Today: the 1820 Census of Manufactures and A Western Mass. Conference Next Month!

One of the things on my shortlist of chores this morning was to drive over to Pittsfield and pop into the Silvio O. Conte branch of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). I needed to check out a bit of “obscuriana” in the microfilmed copy of the manuscript 1820 Census of Manufactures for the Madison/Culpeper/Orange county area in the state of Virginia.  

While it’s not really a “census” in the truest sense of the word, and can also be woefully and frustratingly incomplete, depending upon the county and state you’re interested in, the 1820 Census of Manufactures is a much underused resource by genealogists and is completely overshadowed by its “big brother”, the 1820 population schedule.  

What’s so great about it?  For one thing, it can often help identify sons with “manufacturing” businesses – millers, blacksmiths, tanners and the like - who were not heads of households in their own right, and thus are not accounted for in the “real” 1820 Census except as tick marks. Second, it occasionally identifies the specific location in a county that the family/business is located.  One individual who operated a distillery described his business as being “… at the headwaters of Buffalo Creek in the Great State of Virginia”, which may very well have been the way he promoted his whisky. There’s a certain cachet to clean and refreshing “Buffalo Creek Whisky”…

Plus, since no early census actually clues us in as to our ancestors’ occupations, this can be a real help in our understanding of family. Farmers with five acres of apple orchards often became “manufacturers” of hard cider in the fall after the harvest and many are accounted for in the Census of Manufactures.

One of the frustrating things about working with that “census” schedule is that the assistant marshals who took the census were given a list of questions to complete. How they treated the responses was apparently not standardized. Sometimes, they gave the questions to the “manufacturers” on sheets of paper, who then filled them out in their own hand.  Others asked the questions and provided a “county narrative” summarizing each of the individual responses.  Still others constructed the 19^th century equivalent of spreadsheets.

Worst of all, many county schedules did not survive at all.

Nonetheless, it’s still a great resource and one of the things that gets me over the mountain to NARA - Pittsfield. At least, it has in the past.

But not for much longer.

Soon, of course, the Pittsfield facility (at least the part that serves genealogists) will close as part of NARA’s “cost reduction.”  I wrote about that earlier this year, so I won’t belabor the point again.

However, before that closing happens at the end of September, the Friends of The National Archives – Pittsfield will once again host yet another fun-filled “Life in the Past Lane” conference.  This will be the 8^th annual event, and like those in recent years, will take place at the classic Williams Inn in Williamstown, MA.  

The date is Saturday, September 17th, 2011.  Save it!

Think about it…mid-September in the Berkshires.  The classic Williams Inn and a really good sit-down lunch.  Genealogy all day long.  What’s not to like???

Here’s the link to the event, where you can download a registration form. 

Do it now, and you can take advantage of the “early bird” rate and save some bucks.  Plus, tell your friends.  Make a weekend of it.  (Hint: most of the summer people will have gone back to their cities of asphalt and cement and the buses of leaf-peepers won’t be there yet; the Berkshires will be EMPTY and will be just waiting to impress you…!!!)

As you look over the program, you’ll note that there are TWO (count ‘em …two…) TRACKS this year, and for whatever it’s worth, I’ll be speaking twice – once on German research (emphasis on the Internet) and once on city directories.  Plus, we’ll be in our usual space (as “Jonathan Sheppard Books”) with tables of books.

So… make plans to join us NOW!!!

Oh… and by the way, I couldn’t find the guy I was looking for in the “1820 Census of Manufactures” because 2 of the 3 Virginia counties’ schedules did not survive.  

Guess he shoulda moved earlier…

NARA's Matthew Brady Civil War Pix - Free on Flickr

Here’s a quickie link for tonight:

Just in case you may have missed it earlier (it was announced on the National Archives blog last month), NARA has uploaded of 40 sets of Matthew Brady’s Civil War photographs on Flickr.  The photos are now arranged topically and are a great resource for those of us who had ancestors in the Civil War. 

If you haven’t ever seen them, they’re worth a look.

And, now that they're arranged by topic, they're worth a second or third look!



Here's the direct link to Brady photos on the the Flickr site.

Genealogy Conference - The Berkshires - September - (What's Not To Like???)

It’s September. Listen. Those aren't crickets.

The clock’s ticking.

If you haven’t already done so, it’s still not too late to register for the seventh annual all-day genealogy conference called “Life in the Past Lane”, hosted by The Friends of the National Archives–Pittsfield, Silvio O. Conte National Records Center on Saturday, September 18th. As in recent years, the event will be held at the Williams Inn on the Green in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

This year, the Friends have lined up three great presenters: Leslie Albrecht Huber, Jean Nudd and Gregory Pomicter. Topics to be covered include “Get Organized! Get Control of Your Research Projects”, “Electronic Scrapbooking”, “Writing A Family History Your Family Will Want To Read” and “Using Footnote.com”.

Plus, the ever-popular “Ask the Experts” Roundtable will close out the day, with the panel fielding audience questions.

We’ll be there (as Jonathan Sheppard Books) with our tables laden with books, both new and out of print, along with lots of other businesses and societies that provide those things that genealogists just absolutely have to have.

Here’s the link for more info and a registration form for Life In The Past Lane VII.

If the speakers, topics and exhibitors weren’t enough to fully motivate you to action, here’s another big plus. It’ll be in mid-September and it will be (as I may have already said…) in WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS. IN THE BERKSHIRES.

Those of us who live in these parts can attest to it being one of the best times of year to be in western Massachusetts, just down the road from Vermont and just over the line from “Upstate New Yawk”. Weather’s usually perfect, views are always great, natives are friendly and lots of the summer folk have gone home to the Big City.

When you come by for the conference, be sure to save a minute or two to check out the memorial stone on the green in front of the Williams Inn. It was erected in 1916 by the members of the Kappa Alpha Society from Williams College and is dedicated to the memory of the original settlers of the area and specifically to Sergeant William Chidester, his son James and Captain Elisha Chapin, who were ambushed and massacred at the West Hoosac blockhouse during the French and Indian War.

And, just in case you didn’t know, the Kappa Alpha Society is the oldest college social fraternity in North America, founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York in the fall of 1825.

See you there?