US Census
instructions to enumerators can be found at: http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/tEnumInstr.shtml
My very favorite site for understanding - Pam Cooper [pcooper@irclibrary.org], "RE: [Genealib] (no subject)," GENEALIB-L, discussion list, 29 Apr 2008 (http://mailman.acomp.usf.edu/pipermail/genealib/).
US Census Publication - http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/ma.html - Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses From 1790 to 2000
Agricultural - http://www.heritage.umd.edu/CHRSWeb/New%20Philadelphia/censusfiles/hadleycensusmenu.htm
Non-population - http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/census/nonpopulation/
Probate
Shammas, Carole, Marylynn Salmon, and Michel Dahlin. 1997. Inheritance in America: from colonial times to the present. Galveston, Tex: Frontier Press.
Wilson, Donald L" <dlwilson@pwcgov.org>. "Re: [APG] Tricky Deed," APG-L, discussion list, 22 May 2008 (http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Genealogical_Societies/APG.html)
Land/ Property Records
Glossary of terms - http://apps.sos.ky.gov/land/reference/glossary.asp
bettyd@elkcreek.net <bettyd@elkcreek.net>, "Re: [APG] Help on Land Research Terminology," APG-L, discussion list, 2 Jun 2008, (http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Genealogical_Societies/APG.html).
Disease and Epidemics
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:30:25 -0600
From: Chad Milliner <cmilliner@tgn.com>
Subject: [APG] Sources of information or illnesses or epidemics (was
1850s Weather)
To: "APG@rootsweb.com" <APG@rootsweb.com>
Message-ID:
<E8A407E8542F9744A59AD8DDC605458F10EBA5DD2F@ex01.myfamily.int>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Depending on the state and the year, the state health department may have published an annual report. If so for the year in question, then it would almost certainly describe any health issues from that year that were outside of the norm. Tracking those reports down, however, is difficult. You could try calling the state library or archive and see what they have, or perhaps the epidemiology people in the health department of the state would have a staff person with a historical bent that you could talk to on the phone or by e-mail and that person would thus be willing to look for something relevant in the health department's staff collection of old annual reports.
If it was a major epidemic that affect large areas of the country, such as the 1918 flu pandemic, then you could likely find information about it in the annual reports from the National Center for Health Statistics. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/vsus/historical/historical.htm Almost all of their old reports are available online from the site I just provided a link to as free PDFs. And before NCHS was created, the census bureau covered health issues in some of their printed reports, including the annual Statistical Abstract of the United States. http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab1878-1900.htm. Also look here: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/special.htm and here: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/1890.htm. This last link is to reports published about the 1890 census, many of which dealt with health issues. Since the original schedules no longer exist, these reports are a gold mine of information, particularly if you are resear!
ching someone from a large Eastern or Gulf Coast city. To see reports for other census years, just hack the date at the end of the URL.
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:26:19 -0500
From: hhsh@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [APG] epidemics, was 1850s Weather
To: apg@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <48B44ACB.27921.2EB61C5@hhsh.earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
I read this thread early this morning, and a few hours later this volume jumped
off the shelves of the Newberry Library into my hands. I can't speak to its
quality as my research today involved no diseases:
Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, ed. George Childs Kohn, revised edition.
New York: Facts on File, 2001, 1995.
Harold Henderson
Historical Weather
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:02:18 -0400
From: Janis L Gilmore <rajanisg@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [APG] 1850s Weather
To: <apg@rootsweb.com>
Message-ID: <C4D71A6A.BB2%rajanisg@earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
I have used the weather records at weather-warehouse.com - but I don't think
they go back as far as 1852.
The NY Times is online, back to 1851, but I'm not sure whether or not you
can access weather, unless it was a big story.
NARA does have weather records, RG 27, Records of the Weather Bureau:
http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/027.html
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:09:09 -0400
From: sevans50@aol.com
Subject: Re: [APG] 1850s Weather
To: PTArwood229@aol.com, APG@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <8CAD444C8A141C1-920-635A@webmail-me18.sysops.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Pattie,
You may find this information in the National Archives microfilm
publication, Climatological Records of the Weather Bureau, 1819-1892,
T907 (Washington: National Archives). This publication gives daily
weather station reports which may show barometric readings, range of
temperatures, total rainfall or snow melted, depth of unmelted snow at
the end of the month, and total number of days of precipitation. You
will want Roll 360, which starts with Moriches (Brooklyn), New York,
January 1873, and ends with New York City, New York, December 1861. The
NARA online index does not state when New York City's climatological
records begin, but if the information was collected by the Weather
Bureau in New York City in August 1852, it should be included on this
roll.
You may order the above microfilm from the National Archives for $65.00
at
http://www.archives.gov/order/
You'll find Roll 360 under microfilm T907B Climatological Records of
the Weather Bureau, 1819-1892. Rolls 201-400.
Alternatively, you may submit a query to the National Archives
requesting copies of the data from Records of the Weather Bureau,
record group number 27, and specify weather conditions in New York City
for August 1852. Others may know a more direct pathway, but this will
get you to the query submission page:
http://www.archives.gov/
--> On the left, scroll down and click on Obtain Copies
----> Click on Other Records
------> Click on Contact NARA
--------> Click on I have a question about research and records
----------> Click on Science & Technology
------------> Click on Weather
--------------> Select Weather On a Particular Day
----------------> On the right, click on Don't see what you're looking
for? Submit a Reference Request.
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:40:38 -0600
From: Chad Milliner <cmilliner@tgn.com>
Subject: Re: [APG] 1850s Weather
To: "apg@rootsweb.com" <apg@rootsweb.com>
Message-ID:
<E8A407E8542F9744A59AD8DDC605458F10EB90CF60@ex01.myfamily.int>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Daily observations from the various weather stations for the years 1819-1892 have been microfilmed by NARA, and are available on approximately 562 rolls of microfilm as National Archives Microfilm Publication T907. (Later years are textual records not yet available on microfilm or electronically but some later years have been published for certain locations and can be seen at some Federal Depository Libraries.) During the earlier period there were weather observers in a lot fewer locations than they were in later years, but I would assume that NYC would have had weather observers keeping track of daily conditions since the very beginning. So I would be surprised if daily conditions from NYC from August 1852 are not on that microfilm set. Sets of the microfilm are held by most of the NARA regional facilities, and at College Park.
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:30:33 -0500
From: "Gordon S. Harmon" <gsharmon10@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [APG] Sources of information or illnesses or epidemics
(was 1850s Weather)
To: <APG@rootsweb.com>
Message-ID: <BLU112-DAV97EED4A6F7CFB45700A63CD670@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
Another one that I use that provides clues is:
www.ourtimelines.com
It shows major events during the life of your specific ancestors including
major diseases during any specific year.
