Census Clues: Sweet Potato Simon, White Potato Willie, & Cows that Grow Wool

Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL
Mar 22, 2024
1096 views
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About this webinar

Census records are the most used—and yet the most underused—of all genealogical resources. Every major provider offers them, along with an index so we can easily find our people. Aside from a year here or there, when a pesky ancestor seems to have eluded the census taker, the use of censuses seems fairly straightforward: We use a search engine to find our person and we copy down the data. There, done! \n \nNo. Not at all! Censuses provide “facts,” but in between those “facts” there are a wealth of clues we can mine to solve our worst problems with identity, origin, and parentage. This session is for advanced researchers who think they “already know all about census records” and for newer researchers who want to avoid the mistakes most researchers make. \n \n** This is a members-only webinar **

About the speaker

Across a long career, Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS, has been an innovator of research methods and strategies. Published widely by academic and popular presses, she edited a nationa...
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Comments (225)

Sort byNewest
  1. DR
    Deborah Richardson
    1 year ago

    Thank you! A great reminder and a push that I need to map the people! I'm hoping that I will answer some questions and find Aunt Martha on the only census before she was married. I'm so very appreciative of this opportunity to learn!

  2. TL
    Tedi Lojewski
    1 year ago

    Elizabeth has again provided a fantastic webinar with invaluable information! Where is my grandmother in the 1940 US Census? I had already come to the conclusion that the entire neighborhood was missing from the pages where her residence (where she lived from 1920 until her death in 1981) should have shown in the census. I now have additional strategies to find this "needle in a haystack" missing piece. A reminder about what constitutes "exhaustive research".

  3. MR
    Martha Rehm
    1 year ago

    Another thought-provoking webinar pushing us all to be more in-depth researchers! Thank you!

  4. PB
    Patricia Susan Busby
    1 year ago

    Every ESM gets better & better. She is so informative and so entertaining..

  5. WV
    Webinar Viewer
    1 year ago

    The census isn't a list. Each line has stories if you read them until the end. ESM really knows how to read and how to act on what she has read, digging until she has found the rest of the story recorded in other places.

  6. KD
    Kathryn Doyle
    1 year ago

    ESM takes a record set we've been using forever to demonstrate how we still have so much to learn. The key message from today's webinar: S-L-O-W D-O-W-N.

    1
  7. CB
    Cheryl Borden
    1 year ago

    I learned several things about the census that I didn't know before. I will have to watch this one again and look at my ancestor's census records for more clues!

  8. TQ
    Tamara Quiring
    1 year ago

    What else can anyone say about an ESM webinar - always worth the price of admission!

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