That Sweet Trick with the Enumeration Map

My husband is one of my greatest allies when it comes to doing genealogy. He is an amazing researcher with a very clear vision of what he needs to do to overcome a problem. He comes up with solutions many times that I didn't even know existed. A good example is how he found Muriel Ince Michaels on the 1921 Canadian census.

I had the copy of the 1911 census where her family is living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Lester Ince and Ethel Pinheiro are living with Ethel's parents, Charles Pinheiro and Rose Dallas. Note how it says Charles is from Barbados.

Lester Ince and Ethel Pinheiro on the 1911 Halifax, NS Canadian Census

I had been filling in all sorts of gaps around this family using Nova Scotia Historical and Vital Statistics, and had the marriage record for Lester and Ethel. Because of that record, I was able to get the proper spelling of her maiden name. With that name in tow, a list of records pop out.

I find the records for their children: Ernest, Garnet, and Lester. I find out that Lester dies of bronchitis. I'm able to look through the Canadian census records again, this time for Charles and Rose. Their 1891 entry appears:

Charles Pinheiro and family on the 1891 Halifax, NS Canadian census

But I'm not satisfied. I need the confirmation that Muriel actually belongs to this family. Because she's born in 1913, I know she'll appear on the 1921 Canadian census. When my husband comes home and finds me sitting on the couch typing furiously on the computer, he doesn't have to ask what I'm doing. He already knows.

When I brief him that I'm still working on the Canadian lines of my research, he offers to search through the census for me to find the page I want. I have no doubt of his abilities. I've seen him work.

I leave him to go and do the dishes. By the time I come back, he's announcing, "I found it."

Ethel Pinheiro Ince appears without her husband on the 1921 Halifax, NS Canadian Census, with two more children

My eyes dart to find their name. Two more children's names appear... Muriel and William!

I look at him in pure awe. He's used to it. He gives me this look which can only be described as I'm Sort of a Big Deal.

"How did you do that?" I demanded to know. He showed me this:

1911 Halifax, Nova Scotia enumeration district map

This map shows all of the census enumeration districts for the city of Halifax. On the 1911 census my ancestors are living on Gerrish Lane in Ward 5. If you look at the top of the 1911 census, it says Ward 5.

So, when he went to Ancestry.ca and started looking through the census records, he went to the city of Halifax, scrolled directly to Ward 5, and started looking. He got about 4 pages in to one of the first sections he looked at before he found them.

So, to anyone trying trying to work up the mental capacity to dig through the 1921 census, there is an easier way. 

Pay attention to the enumeration information on the census records you already have. Look up a map if you want to see it in front of you. Narrow your search down to a section of the census and look through it that way. Take a lesson from my husband and save yourself a lot of unnecessary work. It will leave you feeling much better in the end.

Google Maps

So I've been working on a project in Google Maps/Google Earth that is making my genealogy efforts very interesting. I decided that I needed a new, more visual way to view my ancestors and their placement in history, and I thought one of the best ways to do this would be to lay it all out on a map.

To give you a preview it looks something like this:

I've mainly been tracking down all of the burial and cemetery information I have stored away in hundreds of files all across my computer. And after some recent golden finds on FindAGrave.com, I've had tons of incentive to map out all of these cemeteries. I've only just begun.

Then I had a great thought. In RootsMagic 6, I'm able to color code my direct line ancestors in order to help me remember at a glance which side of my family I'm working on. My father's side of the family is red, and my mother's is blue. I realized I could use matching color pins in my map to make this project even more effective in laying out the history of my family.

Then I decided to take it to the next step. I can also map out all of the local historical societies in the areas close to where my ancestors lived. My dream one day is to visit all of these places where my ancestors lived, and I want to make those trips as productive and well-planned as possible. I don't need to wander aimlessly around small towns trying to figure out where I am or where to go. I can plan it all out virtually before I even get in my car to make the trip.

Seeing the city names on a map has already helped me to see how easy it would be to correct and fill in much of my missing information. One feature to look out for in Google Earts is that it displays the county boundaries, while Google Maps does not. However, I find Google Maps easier to use overall.

As my ideas continue to expand for what this map can turn into, I'm also wanting to add custom color-coded place markers. This website has fabulous icons, which you can also customize to your color preferences. In order to use them, I need to have them hosted to the web so they have a URL. However, I'm having trouble getting them to work in Google Maps. But for the sake of posterity, here they are for you to see:


 These here would be great for historical societies, archives, any sort of places that keep records that you want to remember.

These here represent cemeteries. They have a few more options there, including one for a Jewish cemetery. And all of these can be customized to whatever color you can define with a hexadecimal color coder.

These would be good to represent libraries.

These here are called Memorial, but I think they look like headstones.




Like I said, I've been having trouble getting them to upload into Google, and once I do they don't display. I plan to keep working at it until I get the results I want. This map is going to be an amazing tool, and I'm looking forward to continually adding to it as my research continues.