Are We Related?

In 1880 Congress gave Family Historians a gift.  They put a column on the census form that asked each person’s relationship to the head of the household. 

Early On

In the censuses before this one, 1850, 1860, 1870, we often assumed that the people in that home were a man, his wife, and children, but we did not know.  Especially for the 1870 census, when many families that were broken by the Civil War were being blended together, with families taking in the children of their siblings, grandparents taking in their son’s wife and children, there’s really no way to tell their relationship.  Have you ever seen a census where the children were listed in order of age, then an older child is listed and the ages are in order after that?  Maybe that is not an enumerator’s mistake, but the children of a different family!

Relationships Revealed

Fortunately for us the relationships have been included on the census ever since 1880.  I have often found three generations of a family living in one home, and sometimes four.  Sometimes grandchildren are living with their grandparents with no parents in the home.  If you see this, you should immediately ask, Why?

We have talked about how the census often gives us clues.  It will tell us information that doesn’t answer questions but shows us that we need to do more research.  This is one of those times.  There is a reason why those children are living with their grandparents and not their parents. 

Did both parents die?  Did one parent die, the other remarry and start over without their children?  Was the children’s previous home life unstable or abusive?  Did the parents fall on hard times and send their children to live with their grandparents until they could recover?  We need to find the answer!

Finding the Answers

Seeking the answer to these questions will lead us to many different sources.  You may find the answer in a newspaper article about a tragic death.  It may lie in a spouses death records or in military pensions.  Perhaps there is a juicy court case that is waiting to be discovered!

Learning why a person is missing from a family will make our family’s history much richer and provide answers that may have been lost for generations.  Perhaps you will be the one to solve a family mystery!  You may learn why some behaviors are frowned upon in your family.  So put on your investigator’s hat and go solve the case!

At Heroes of the Past we love to solve mysteries and uncover family secrets!  If we would love to help you learn about the family that came before you.  Contact us today to learn how we can work together!