Ancestry.com index to the 1950 US Census

The first of April the US National Archives (NARA) released the 1950 census using handwriting recognition software.  1950 Census - Home | 1950 Census (archives.gov)

I really wasn't expecting a lot and thought I'd have to wait until the human indexers were finished before really diving into it. To my surprise I had a lot of luck finding most of the people I was looking for. My grandparents, my parents, some of their neighbors and friends, aunts and uncles etc.

There was only one person I was unable to locate in 1950. My maternal great grandmother Roxie Anna Hughes Webb 1876-1961. Various records have her name as Roxy Ann, Roxie, Roxana, Anna and I'm sure there are other variants. 

Ancestry.com also had its own handwriting recognition software that was supposed to come out later in the summer.  Ancestry® to Apply Handwriting Recognition Artificial Intelligence to Create a Searchable Index of the 1950 U.S. Census | Ancestry Corporate

Instead, Ancestry.com released their version yesterday because as I was looking someone else up, a link to a 1950 census record came up in the results. I re-ran my search for Roxie Anna and she instantly came up. Her name was listed as Rox Anna. She was also listed as a lodger in the household of Sherman Moore and family. I'm not sure if this family is somehow related to her or not. 

In 1940 she was living with her daughter Sybil Webb Reasoner and her family. Both households were in Russellville, Pope County, Arkansas. 

I can't make out the street name of the Reasoner household in the 1950 census but they still were in Russellville so I can't tell how far they are from each other.

It's very cool how good the handwriting recognition program is working. It will be interesting to see how much better it will be when the 1960 census is released in 10 years.

Photo Friday

Here is a picture of my grandmother Ruth Eileen McFadden Webb (1905-1985) with my mother and aunt from about 1940-1941. They are standing in front of Bittners Department Store in Sunbury Pennsylvania. Not sure who took the photo. It could have been her mother Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Christine Neuland McFadden (1866-1949). My grandfather Clyde Lee Webb (1898-1987) was a salesman and was often traveling.

Not sure who the boy photobombing the picture is. 

Here is an image from Google Maps of the same area from October 2021. 

 

Below is an image from the local newspaper probably close to the time they visited the location. Definitely need to visit when I take my road-trip to Pennsylvania and the area.

The Sunbury Daily Item, Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Wednesday, May 29, 1940. Second Page. 

 

According to the 1940 US Census, they were living with her mother Elizabeth in Baltimore. 

Manus Ferry (1831-1883) burial place

 According to the death record from the Diocese of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio Manus Ferry died on 12 July 1883. 

He was buried at Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Pine Grove, Lawrence County, Ohio.

On 7 October 1905 his wife Margaret McFadden Ferry (1845-1905) died in Newark, Licking County, Ohio. She is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Newark, Ohio in an unmarked grave.

According to her file at the Cedar Hill office on the 22 November 1907 the body of Manus was relocated and buried next to Margaret. His headstone is still, as far as I know at St. Mary's Cemetery.

Wonder why the headstone was not relocated. Perhaps too expensive?

Charles Hempstead, Photographer, Newark, Ohio-early 1900s

 

                                       Newark, Ohio, newspaper The Advocate 3 Jan 1905 page 5.

I was researching old Newspapers for the name Schildhauer in Ohio and came across this article.

                                                                    Handsome Pictures

                                                    

        Mr. Charles Hempstead, the West Main Street Photographer

        on Monday took several fine group pictures of General Foreman

        of the Baltimore & Ohio shops H.L. Needam, and the foreman of 

        various departments under him.

It also goes on to mention H.L. Schildhauer and his machine shop. So far, I have been unable to locate any information on Hempstead and his photography business. Hopefully some of his photographs are out there and I'm able to track them down. 

Newark, Ohio, newspaper The Newark Advocate 23 Mar 1912

This states that J. A. Kidwell purchased the East Main Street studio from Charles Hempstead the West Main Street photographer.