This is my ninth year of blogging the A to Z Challenge. Everyday I will share something about my family’s life during 1950. This was a year that the USA federal census was taken and the first one that I appear in. At the end of each post I will share a book from my childhood collection.
I wrote about being in the 1950 Census ten years ago. Let’s see what I got right and what I got wrong. The first post was I was there.
My father, Albert B. Cleage, was 38 years old and he had worked 60 hours during the past week a pastor of a Congregational Church, not a Methodist church as it says in the 1950 census. He was born in Indiana. He and all members of the family were identified as Negro.
My mother, Doris G. Cleage, was 27. She was a housewife and her hours were not recorded. She was born in Michigan. She got to answer the extra questions and they show that the family lived in the same place the year before and that she had completed 4 years of college.
I, Kristin, was three years old. My younger sister Pearl who appears on the next page, was 1. We were both born in Massachusetts.
So, I didn’t get anything wrong, although the census did, getting the denomination wrong.
I remember reading this book to my younger cousin Marilyn years later. She eventually memorized the book.
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I am also participating in the Genealogy Blog 1950s Blog Party hosted by Elizabeth Swanay O’Neal, “The Genealogy Blog Party: Back to the 1950s,” Heart of the Family™ https://www.thefamilyheart.com/genealogy-blog-party-1950s/
I’m greatly enjoying these A-Z posts…and finally found myself on the 1950 census. WIll have to blog about all my dead ends!
Congrats on finding yourself! Quite a thrill!
I know I’ve mentioned this in a previous comment but I am so enjoying learning about your family!
Great you found yourself in the 1950 census… I have to wait for the 60’s to finally find myself… too bad they don’t release them sooner. Nice post. I always wonder how they write things wrong like they did on your family.
I am enjoying your A-Z series, Kristin, and like your theme of the 1950 census and also the imaginative link to a book. I am envious of such a census release, as here in the UK we were just delighted to get the 1921 online this year – with a 100 year bar on census releases – and the next one will be the 1951 released in 2052!!! There was none taken in wartime 1941 and the 1931 census was destroyed in a fire.
See how ‘historical’ documents may sometimes be wrong!
As always, I love the photos. I envy you having so many photos of your family, going sometimes back of decades.
@JazzFeathers
The Old Shelter – Enter the New Woman
So typical that women’s work hours don’t count! =P
I is for Invisibility
You know you’re getting on in years when you start to find yourself in publically available records. I used to love the Little Golden Books – I often wonder what happened to them all.
I didn’t need finding myself in the records to realize it though, the aching knees and tottery steps told the tale. LOL. I’m wondering where all the rest of my Little Golden Books went too.