Saturday, January 23, 2016

More about the JOHNSON family

It's amazing how much you can discover about a person just from gathering vital records at http://www.familysearch.org.about them, especially census records. Depending on the year of the US census records starting in 1850 when names of children and their parents, approximate ages and birth state are lislted. Some censuses will tell you what the dad's occupation was and where his parents were born.The parents age when married, how many children born and how many stilll living at time of the census,etc. From there you can look for vital records like birth, death and marriage records, probate, wills, newspaper obituaries and count histories. It's like a puzzle that each piece makes clearer a picture of their lives. Of course, the best thing is if you can find photos and journals of your ancestors. All of this is available for free on familysearch.org a website available for the use of all by the Mormons or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Check it out today. You'll be amazed.

Let me till you more about Wm. Marion Johnson Sr-my great grandfather's family in Williams County, Ohio. Click on links above to find more about him in past posts and on my research process of discovery. Here's info from an 1850 census as an example. Note the last name was at this time Johnston but it shows Wm.'s father names Orville and lists all his brothers to that point. A later census shows a sister born later. What a discovery.

Orville Johnston-United States Census, 1850
Name Orville Johnston
Event Type Census
Event Year 1850
Event Place Canaan, Morrow, Ohio, United States
Gender Male
Age 41
Race White
Birth Year (Estimated) 1809
Birthplace Vermont
House Number 317 
 Household
Role
Gender
Age
Birthplace
Orville Johnston
M 41 Vermont
Hannah Johnston
F 39 Massachusetts
James M Johnston
M 16 Ohio
George W Johnston
M 15 Ohio
William M Johnston
M 13 Ohio
Madison W Johnston
M 10 Ohio
John N Johnston
M 8 Ohio
Orvill L Johnston
M 3 Ohio
Winfield S Johnston
M 0 Ohio
Christopher C Johnston
M 0 Ohio