More great-grandparent stories. WIlliam A. Reed is another great-grandfather of my friend.

​William A. Reed was born on 01 Jun 1875 in Dunkirk, Hardin, Ohio, United States as the first child of Albert Reed and Sylvia M Razey. He had one sibling, namely: Clarence Alden. He died on 21 Oct 1963. When he was 26, he married Rena Bella Slocum, daughter of Calvin R. Slocum and Sylvia C Amidon, on 30 Oct 1901 in Canisteo, Steuben, New York, United States.

We first find William in the 1880 Census as a 5 year old living on his father's farm in Ohio. His father and his father's parents are listed as having been born in Ohio, while his mother Sylvia was born in New York, as were her parents. William was born in Ohio.

By 1910 William is married to Rena, living in Steuben New York with their 3 children and working as a Manager in a Silk Mill.

William A. Reed and Rena Bella Slocum had the following children:

• Edna Ardinell Reed was born about 1903 in Niagara Falls, New York, USA.
• Sylvia P Reed was born about 1907 in New York, USA. She died about 1992.
• Merle Alden Reed was born on 17 Dec 1908 in New York, USA. He died on 25 Jul 1999 in Englewood, Sarasota, Florida, USA. He married Ruth Ross about 1936 in New Jersey, USA. He married Evang Thomas on 02 Dec 1961 in Westport, Connecticut, USA. He married Miriam Hadlock Bowker on 28 Mar 1984 in Charlotte, Florida.

In the 1920 Census, the family is still living in Steuben New York with all three children at home. William is working as a Bookkeeper in a Silk Mill.

By 1930, William and Rena were both 54 years old. Only Merle was still at home; William's mother, Sylvia was also living with the family as well as a servant. William is again shown as a Manager in a Silk Mill. I can't seem to find him in the 1940 Census. But we know that he and Rena lived to celebrate their 65 Anniversary together.

William Reed is the father of Merle Reed who is the father of Peter Reed.

Ricardo Savio was my great-grandfather, the father of my Noni, Palmira Savio Osto. He was born on 14 Mar 1888 in San Giorgio delle Pertiche, Padova, Padua, Veneto, Italy as the second child of Bendito and Maria Savio. He had two siblings, namely: Romano, and Achille. He died in May 1955 in Somerville. When he was 25, he married Catterina "Catherine" Borlin "Burlin", daughter of Antonio Burlin and Giuditta Volpon, on 03 Apr 1913 in San Giorgio delle Pertiche,Padova, Italy.

He and my great-grandmother, Caterina Burlin Savio, arrived in the United States in December of 1913. So here's another weirdness: their marriage date (from the Italian documentation) shows that they were married in April 1913, my Noni's birthday is March 1913. And they arrived here just 9 months after my Noni was born. I feel like there's another story there...

According to the Immigration record, they were traveling with Riccardo's cousin, Galliano Anselini (?). They were all from the same part of Italy, San Giorgio in Padova. They were all going to join Luigi Borlin who was listed as the cousin's friend and the brother-in-law of Ricardo (so, Caterina's brother) at Bedford Street in NYC.

Ricardo registered for the WWI draft in January 1917. He was living in Brooklyn, NY and his occupation was listed as Uniform maker and he reports he is married with 2 children (this is before my Noni came over from Italy.) He is listed as having a medium height, medium build and is blond haired and brown eyed.

I can't find record of him in the 1925 NY Census or in the 1920 Federal Census, but they do show up in the 1930 Census. Ricardo and his wife, Caterina are living on Easton Turnpike in Somerset New Jersey. They have 3 children: Pauline, Eugene and Mario and a boarder, Primo Osto (who evenutally married Pauline/Palmira). Ricardo was 42 years old and his wife was 44. Ricardo was listed as an Operator in a Chemical plant (Calco).

In 1942 at the age of 54 years old, Ricardo registered for the WW II draft. According to his draft registration, he was 5'4" with brown eyes, grey hair and a light complexion with glasses and a mustache.

​Riccardo died on May 11, 1955 at the age of 67 and is buried at Saint Joseph Cemetery in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

Joseph Ritner Guild is another great-grandparent of my good friend... so here's another Ancestry Story. 

​Joseph Ritner Guild was born on 28 Dec 1891 in Smithfield, Fayette, Pennsylvania, USA as the third child of John Albert Guild and Clara Belle Phelps. He had three siblings, namely: Grace Belle, Edith Ellen, and Albert Fenton. When he was 20, he married Florence Adelia Havens, daughter of Jabez Beriah Havens and Anna Belle Field, on 19 Jun 1912 in Bradford, Pennsylvania.  ​

​The above image is of his WW I draft registration card, completed on June 8, 1916 on which he is described as tall, with a stout build with blue eyes and brown hair. 

We have records of him from the Census records from 1900-1930.  On the 1900 Census he's listed as being 8 years old living in West Burlington, Bradford County, Pennsylvania with his parents John Albert and Clara Belle. In 1910 he's in Athens, PA working as a farmer on the home farm of his father, John Albert Guild.

In 1920, he's 28 years old and married to Florence Adelia Havens, who is 26. They are living in South Waverly, PA; they own their own home. They have 4 children living at home; Ina Belle, Joseph Ritner Jr, Warren Albert and Doris. Joseph Sr is working as a Warehouse manager for Quaker Oats.

In 1930, still in South Waverly, Joseph Ritner (mostly known as just Ritner) was 39 years old with 5 children living at home, the same 4 as in 1920 plus Fenton Wesley (age 5). Ritner is working as a Manager at Quaker Oats.

He died on 19 Oct 1930 at the age of 39 years old of Typhoid fever. He is buried at Tioga Point Cemetery in Athens, PA. His wife went on to remarry and lived until she was ​90 years old.

Joseph Ritner, Sr. was the father of Joseph Ritner Guild, Jr. who was the father of Susan B. Guild.

Here it is, it's been released. But, as with all things, there's more to the story than the 1950 Census being released. Next comes the huge task of transcribing all the information so that it can be indexed and searched. The data isn't really helpful if no one can find what they are looking for.

How to help? This is the official 1950 Census website from the National Archives: https://1950census.archives.gov/search/ 

They have an option for you to help with transcribing, which I will be doing. To find a relative on the 1950 Census at this moment, you will need to know their Enumeration District. Without that there's no way of finding the correct Census page.

As always, I say a prayer of thanksgiving for not only all the census takers with good handwriting (it's a real chore to decipher people's bad handwriting from decades ago), but also for all those who help with the transcribing. Without transcription, it's very very difficult to find information in the census because it cannot be indexed.

So, as I mentioned above, my first find in the 1950 census were the grandparents of my husband, the Joseph Marcinek family. By 1950, Jack (Dear Husband's Dad) had left home and Nancy, age 18, was still at home. They were at 1710 West Pine Street (as they were in the 1940 Census, which made them a little easier to find in the 1950.) Joseph was 45 and his wife Marie was 43. He was listed as the Proprietor of a Retail Grocery Store (this is the store they had in the front section of their house on West Pine Street (Shamokin must have had zoning regulations that are much different than they are today.) 

I know all this may seem boring and tedious to many, but to a woman who loves genealogy and who has a "terrier-like" persistence when it comes to finding answers, this is a day filled with hope for more answers to find!

According to the 1940 Census, the Fred Younggren family lived on a farm they owned in St. Croix  County, Wisconsin. He estimated the value of the farm to be $15,000 (about $304,000 in today's dollars) They lived in the same place in 1935. There were 6 members of the household: Fred; his wife Mildred; their twin daughters Lois and Lorraine; Arthur Younggren, Fred's brother and; Harrison Lee a hired hand.

Fred was 67 years old, Mildred was 54, the girls were 14 years old. Fred had an 8th grade education, while his wife had 4 years of high school. Fred and his daughters were born in Wisconsin while Mildred was born in New Mexico. I am very curious about the journey Mildred's family took to get from New Mexico to Wisconsin, but I have few details on that story.

Fred's occupation was farmer and he had worked 48 hours in the last week of March 1940... wow, at 67 years old! He didn't list his income from farming, income was just listed as "other sources."

Here are the newspaper clips that came out after Lois and Lorraine were born. They are from the La Crosse Tribune and the Chippewa Herald-Telegram

Pasquale Marotto was my grandfather. He married Rose C. Matthews and had 4 children (the oldest of which, Michael, died as an infant. Pasquale Junior, Marie (my Mom) and Madeline were their other children (though Madeline was not born at the time of the 1940 Census.)

The family lived on Elizabeth Avenue in Franklin, New Jersey. Franklin was a small town with a population of about 4000. They owned their home and it was valued at $2500, about $47,500 in today's dollars. Pasquale was 30 and was the head of the house; Rose was 28. Pasquale had an 8th grade education and Rose had a high school education and training as a Licensed Practical Nurse. Rose worked as a nurse in a hospital; Pasquale was a Chief Operator at a paint factory. The family had a maid named Eleanor Wade who also took care of the children. My mother had wonderful memories of how loving Eleanor was to them. 

According to the Census, Pasquale made $1248 (about $23,712 in today's dollars), interestingly Rose's income is listed as 0 although she had an occupation, at which she had worked 48 hours in the last week and the family had a maid so she could work... so $0 income. Weird.

Here are a few photos... again, some come as screenshots from Super 8 video so the quality is terrible.

My great-grandfather on my mother's side, George Washington Matthews, died when he was only 48 years old (1888-1936) and didn't make it to being recorded in the 1940 Census. At the time of the 1940 census his widow, Eva Isabell Johnson Matthews was 56 years old and living with her daughter Georgia (who I think my mother always called Peggy...) in Seaboard North Carolina. She worked in a sewing room for the Works Progress Administration earning about $330/year (about $6,270 in today's dollars). She rented her home for $5 a month, about $95 in 2022 dollars. She and her daughter both only had a 4th grade education. Eva was born in Virginia; her daughter in North Carolina. I have only a few photographs of Eva. Some are snaps from some Super 8 videos we have from the Marotto family.

George and Eva Matthews had 5 children: Rose, Hettibelle, Arthur, Rufus and Georgia. Arthur died as an infant. Rose/Rosa is my grandmother and the only child who left the North Carolina area and came north to New York and eventually New Jersey to have a family.

While these are not from the 1940 timeframe, I was able to find a couple of newspaper clippings about Mr. and Mrs. George Matthews (1911 and 1916.)

For Ancestry geeks like me there's nothing more fun than finding new, real, pertinent information about your (or someone else's) ancestors. The Census records are an amazingly good way to get information about your ancestors. The Census records are only released 72 years after they were taken, this is for privacy reasons of a sort... by time 72 years have passed most of the people who answered the census have passed on and the details of their lives can be disclosed without consequences to them.

So, let's take a walk through a census record.... This one is an example from my dear husband's family tree.

The family lived at 1710 West Pine Street in Coal Township, Pennsylvania. They owned their home and it was valued at $3000 (about $57,000 in 2022 dollars). Marie was the one who answered the Census-taker's questions and she also gave herself as the head of the family. If you  knew her, you could imagine her doing this!

Marie was 3 years younger than Joseph, her husband. She had a high school education and he had 3 years of a college education. She was born in Illinois and in 1935 lived in the same house she was currently living in. Joseph was listed as an "unpaid family worker" in a family business. They owned a small grocery store that was in the front rooms of their house on 1710 West Pine Street. His income was $1200 per year, which in current dollars is a little over $24,000.

The 1950 Census is being released in a couple of days. I don't know what information will be immediately available on Ancestry.com and how long it might take them to index all the information available, but I am SO excited! Recent (this century) Census records are only released every 10 years!

Just for fun, here are some Newspapers.com stories I found about the Marcineks in the early  1940s. These are from the Shamokin News-Dispatch newspaper. A little backstory. John Marcinek was the father of Joseph Marcinek and Anna was his wife.