Finally! The 1940 Census

On Monday, April 2, 2012, at 9am, after being locked for 72 years, the wait is finally over. The 1940 Federal Census, the 16th Census of the United States, will be available free for all to view. You will be able to view the images at http://www.archives.com/. It will not be indexed yet, but if you know the enumeration district that your family lived in, you will be able to go right to it.  To find the enumeration district, I recommend you go to the One Step website  for information, researching tools and guides for determining your enumeration district. Be sure to take the quiz and tutorials to help you along.

Below, I have included videos from the National Archives. These short films were created by the US Census Bureau to train the 1940 census enumerators on their general duties and responsibilities. The first one is a general overview. The second is a training video reviewing the major questions relating to the general population. The third and fourth video relate to the housing and agriculture census. These last two censuses are no longer available, as they were destroyed. But, nonetheless, they are interesting to watch.

. How many of your parents, grandparents will finally show up for the first time in this census?

 These videos give a good visual of what life was like in 1940.

ENJOY!

What was 1897 like?

Do you ever wonder what it was like to live in the time of your ancestors?  I do! I like to put my ancestors in a social and economic context, as well as, a historical context. Below are examples of what it was like in the fall of 1897.  The Sears, Roebuck and Co catalog gives us a glimpse of what the fashion was like, how much items cost, and what items were available. I am not saying that your ancestors could afford all of these items, but I would guess that they aspired to have these things. My ancestors probably made their own clothes and used items that were passed down through the generations.

You might also try using these fashion pictures and descriptions to help you date some old photographs!

A Census Listing for 1880 - part 2

Let's continue with the statistics concerning the 1880 census for the village of Ooltewah. This is the 5th civil district and the 61st  enumeration district. This census is dated the 1st day of June, 1880.  There were 263 individuals listed on this census. Of those:

 1.  There were 6 females listed as head-of-household
 2.  There were 8 boarders
 3.  There were 37 individuals that could read
 4.  There were 57 individuals that could write
 5.  There were 43 individuals listed as black
 6.  There were 33 individuals listed as mulattos
 7.  There were 156 single individuals
 8.  There were 88 married individuals
 9.  There were 19 widowed individuals
10.  There were 119 males
11.  There were 144 females
12.  There were 4 servants under the age of 18, 2 male and 2 female
13.  There were 2 female servants between the ages of 19-40
14.  There were no servants older than 40 years of age
15.  There were 45 students attending school
16.  There  were 3 maimed individuals
17.  There was 1 blind individual
18.  There were no deaf and dumb individuals
19.  There were 215 individuals born in Tennessee
20.  There were 22 individuals born in Georgia
21.  The remaining 26 were born elsewhere
22.  There were 67 females 18 years of age and under
23.  There were 52 males 18 years of age and under
24.  There were 18 males 40 years of age and over
25.  Of those 18 men, 14 were white and 4 were black

MY THOUGHTS
There were 18 men born in 1840 or earlier. These men were probably involved in the Civil War, one way or another. The white men probably fought for the south and the 4 black men were probably slaves at the time of their birth. Yet none of these men are the maimed or blind persons listed in this census. These elderly gentlemen have laborer jobs. They came through the war without major ailments and could take care of their family. What are the odds of that? Could the widowed head-of-the-household females have lost their husbands during or shortly after the war? Could they be the real victims here?
There were 119 persons, 18 years of age or younger, yet only 45 of them were attending school at the time. The percentage of those that could read and write were extremely low. That surprises me! After the Civil War, public school became mandatory.

Next time, we will look at the occupations of the people from Ooltewah.

A Census Listing for 1880 - part 1

The 1880 census for the village of Ooltewah, James County, Tennessee dated the 1st of June, 1880 lists a population of 263 persons. The village of Ooltewah was in the 5th civil district.It was also the 61st enumeration district.  Below, I have listed the heads of household enumerated on  pages 1-6 of the census for that location.

page 1
Campbell, Richard
Lowe, Pleasant
Cowan, Andrew
Vest, Calvin
Wells, George
Vance, William
Childers, John
Berryhill, Andrew
Heaton, Jackson
McNabb, Robert

page 2
Crites, Isaac
Swoffard, Druzilla
Post, Sarah
Watkins, Reese
Hancock, Richard
Altom, John
Watkins, Tressie
Fuller, William
Collins, Frank
Green, Edward
Stevenson, William
Alexander, Loss

page 3
Childers, James
Chiders, Edam
Hugg, Joseph
Johnson, Benjamin
Wolf, Francis
Crane, Eliza
Roddy, Thomas
Nappier, Milton

page 4
Burley, Ransom
Wiley, Gustus
Hays, John
Perkison, Page
Sneed, William
Parker, Fannie
Stone, Henderson
Kinyan, Daniel
Gann, Adam
Moss, Alfred

page 5
Stone, Alex
McNab, Alexander
Taylor, Henry
Gibson, George
Smith, Samuel
Guthrie, Bruce
McCarron, Wilbert
Berryhill, John
Davis, George
Odell, Nancy

page 6
McNabb, Hannibel
Ragan, Jessie
Fitzgerald, John
Hays, Sarah
Cahan, Elvira

That is a total of 55 heads of household. The remaining 205 people are children and boarders. Stay tuned for more detail regarding this census.

The Crime of Lewdness

Lewdness:                                                       

Behavior that is deemed morally impure or unacceptable in a sexual sense; open and public indecency tending to corrupt the morals of the community; gross or wanton indecency in sexual relations.

An important element of lewdness is openness. Lewdness is sometimes used interchangeably with licentiousness or lasciviousness, which both relate to debauchery and moral turpitude. It is a specific offense in certain state statutes and is included in general provisions in others. 1


Now WHY? you ask, did I bring this up...

The 1880 census for the village of Ooltewah, 5th civil district of James County listed the Ooltewah Jail by itself, separate from the rest of the population. The county jailer, John Fitzgerald, and his sister and daughter lived on the premises. On the 1st of June, 1880, there were only 2 inmates at the time of the census taking.  They were Sarah Hays and Elvira Cahan. They were both listed as 20 year old, white, females. In the column for relationship, they were listed as prisoner. In the next major column, they were listed as having an occupation, profession or trade, of "lewdness".

Now, we can probably all guess what this occupation is labeled in today's society.We all have our own noun or adjective for this occupation. But, we must remember that the laws of 2 centuries ago are considerably different than the laws of today. 

 Before 1880, "the cases heard by the Circuit Court included those brought by the State for crimes against the people (criminal cases), and those between individuals (civil cases). Criminal cases included murder, unlawful retailing of liquor, lewdness, public fighting and theft. Most civil cases resulted from unpaid debts".2

Hmmm! Lewdness in the same category as Murder. Go figure!

1.West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/lewdness
 2.http://www.tngenweb.org/law/courtsys.htm

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round....

Leave Ooltewah 5:30 am
Leave Chatta 5:30 pm
Smith & Byrd Transportation Co.

    Ooltewah was the capital seat for James County. Today, it can take approximately 30 minutes or more to drive to downtown Chattanooga from Ooltewah on a 3 and 4 lane highway at the curreent speed limit. It's interesting to think how long it might have taken this bus to go the same distance on those tires and those roads.

When this picture was taken, the bus was loaded to full capacity. Judging by the use of the bus and the roads, it was probably full most of the time. During that time period, there were a vast number of jobs in the manufacturing industry in Chattanooga. It is difficult to tell from this picture whether these gentlemen were in the manufacturing industry. However, it is safe to assume that they were en route to or from their occupation.

The picture does give us some clues. They must be in Chattanooga on their way home. Regardless of the time of year, it would be very dark at 5:30 in the morning. Hence, they could not be in Ooltewah. Since it is still daylight, it must be 5:30 in the afternoon.  The sun appears to be relatively high in the sky, judging by the shadows, which leads us to the conclusion that it is probably summertime. Also, judging by the lack of heavy coats and the open windows on the bus, again, it probably is summertime. A Google Image search reveals that this bus is dated approximately 1920. I could not find any information relating to the Smith and Byrd Transportation Co. The final conclusion is that this picture was taken around 5:30 pm in Chattanooga during the summer circa 1920.

If anyone has information concerning today's post, please contact us. We would love to hear about it and post the additional information here for everyone to see.

   

Upcoming Meeting

Come Join Us

Society meetings are held quarterly. The next meeting is Sunday, February 5th at 2:30 pm.  It will be held at Ooltewah United Methodist Church, in Ooltewah, Tennessee.  Below is a map for your convenience. A presentation on Social Media and how it relates to the James County Historical Society will be addressed. Also, please bring any documents, pictures, newspapers, ephemera, etc that you may want to to share. We will discuss these items and scan them for use on the blog at a later date. We look forward to seeing you!

Directions:
Take exit 11 off of I-75 in Tennessee. Go east on Lee Hwy (off the exit). Turn left after less than 1/2 a mile onto Relocation Way. The church sits behind a Bi-Lo Grocery Store.