Last evening, I started reading COMMON PEOPLE subtitled: In
Pursuit of My Ancestors by Alison Light. So far I’ve read the preface and prologue and
gotten only to page 59 of the content, but these few pages have inspired me to
review my family's census records for the wealth of historical information they may hold.
Ms. Light began with little knowledge of her ancestry. She
studied census records and from there was able to identify and then visit
ancestral towns. She’s done an amazing amount of research beyond census
records, but I was struck by how much information can be gleaned from the
census. I’ve always looked for obvious
family living nearby but I rarely dive into understanding the character of a neighborhood.
What was the neighborhood like?
- Single Family Homes?
- Apartment buildings?
- Boarding Houses?
- Multiple generations living together?
- Did surnames and/or birthplaces indicate a predominant nationality?
- Many children or few per family?
- What kinds of jobs did people have?
Did they move often? Or Never?
Did occupations change over time?
The “FAN club” (Friends, Associates, Neighbors) is an important part of understanding our
ancestors and our heritage.
I can’t wait to read the rest of Alison Light’s genealogy
journey.
This look like an interesting book. I may order it. Thanks for posting. I noticed that you have been doing about a posting a week. That is my goal - one a week. Except you really got going in April.
ReplyDeleteI saved your blog post to pinterest. Yes I'm into pinterest as well. Love family history!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, Grant. My goal is to post at least once a week but some gaps are longer than that. The A to Z blogging challenge in April was interesting and fun.
DeleteOh that explains April. At the rate I'm going I wouldn't get past D if I tried that for a month. I hope you can achieve your goal. That is my goal also. I about have my post ready for tomorrow. It is a long one. It should count for two weeks.
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