|
I have personal experience with how frustrating it is to have
individuals who were not included in a census index. I know they
existed (they were on prior and following censuses) but were missing
from some indexes. Having the entire census at my fingertips allowed
me to work through the county in my own time and locate the individual
— and several related family members! The ability to search
the "neighborhood" is another boon — no longer is a trip
to the FHC required to check "just one more family."
CD 209 contains information on about 252,000 heads of household
and their families. It contains a searchable index to the heads
of household, but not an index to every individual mentioned within
the images. Information you'll find varies with each entry; the
1850 census includes fields for dwelling and family number, name
of every person who was living at that home on 1 June, 1850, age,
sex, color, occupation, value of real estate, place of birth (state,
territory, or country), and whether the individual was married
or attended school within the year.
I found a few pages of the census microfilm very difficult to
read. A disclaimer in the introduction mentions that some of the
scans are not as good as others due to faint or illegible spots
in the original microfilms. I found that with the use of a good
graphics program, I could enhance a page image to the point where
I could read the difficult parts. I also came across several cases
where the individual I was searching for was not on the page listed
in the index...instead he was on the following page. A note in
the introduction warns users to check the prior and next pages
if you can't find an individual on the page listed.
Using the CD is easy — you pop a name in the Search Expert,
or peruse the index. Once you find a name which looks interesting,
you can click on the More About button which displays information
such as the county and location, microfilm series, roll, and page
numbers. Once you find the your ancestor on a census page, you
access the usual tools — zoom in and out, flip to the previous
and next pages, view the image full screen, print a page, or copy
the image to the clipboard.
|
Although there is no manual other than the standard 17-page
technical insert, there is quite a bit of information in
the introduction — information on the benefits and
limitations of the data on CD-ROM (including details on
the sorts of errors which can be found), tips for searching,
printing and copying images, and a very informative section
on Understanding Census Information. Explanations on enumerators,
spelling changes, how to look for name variations due to
errors, voluntary and involuntary information, and name
changes are a few of the subjects mentioned. An important
(but brief) section mentions evaluating the information
you find before assuming it's correct. One item I thought
should have been included in the introduction was a reference
on how to cite information found within this resource.
The Census Microfilm Records: Virginia, 1850 offers both
new and experienced researchers a fantastic resource. While
Genealogy.com isn't the first company to put images of census
microfilm at your fingertips, I believe they are the first
to make available an entire state, including index, in one
set. The quality of the scans, tremendous benefit to researchers,
ease of use of viewing software, and the reasonable price
makes this CD my hot pick for 1998!
|
|
|
|
