The 1960 U. S. Census

I subscribe to the free version of Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. Most mornings I find a message in my inbox with a list of articles and links to them. This morning the list started with "1960 U.S. Census Myths and Facts."

This particular article was a "teaser" article that provided a few paragraphs. To see the remainder of the article, I need to have a paid subscription.

Mr. Eastman had mentioned in previous issues of his newsletter about the "lost" 1960 Census data. This census is not lost in the same sense as the 1890 Census of which much was destroyed by fire, water and man. Instead, as the story goes, the data is lost because it was stored on 7-track magnetic tapes and the equipment to read such tapes is obsolete.

I have experience in a couple of areas (computers and research) that permit me to say with confidence "the 1960 Census data is not lost."

The 1960 Census data was collected on census schedules printed on paper. The data on the magnetic tapes was created from transcription of the schedules. Since the National Archives had been microfilming records prior to 1960, I have no reason to believe that the 1960 US Census was not been microfilmed.

The story of the census data stored on 7-track magnetic tapes being lost is also not true for several reasons.

First, the purpose of recording the census data on magnetic tape was for research purposes. Many institutions and governmental agencies analyze census data. The electronic data is available to qualifying groups as soon as possible. Thus, multiple tapes were made to satisfy the demand by these entities.

Second, research using census data from any given decade continues years after the data becoming available. By 1964, 9-track tapes were introduced and thus emerged the need for recording the data on 9-track tapes. As data storage devices and data delivery mechanisms evolved over time, I expect to find the 1960 Census data recorded in a variety of formats.

Third, it is possible to read a 7-track tape today. Even if you were to assume that there were no working 7-track tape drives, the knowledge of how to build one is not lost. In fact, I know of a working 7-track tape drive in Silicon Valley.

As of 2009, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, had operational IBM 729 tape drives attached to a working IBM 1401 computer. Several companies manufactured 7-track tape drives, Hewlett-Packard Company being one. The HP Computer Museum in Australia collects HP equipment with the goal to have working examples. The museum has on exhibit several models of HP 7-track tape drives.

There are other computer museums that collect old equipment. I even found a company, Sunstar Company in Los Angeles, that as of 2010 sells refurbished 9-track tape drives manufactured by many different computer hardware companies.

The National Archives was established in 1934 and its building opened in 1935. Professional archivists have been employed the National Archives for decades. Knowing something about archiving, I found the alleged story of the "lost" 1960 US Census insulting to the archivists.

A visit to the National Archives Website revealed an article written in the Prologue Magazine, Winter 2000, Vol. 32, No. 4, "Myths and Realities About the 1960 Census" by Margaret O. Adams and Thomas E. Brown. The article confirmed my belief that the 1960 US Census is not lost.

To read the article, click on this link at the National Archives.

Although I have not read Mr. Eastman's complete article, however, based on the title, I believe that his article contains similar conclusions.

"The Island at the Center of the World"

Each summer my husband and I make an annual trip to Lake Arrowhead, California to spend a week at Bruin Woods, UCLA Alumni Association Family Camp. Over the years, we have met a number of interesting people who are Alumni of UCLA. A few summers ago I met Simon Van Dijk. He is a professor of chemistry at Alamo Colleges in Texas and an immigrant from the Netherlands. (His wife is the UCLA alumna.)

Simon and I had a mutual interest (not chemistry). He is a Dutch immigrant to the United States; I am an American with a family history extending to the 17th century Netherlands. That first summer, we talked about Dutch history around the 16th and 17th century. Simon was then acutely aware of my family's history in Dutch New York.

The following summer, when we met again at Bruin Woods, Simon asked me if I had read a book entitled "The Island at the Center of the World." I had not, but Simon's discussion of the book intrigued me in part because of what he said about what he'd learned from reading the book. It fit with what I had learned from my research about the Dutch ethics of the time.

I returned home and bought the book to read. That which Mr. Shorto said in his book matched with the things I had found and added information to my knowledge base.

As I researched my family residing in North American in the 17th century, I realized that the Dutch colony in North America was the most ethnically diverse community in North America at that time. The other settlements in eastern North America were homogeneous and fairly exclusionary.

US history as taught in high school focuses on the arrival of the Puritans and purports that our country was shaped by the English. Even the AP American History class that it took in high school only briefly mentioned the Dutch settlement in what is now New York and New Jersey. Even as a student at the University of California at Berkeley, my US history course barely mentioned the Dutch Colony. Yet what I was learning about the Dutch colony and the Netherlands in the late 16th and early 17th centuries seemed to me had a greater impact on forming our country than did the British.

As I researched my family and realized that some of my roots stemmed from the Dutch, I began to study the Dutch colonization of New York. I found the 16th Century Dutch to generally be tolerant and fair to people of various religions and beliefs.

The English settlers, on the other hand, were less accepting of other ideas and beliefs. In fact, they persecuted the non-believers, driving them to the colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Mr. Shorto concurs and also points out that the Dutch did not have royalty like the British. The Netherlands was a republic where individuals could rise to power and status.

It is ironic that our government was founded on many of the same principles that the Dutch professed when they settled the colony in North America. If you want to have a clear idea of what it was like for people living in the Dutch colony, you must read this book.

Russell Shorto has worked extensively on the New Netherland Project, which is currently translating old documents from 1600-1664.

Culzean Castle and American Aristocracy

Around the beginning of the 20th Century, as the influx of immigrants, particularly from Eastern European counties, was reaching its apex, native-born Americans seemed to have had need to distinguish themselves above the immigrants. This behavior was more evident in the eastern states.

Organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames, Sons of the American Revolution, Mayflower Society, etc. were founded at this time. While some people were proving lineage to join such societies, others were looking to find a connection to European royalty.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of those who came to America in the early days of European colonization of North America were common people seeking a chance for a better life. A whole industry of finding one's "family crest" emerged to take advantage of this intense interest in finding a connection to important families of Europe in the 1600 and early 1700s. This desire still exists today. I typed my maiden name and the words "family crest' and voila a page with my "family crest" appeared. However, none of the facts relate to my father's family.

Most Americans who can trace their family to the pre-Revolutionary days of the United States have no connection to the aristocracy of Europe. However, there are a few Americans who have become titled. One of the most recent is Queen Noor of Jordan and Grace Kelly of Monaco. A colonial American who inherited both property and title was Archibald Kennedy. He married Arent Philipse Schuyler's granddaughter, Catherine Schuyler. Archibald inherited his cousin's estate in Scotland and became the 11th Earl of Cassilis and owner of Culzean Castle in Scotland.

The castle is pronounced culain. It was designed by the Scottish architect, Robert Adam, and was completed in 1792 as the home of the 10th Earl of Cassillis who died that year. The title then passed to Archibald Kennedy of New York who was a Captain in the Royal Navy. His townhouse in New York, No.1 Broadway, was requisitioned by George Washington after the War of Independence.

The castle remained in the family until 1945 when the 5th Marquess gave it to the National Trust of Scotland with the stipulation that an apartment in the castle should be given to General Eisenhower for his lifetime to show Scotland's gratitude for his role as Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during the Second World War. Today visitors can see an exhibition on the life of General Eisenhower as well as rent the suite for the night.

What is Canada West?

During the American Revolution, Canada consisted of the maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) and New France (parts of the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario). The eastern part of Quebec was mostly French speaking. Loyalists, fleeing the United States around the time of the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1783), settled in the western part of Quebec.

Having been a French colony, Quebec used the French civil law model. Loyalists settling into Quebec were used to the British common law model. Thus a conflict arose. Quebec was guaranteed the survival of civil law in the Quebec Act of 1774. To resolve the conflict between the larger French-speaking population and the newly arrived, smaller population of English-speaking refugees, Quebec was split into Upper and Lower Canada in 1791. Lower Canada used civil law and Upper Canada used common law.

The Act of Union in 1840 created the Province of Canada from Upper and Lower Canada.The two areas were called Canada East (Lower) and Canada West (Upper). The separate Upper and Lower Canada legislatures were abolished and a new unified legislature was established. The Act of Union was passed in July 1840 and was as a result of the Rebellions of 1837.

The two rebellions occurred in the same time period but in different parts of Canada. The rebellion in Upper Canada was a reaction of the populace to the control wielded by the wealthy, conservative, Anglican elite that afforded preferential treatment to the Anglican Church to the deteriment of Catholics, Scottish Presbyterians and Methodists. The rebellion in Lower Canada was a reaction of the French-speaking majority and the English-speaking working class to the economic powers held by a few predominately English-speaking persons. Lord Durham was sent from England to assess the situation who recommended the consolidation of the two legislatures.

The first time I heard of Canada West I assumed that it must refer to British Columbia and Alberta. But, I came across a letter written in 1862 to my great, great, great grandmother from her sister in Cornwall in Canada West. However, I knew from what my mother told me that Cornwall is in the eastern part of Ontario on the Saint Lawrence River east of Lake Ontario. I wanted to know what comprised Canada West.

When Quebec was split into Upper and Lower Canada in 1791, Upper Canada contained most of what is the Province of Ontario, but not all. The northernmost portion of Ontario was not controlled by the British government but by the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1670, King Charles II of England granted a huge tract of land in Canada to the Hudson's Bay Company.

In 1867, the Dominion of Canada was established and Canada East was called the Province of Quebec and Canada West was called the Province of Ontario. A few years later, the British government added territory to these two provinces and formed the boundaries as we know them.

In 1869, Canada purchased Rupert's Land North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company. Rupert's Land encompassed all of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, the southern part of Alberta and the northern parts of Ontario and Quebec. The North-Western Territory covered a small portion of Saskatchewan, most of Alberta, all of the Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut Territories. British Columbia, the westernmost province, was not included. Although controlled by the British, it did not become a part of the Dominion of Canada until 1871.

In context of the provinces and territories that comprise Canada of today, Ontario as Canada West makes no sense. However, when you look at the history of the formation of the Canadian provinces and territories, Canada West makes sense. In 1840, Ontario was the westernmost part of Canada. The lands to the north and west of Ontario were controlled by the British government and the Hudson's Bay Company.

Click here to see an interactive Territorial and Provincial Formation Map of Canada.

Historian PI

From the time I started this blog, I have been trying to find a title to describe my blog. If you do a Google search on family historian, at the top of the results are products related to building a family tree. While other results point to genealogists. Although I have an extensive, well documented and growing family tree, I do not see myself as a genealogist. As I built my family tree, I wanted to know more about these people; about what was happening around the area in which they lived that may have influenced a decision to move to another place or to another advocation. While looking at the local events going on at the time I often found something really interesting that may not have anything to do with my relatives. It is interesting nonetheless and, I am sure, is interesting to someone who had family in the area. Today, I met with several people who all are looking for jobs and asked for suggestions as to what I should title myself on a businesscard. Stuart suggested I put what I do as History PI. I think that he had something there. Friends and family have called me Sherlock. I then went to my gym. After I worked out, I had a passing talk with the owner, Kristen Gerhard, about my meeting earlier and that I was going to try to devise a new businesscard when I went home. The next thing I knew, Kristen was on the Internet looking for images that I might incorporate on my businesscard. She gave me some really great ideas that I am pursuing. So between Stuart and Kristen's input, I should have a really good businesscard.

Words of Wisdom from My Dad

My father was a second generation American while my mother's family had been in North America in the 1600s. His paternal grandparents were born in Denmark and his maternal grandfather was born in Norway and his maternal grandmother was born in Sweden. His parents must have instilled in him that he was an American. I remember as a child several interactions with the other kids in my Minnesota neighborhood in which we boldly proclaimed that we were Swedes, Danes, Germans, etc. At some point, my dad felt the need to tell me that I was not a Swede, Dane or Norwegian, but I was an American. What he said back then didn't really have an impact on me as several years later when I was a student at UCLA, Alex Haley's book, "Roots" was introduced, I was consumed with being identified as Sandinavian. I enrolled in Medieval Scandivanian Languages and Literature courses. Although I really enjoyed these classes, I realized that I did not feel a really strong connection. But I was intrigued by the stories and literature had an indirect relationship to me. I had no idea that a branch of my mother's family was in North America in the 1600s. Because my dad's family and my mom's family were Lutheran, I assumed that my mother's ancestors were German and Scandinavian. So it was easy for me to declare that I was Scandivanian. Several years later, I embarked on a quest to research my family history. I learned that my mother's maternal grandmother was Norwegian but her father's father was of Dutch, Scot, German, and English descent. Then I learned that my mother's great grandfather was born in Canada and his great grandfather was born in New York. With so many of my ancestors coming from many of the countries in northern Europe, how can I claim one identity. My dad was right. I am an American. However, I am an American who has an intense curiousity about my ancestors, where they lived and what life was like for them.

Martha's Vineyard and the Deaf

I will never ever find a time that I will not be amazed at the interesting things I learn as I research my family history. After my post a few days ago about Luke and Elizabeth Stoutenburg moving from Dutchess County, New York to Ontario, Canada, I felt that I should do a bit more research on Elizabeth Case and her ancestors and relatives. The trail led me to Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. At dinner tonight, I announced to my husband, " You won't believe what I just learned!" He told me that he isn't always interested in details of my extended family, but when I say something like above, he knows that I will tell him something interesting. Most of my knowledge of Martha's Vineyard stemmed from Senator Edward Kennedy's accident in 1969 at Chappaquidick Island. Well, to put it bluntly, it was not much. Because I discovered that I had cousins who lived on Martha's Vineyard in Tisbury in the late 1600s, I wanted to know more about this island. A Google search yielded a map of Martha's Vineyard along with a smaller island on the east, Chappaquidick. The town of Tisbury on this map is the northernmost part of Martha's Vineyard. I naturally assumed that Martha's Vineyard was a grape producing island. Unfortunately, I have not found any evidence that the island was named for its grapes. At this moment, I have no idea why this island is called Martha's Vineyard. In my quest to learn about this island, I came across a very interesting fact. It has nothing to do with my relatives, but I was intrigued. I came across a book, "Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard" by Ellen Nora Grose. There were so many deaf people in the community that a sign language was developed in order for the deaf and non-deaf to communicate. In the 18th century, 1 in 155 people on Martha's Vineyard were deaf while 1 in 5,728 people in the general United States population were deaf. Since most people at that time were related in some way, the development of a sign language used to communicate with the deaf relatives was important. Today's American Sign Language was greatly influenced by the Martha's Vineyard sign language. I would never have known this but I was researching my family history!