The Oregon state employee., May 01, 1950, Page 22, Image 22

20
Oregon Ancestor
(C ontinued from Page 10)
at th e B ancroft L ibrary at the U ni­
versity o f ' 'Ôâlif o rnia^' Be rk ^ ^ ^ m h f -
ornia. L ib rarian s have- listed th e ir
holdings in a published u n i o ^ a ^ t ;
available at or through your library,
w hiptiW ^s; w h at files exist "and w here
they m ay be found. Don’t be surprised
if
w hen you need
th em the most. U nfortunately new s­
papers are h ard to use. E xact d |O ||
;!nelp or yoû w ill read and read to find
th e d ata y’ou seek. Even then you m ay
be^disappointed, for new s today was
n o t- K v s inçÿour g ra n d fath er’s papers.
E ducational records of colleges in ­
clude a m atricu latio n record, and if
th ey are state supported, they m ay
re q u ire proof of residence in Oregon.
Most colleges hav e active alum ni of­
fices to keep trac k of form er students
and th eir fam ilies. High school rec­
ords c u rren tly include the age of the
student, place I of birth, num ber of
children in th e fam ily, the nam es„.|w
th e p arents, occupation and addres­
ses, as w ell as recording school ach­
ievem ents. E lem en tary school recq'rcfss
w hich are sim ilar, m ay be m issing jbe^
fore th e 1920’s, since th ere w as then
no centralized responsibility for th eir
ad m inistration, and in the case of the
sm all co untry school they stayed in
th e h a n c g lo f p ast clerks of thé H 9
trict. S'c n S l census records in the of­
fice of th e H o trn ty S uperintendent of
Schools m ay begin as early as 1899.
T hey fu rn ish th e nam es of children
betw een 4 and 19, th eir age, th e ir p a r­
e n t’s nam es and address.
W hen you know w here people lived
an d w h at th ey did, you can judge
for yo u rself th e significance of real
p ro p erty and .tax re c o rd H These? ;âre
reco rd ed in the C ounty C ourt House,:
and are to be traced thro u g h the
dexes. The sig n ature of^a-w ife whose
nam e you did n o t have m ay be im ­
p o rtan t. Sim illO p an estate w ithout æ
will, m ay re su lt in the paym ent of
tax es ahhually, first by the oldest
bro th er, th e n by the next, and so on
u n til th e youngest is of age. One suchf
in stan ce produced the nam es of six
out of seven sons, and the you3M|sb|
w as id en tified th rough his own p u b ­
lished m em oirs. On the other han d the
ta x rolls m a v f s j w w s m r j M > e o p l e
left the county.I For the te rrito ria l p e r­
iod ta x rolls
torical Society, in P ortland, or at the
S ecretary of S ta te’s office in Salem.
Occupations lead to all kinds of
specialized records. L aw yers are ad ­
m itted to the bar. B eauticians m u st
be licensed, and so are th e
Their occupational records m ay n o t
reveal m uch in relatio n to th e ir fam ­
ilies. On the other hand, they serve
to distinguish betw een tw o Jo h n
Smiths,
Troxels and m ay
lead to m ost I in terestin g inf orm ation
about the tim es in w hich they lived,
in the m anuscript resources of ithe,
Oregon H istorical Society a n d sim ilar
special collections.
K now ing w here your people lived,
you m ay w ant to search the U. S. C en­
sus population schedules fo r O regon
for 1 8 5 0 ,^ 6 0 , 1870 or 1880, drangffile
on m icrofilm at the Oregon S tate L i­
b ra ry at Salem, th e Oregon ‘.f^ ^ W ical.
Society in P ortland, and the U n iv er­
sity of Oregon L ib ra ry at Eugene, and
in the original in th e M H p n a l A rch-
ives, W ashington, D. C. The S tate
at
S t ^ ^ j L i b r a r y w ill
even f u r ^ ^ J you fu ll tran sc rip ts of
the record. However, he c h a rgeSAa fee
of $1.00 per fam ily, p er county in one
census searched. To help, he h.as^comf
p i l e < ^ ^ ^ H ^ M W |^ a l ^ ^ |c e n s r a H M h
is to be p u B S ^ ^ i soon. The census is
im portant to you, because it shows
who w ere livB g tw ith y o u r ancestors,
th eir relationship in 1880, only, th eir
age, occupation, and w here th ey w ere
born. Typical is th e 1880 e n try fo r Job
A rnold, aged 44, a fa rm er of the To­
ledo D istrict:;in B enton County, now
Lincoln county. He and his w ife M ary,
aged 40, w ere both born in P en n sy l­
vania^ h er parents w ere born in R hode
Island, and his fa th e r w as likew ise
born in Rhode Island, w hile his m oth­
e r w as born in N ew York. THem; child­
ren ranging in ages from 5 to 19 w ere
born in M innesota. W here else could
you jHgSUch a w onderful lead to I
ins of your fam ily? On the o th e r han d
if
w an t to know w h at kin d of a
start he was m aking, it is show n in
the 1880 "toriginal schedules of A gri-
culture at the Oregon S tate L ibrary.
In searching th e census it is im p o rt­
ant not to forget y our c o W te ra lH s li -