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The Dust Bowl

8 Nov By Leave a Comment

The aftermath of an American migration of epic portions can now be studied alongside the 1940 Census. I am referring to the Dust Bowl (1930-1936), with Oklahoma being the center. While affecting blacks, it’s mainly thought of in terms of poor whites and Native Americans. That brings us to why this topic is important for an Irish blog. Scores of these Oklahoma residents were of Scots-Irish descent.

This period of history is sometimes referred to as the “Dirty Thirties.” Severe dust storms, called “Black Blizzards,” and “Black Rollers,” literally made visibility a couple of feet. The storms were intensified by the poor farming methods of the time. It blew away the middle part of the country. It was centered in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas; destroying the crops, cattle, farms, and the sharecropping way of life.

This caused such upheaval, there is no shortage of books and websites dedicated to this period. The derogatory term “Okie” was popularized for the massive migration of the poor white migrant workers from Oklahoma who went to find work in California. Some estimates are that 15% of the state left for California during the Dust Bowl. Their plight was popularized in the American imagination by the classic novel by John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1940).

They are the hidden part of the Depression Era national tragedy that took people with little and left them with nothing. The Dust Bowl exodus constituted the largest mass migration of Americans in the shortest time with 2.5 million people on the move, and at least 200,000 of those headed for California.

A good place to start with learning more about the Dust Bowl is the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture article on the “Dust Bowl” http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/D/DU011.html Ken Burns PBS documentary “The Dust Bowl” premieres on November 18th and 19th www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl so mark your calendars.

Using the 1870 U.S. Census in African American Research

18 Aug By Leave a Comment

In order to trace the Irish connection to an African American family; it’s first necessary to get past one major hurdle; the 1870 U.S. Census. This was the first federal census schedule to list the freed slaves by name, age, and birthplace. For this reason alone, it is among the most important genealogical resources which you can use in this type of research.

There are several factors to consider. The first is that this was only five years after the Civil War ended. The newly freed slaves were getting on their feet, and many were getting ready to move on. This means it was common for the freed slaves to be working on the very plantation they were freed from, or at least very close by. This was in a sharecropping arrangement where the freed slave would work the crops for part of the profit. Reality was usually much different. It actually differed little from slavery. Poor whites, and Tri-Racial Isolates, were also sharecroppers alongside the African Americans.

With all of its faults, abuses, and horrors, the sharecropping system at least kept families fed. It also bought families a few years of transition prior to moving far away from the old plantation. From a genealogical perspective, this means that the 1870 neighborhood where a black family was living was the old plantation itself. For our Irish Studies, this means the slave owner, who will be listed nearby in the same census can be identified. If he wasn’t the father, then you at least identified the last slave owner.

With the name of the last slave owner, this opens up surviving plantation records, and the county deeds documenting the buying and selling of slaves. Once the slave owner(s) are identified, then the way is clear to explore the Irish connection.

The Censuses of England and Wales (1841-1911)

16 Jul By Leave a Comment

The censuses for England and Wales were taken every ten years. The years released to the public include: 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911. These are scanned and online on two major subscription databases; www.ancestry.com and www.findmypast.co.uk They are also indexed on www.familysearch.org with links to the Findmypast website. They make a wonderful tool for hunting down Irish immigrants.

While usually, the censuses will simply say “Ireland” as the place of birth, sometimes, they actually provide county and parish of birth. Two of my favorites are the 1841 and 1851 enumerations. These are important as they are pre and post Potato Famine. My rule of thumb is that if a family had immigrated by 1841 they left for reasons other than hunger, and they had enough money to leave. In short, they were not always among the poor of the poor. The story in 1851 was different. It was towards the end of the Potato Famine, and massive migration was still underway. Both tell the story of very different migrations out of Ireland.

Now continuing with my examples, there’s some quirks you need to be aware of in 1841 schedule. In that census, only “I” is listed for Ireland and nothing else for birthplace. Always double check that with a later census to make sure the census taker was accurate. Other quirks include relationships not being provided, and the age of individuals older than 15 years being rounded down to the nearest five years. When you compare this with 1851, a clearer picture emerges. Both Ancestry and Findmypast have helpful guides to the censuses, including a listing of census areas known to be missing from the 1841 collection.

With the censuses so readily available at the fingertips, it’s an exciting time to be a family historian!

Developing Your Own “Census Substitute” List

29 Mar By Leave a Comment

I’d like to continue from yesterday’s blog, and discuss how you can develop a census substitute list.

For the detailed answer check out my article “Creating an Irish Census Alternatives List” published in The Okanagan Researcher, 27, #2 (December 2010), pages 5-8. This is the publication of the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society in Kelowna, British Columbia: www.kdgs.ca The article is not online, but for a donation, I’m sure they will send you a copy.  Tell them Dwight sent you.

In the Kelowna article I pulled together easily accessible resources for Aghadowey Parish, County Londonderry. From it came the first wave of Scots-Irish to New England in 1718. They founded Londonderry, New Hampshire. Millions of Americans and Canadians descend from these Aghadowey families.

Now for the short answer. I go through many varied sources which list names, some published, some not. Think in terms of lists of names. These can include church registers, tax lists, history books, court records, journal articles, land lord rent and lease accounts, and newspaper extracts. My rule is that any source is fair game as long as it is easily accessible. Then I arrange my list by date order, source name, and the reference. Never, ever forget the full reference.

Once you have compiled your list, please have it published in a genealogical journal. It doesn’t matter which one, or if it’s even Irish related. That way it is referenced in sources such as Periodical Source Index (PERSI) and everybody can find your creation.

What is a “Census Substitute”?

28 Mar By Leave a Comment

When we start our Irish research, we soon come across the fact that many records were destroyed. Much of the record destruction came in the 1922 during the Irish Civil War when the archive was burned. The most valued, but not the only records, up in smoke were the 1841 and 1851 censuses, half the Church of Ireland registers, wills and administrations.

To try and fill in some gaps, we usually turn to the “Census Substitute” chapters in all the research guides. A census substitute is a record, any record, which fills in gaps by documenting a segment of the population in a given county or parish. These range from tax lists, to tombstone inscriptions, to such strange things as dog licenses. When they work to fill gaps, they really work. When they don’t then we simply move on. However, don’t assume any census substitute list is complete. None of them are close to being complete for the odd and scattered sources out there. A good census substitute list can come pretty darn close.

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