10 August 2012

Where Did Henry Johnson Live in 1900?

I use the online trees at Ancestry.com so that I'm familiar enough with them to help people. I'm not necessarily a big fan of them myself.

In working on my uncle, I discovered an interesting nuance.

I used the auto merge feature to add the 1900 census to Henry's entry. This indicated he lived in "Basco Village" in 1900.

That did not sound right to me as the family never lived in "town" and would have been on the farm in 1900. Clicking on the "source citation" for the 1900 residence pulled up the results page for Henry.

This indicates Henry's home in 1900 was Bear Creek [Township], Hancock County, Illinois. This is "correct" as the family's farm was within the township borders, but outside the village border of Basco.

I was (am) confused why the 1900 residence indicates Basco when the "results" screen indicates Bear Creek.

A little reading of the census is helpful--and not just the page on which the Johnson family appears. Pages 30A through 33A in Bear Creek Township are apparently for the village of Basco as 33A ends with the statement "Here ends the enumeration of the Village of Basco."

Sheet 33B through 40A are apparently for the Township of Bear Creek--that portion outside of the Village of Basco. "Village of Basco" is written in the heading area for several of these pages...and is crossed out on some but not all.

Based upon the "Here ends the enumeration" statement, I'm to think that that's actually where the village of Basco ends and that the enumerator simply copied the heading material onto too many pages.

The Johnson's entry is on page 35B, making it outside village limits:


Watch those locations that Ancestry.com just "pulls in." Sometimes it pays to do a little looking at the record.

[Tenia Johnson--the five year old--is my great-grandmother.]

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