Saturday, April 19, 2014

Don't Take Those Descriptions Literally

The 1885 Nebraska State Census at FamilySearch reads:

"Name index and images of the state census for Nebraska taken in 1885. The microfilms are from National Archives publication M352. The population schedule lists all household members."

That's true. But their digital version includes the agricultural schedules as well--as does the index. In one case, the head of household name on the agricultural schedule got indexed "better" than the same person's name on the population schedule. Finding him in the agricultural schedules helped me to find him on the population schedule--all I had to do was search for his farming neighbors and there he was.

And I bet that the 1885 Nebraska State Census is not the only record that has a description that's not quite as detailed as a person would like.

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