Resource Roundup: New Jersey State Census Update

Good news! FamilySearch has now made available the 1885, 1905, and 1915 New Jersey state censuses. They are indexed and searchable, and best of all, with images.

Previous indexes I've seen for the 1915 census included only the most basic information. With access to the images of the enumeration pages themselves you get so much more. Information on the census form includes:

• Address
• Name
• Color or race
• Sex
• Month and year of birth
• Age
• Marital status
• Place of Birth
• Place of birth of parents
• Citizenship information, including number of years in U.S. and naturalization status
• Occupation
• Education: reading, writing, abitlity to speak English
• School attendance, including the name of the school and whether public, private or parochial
• Home ownership information, including ownership, rental, mortgage, and house or farm

Here are the links to search the newly updated records:

1885
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1803972

1905
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1928107

1915
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2061544

I've been going through the 1915 census and have found some interesting things. For instance, my grandmother, Lillian (Maita) Traina, was 11 years old when the census was taken, but the name she is given on the census is "Rosalie." Was Rosalie her middle name, or was Lillian? 

1915 NJ state census record showing my grandmother, Lillian (Maita) Traina - listed under the name Rosalie.
The birth month and year are a match, so it must be her.
 "New Jersey State Census, 1915", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9W-4DZY : 8 October 2014), Vincent Maita, 1915. Downloaded 11 June 2017.

 I've also found adults ennumerated in both their parents' household as well as in the household with their own spouse and children. More than one example of that, actually.

If you've found anything interesting about your family in the 1915 census I'd love to hear about it! Leave a comment below.

Resource Roundup : Elizabeth City Directories

Dixons in the 1905 Elizabeth City Directory.
The year my grandfather was born. William A. is his father.
John, the antiquarian, is his grandfather.

Have you used City Directories to find more information about your ancestors? You really should give it a try! You can find all sorts of things in these little gems.

Directories generally feature an overview of the town or areas that they cover. You can learn what industries are there, how the local government and municipal services are organized, and find the names of churches and organizations that your ancestors may have belonged to. The advertisements are a treasure trove of social history, documenting the types of goods and services that were offered in a location at any given time.

Discover your ancestor's street address, occupation (mostly for the men), find others with the same surname who might be related, discover neighbors, reconstruct their neighborhood, discover an advertisement for a business that they owned. If you're having a hard time finding them on a census record, or if a census record for a particular year doesn't exist, you might glean some information from the city directory.

By compiling directory listings for your family's surnames over a range of years you can learn some interesting things. If, for instance, you are trying to narrow down a date range to help you locate a death record you might track when and where an ancestor appears in a city directory. Sometimes a note will be made if a person is deceased, or a woman might be listed as a widow.

Not every document or source will give you a complete picture of the facts surrounding your ancestor's life, but by adding up the facts from a variety of sources, including city directories, you may find just the information you need, or at least get a better idea of what their lives were like at a specific point in time.

City Directory Resources for Elizabeth, New Jersey

 

On-Line Resources

• Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822 - 1995 [database on-line]. $
  "This database is a collection of directories for U.S. cities and counties in various years. The database currently contains directories for all states except Alaska."
  
• DistantCousin.com offers a limited number of NJ city directories, including the 1921 Elizabeth City Residential Directory.
• Don's List : City Directories. Digitized copy of Elizabeth, NJ Fire Alarm and Street Directory, 1893. Some other NJ directories as well.
• LDS [Latter Day Saints] Genealogy : Union County NJ City Directories. Offers links to a variety of directories from a variety of sources, including Ancestry.com, Distant Cousin, and the Allen County Public Library. Indicates those that can be accessed through your local Family History Center. [Note: You may have to request that the microfilm be ordered for delivery to the Family History Center.]

 

Local, County, and University Libraries

It's generally a good idea to check the local library in the city that is the subject of your research. Other county, state, and organization [i.e. historical societies, etc.] libraries may also hold the resources you need.

• Elizabeth, NJ Public Library : Elizabeth Local History Room. Visit the web page to link to a pdf list of microfilm holdings of the Elizabeth City Directories 1865 - 1971.
• Newark, NJ Public Library : Guide to New Jersey City Directories. "The Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center at The Newark Public Library has city directories for many cities throughout New Jersey." The holdings include directories for Elizabeth and Elizabeth Port and covers a variety of years from 1882 to 1971.
• Rutgers University : New Jersey Genealogy : City Directories. This links to a page detailing the RU Library Holdings.

Federal Resources

• Library of Congress : New Jersey City Directories on Microfilm in the Microform Reading Room. For Elizabeth, the years 1861 - 1959 are included.
• Library of Congress : U.S. Telephone Directories - New Jersey. Available for Elizabeth are the years 1911, 1912, 1960-1976, 1995-1997, 2006, 2008-2011
• National Archives : Resources for Genealogists. Some city directories on microfilm. They can be tricky to locate on the web site. I recommend using the search box and entering "city directories."

Sources

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Entry for the Dixon surname, 1905 Elizabeth, NJ City Directory. 

Resource Roundup : NY Public Library Digital Collections

Family History Image Bonanza

If you're looking for New Jersey resources, the logical place to start is in New Jersey. That makes sense. But don't discount the possibility of finding NJ resources in other states.

The New York Public Library has a huge image collection online that is easily searchable. It is a fabulous resource for any researcher. They have over 672,000 images available for your enjoyment, and many are free to use without restriction.

Atlas of Union County, NJ
NY Public Library Images

The first search I tried was for "Elizabeth, New Jersey." I hit pay-dirt with the "Atlas of Union County, New Jersey, 1906. " My maternal grandfather was born in 1905, and my maternal grandmother was born in 1906. This little gem gives a nice idea of what their neighborhoods looked like around the time of their births.

The maps are very detailed, showing businesses, property owners names, and building construction type. If you have family from anywhere in Union County around this time period, I highly recommend it.

In a future post I hope to cover some of my discoveries in this great publication.

Resource Roundup : Then and Now

I've got a fine resource for all you Elizabeth, NJ history buffs.  You'll find it on Archive.org

Elizabeth, New Jersey Then and Now (Second Edition 2015) by Robert J. Baptista has some interesting information, and even better, photos! He combines a "Then and Now" visual format with memories and anecdotes about different places in Elizabeth. It's an easy, fun read. And best of all, you can see it for free!

I was especially glad to find this aerial photo, c. 1923, of the area that my Karvoius ancestors lived in, Elizabethport, aka "down the Port."

It's a little hard to see here, but in the upper right part of the page is a street that runs diagonally from the corner of the photo. That's Ripley Place. The arrow there points to Saints Peter and Paul RC Church, the church my family attended even after moving to other parts of Elizabeth and to Roselle. Even into the 1960's Mass was often celebrated in Lithuanian.

Running along the top right edge of the photo is the Singer factory. My great-grandfather, Constantine Karvoius worked there, as did his daughters, Sophie, and Estelle. (Not sure about Tess. Cousins, do you have any information about that?)

And between Ripley place and Singers is what appears to be an athletic field. Perhaps it is the site of the photo from my previous post, "The Mystery of the Sports Team from Bayonne." Take a closer look at the book and tell me what you think.

Do you have any memories of the neighborhood around Ripley Place and Singers? I'd love to hear them.