Getting a 90 year old into the act

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

My mom is 90, going on 91. Can't hear well, and has to have everything typed really big in order to see it. When I started genealogical research 31 years ago, she was interested, and even accompanied me on trips to Ft. Wayne to the Allen County public library. Anyway, I mentioned to her that the 1920 census is online, and she asked me to copy the census information for the village where she was born and grew up. I was happy to, and she was delighted. She's already found misspellings of names and has told me more information about the people. I told her to write me, using the household number, so I could make corrections. I'm planning on uploading the corrected information to a website and have it linked to the county genealogical society's site.

Anyone who has transcribed censuses knows how hard it can be to decipher handwriting. In this case, I know that I'll have the names spelled right, plus I'll have a bit more information about the individuals. Plus it gives Mom a project--and she loves projects!


You may wish to do something similar. It's a rare opportunity to get a census review by someone who was there.

Planning on starting the 1930 census so that it will be finished in time for her birthday.