were recorded as family farmers, which meant mostly subsistence farming before the last half of the century.
Men of higher status (more wealth and more land) were often recorded as "planters" or plantation owners especially in the South.
Even when recorded as a farmer, if there are servants or an "overseer" recorded in the household, you have a clue that they may have been more than a simple farmer.
Slaves.
While it's hard today to grasp the concept of humans viewed as property, in Pre-Civil War America slaves were the personal property of their owners.
The number of slaves owned by a head of household was recorded on the census schedules before 1850 and on Slave Schedules in 1850 and 1860.
More slaves meant more personal property, thus greater wealth.
It pays to dig a bit deeper to see how many slaves a farmer owned as a lead to uncovering their status.
Since slaves were property you have an important clue that your ancestor would have left a will or a deed.
Once you have the clues that an ancestor was of status to leave public records you can continue searching in the county in which they lived, surrounding counties, and even in other states.
For researcher who are on the hunt for missing ancestors there is new hope to find source records, and for researchers who uncover their ancestor's status in the community they can renew their search to find historical documentation to fill out the story of their ancestor's life.
They arrived on the shores of America looking for freedom of religion, land, a better financial future.
Some immigrants came to America already flush with inherited wealth (did you know that Napoleon Bonaparte's brother settled in New Jersey?) while other immigrants lived the American Dream and became "self-made" men.
You may wonder why social status matters to a genealogist.
The answer is that understanding your ancestor's social status provides valuable leads in tracking down records and even finding lost ancestors as well as enriching your family history with more details of your ancestors' lives.
For example, I noticed a child missing from a family group on one census only to reappear on the next census.
It was helpful to know that the family was of an economic status to send their children to private school, which led to me finding the child on a census in another state living in a boarding school.
Like today, people with greater personal wealth are more apt to leave will, deeds, and other records that reveal their family connections.
As in the Old World, wealthy Americans lived in their own social circles, associating with others of the same social and economic status.
Because they could afford help they had more free time to pursue interests beyond subsistence farming.
An ancestor who disappeared only to reappear on the census in later years may have had wealth to travel or spare time to serve in public office (have you tried looking in Washington, DC for a lost ancestor?).
When doing online genealogy to trace your family tree are you able to spot on a census the signs of wealth and social status? What were the clues to wealth in the days before designer labels, platinum cards, and high-end sports cars? Learning to read the census clues can help you plan your family tree research and gain new insights into your ancestors' lives.
Personal Wealth: The 1860 Census was the first census to record the value of real estate and personal property.
On July 14, 1860 an up and coming Illinois lawyer was recorded on the US Census.
He had a tidy investment of $5000 in real estate located in a city and his personal estate was valued at a whopping $12,000.
The family had two paid servants living in their home.
The clues are there that the family was comfortably middle class, comfortable enough to venture into public service, and grounded enough in their community to make a successful run for political office.
On that July 14th lawyer Abraham Lincoln already had his party's nomination as the Republican candidate for President.
Farmer vs.
Landed Gentry: An ancestor's occupation holds clues to their social status.
Earlier census simply recorded whether a household was engaged in agriculture or not, however the 1850 Census was the first to note the occupation of individuals.
From 1850 forward the census records are filled with men who were recorded as family farmers, which meant mostly subsistence farming before the last half of the century.
Men of higher status (more wealth and more land) were often recorded as "planters" or plantation owners especially in the South.
Even when recorded as a farmer, if there are servants or an "overseer" recorded in the household, you have a clue that they may have been more than a simple farmer.
Slaves.
While it's hard today to grasp the concept of humans viewed as property, in Pre-Civil War America slaves were the personal property of their owners.
The number of slaves owned by a head of household was recorded on the census schedules before 1850 and on Slave Schedules in 1850 and 1860.
More slaves meant more personal property, thus greater wealth.
It pays to dig a bit deeper to see how many slaves a farmer owned as a lead to uncovering their status.
Since slaves were property you have an important clue that your ancestor would have left a will or a deed.
Once you have the clues that an ancestor was of status to leave public records you can continue searching in the county in which they lived, surrounding counties, and even in other states.
For researcher who are on the hunt for missing ancestors there is new hope to find source records, and for researchers who uncover their ancestor's status in the community they can renew their search to find historical documentation to fill out the story of their ancestor's life.
