Genealogist Fail

Some people seem to thrive on being super-busy, with long lists of friends (or people they call friends, anyway) they strive to keep in touch with, lots of trips to take, piles of books they read or try to read.

Me:

I spend too much time online, where I fall down too many rabbit holes and do more research than I'll ever have time to follow up on.

Case in point:

Spouse and I were exercise walking in our local small park, which has a circular walking track that brings you parallel with a river and gives you a view of hills.

While walking today, I get a phone call from a cousin.  While chatting, he tells me that he has digitized genealogical research my now 96 year old uncle did some 20 or more years ago, and was going to send me the link.

Then he told me the 1950 census is online now, and he was able to find where his parents had lived in 1950. he didn't have to go through a paid ancestry type service, either - it was through the U.S. Census website, and it was free to search.   He knew the address because, when he was young, his Mom had made him memorize his address in case he was ever lost.  They had moved when he was about four.

So: I knew what was probably my mother's address in 1950 (she wasn't married then) because I believe she was living with her parents and her next oldest sister, who had never married.  I should have no trouble looking it up and finding it on the 1950 census.   Right?

Wrong.  For my Mom's record, it seems I couldn't do an address search. Also, the census records had been transcribed by artificial intelligence.  The names the AI had rendered were all over the map. 

I could search by enumeration district.  Apparently, the census people divided up the United States into slices of area a census enumerator could cover in about two weeks. Each area was an enumeration district.  But, we are talking about the Bronx here, which, in 1950, had a population of about 1.5 million people.  I haven't live in the Bronx for some 50 years.  So a district could be just a block or two in area, full of apartment buildings with many apartments.

I know a little about this because I worked as a census enumerator in the 1970 census in the Bronx. That job lasted a few short weeks.  It was hard work.  But interesting.

My memory of  Bronx streets and cross streets isn't the best.  I tried Google Maps, and found where the apartment building she live in was, but the cross streets weren't identified. Strange.

Trying to read the enumeration maps gave me a headache.  I think I found the number from the 1940 census on another website, but when I plugged it in, there were no matches.

I have the greatest of respect for genealogy researchers.  I am not going to be one of them. I don't have the head for it.

Several rabbit holes later, I gave up.  By then, the sun was shining and I really needed to set some priorities for the rest of the day.  I'm wondering if we are going to have a frost tonight.

Maybe I should say farewell to my flowers?  That should be a priority, right?

Nah.  I think I am going to take it easy for the rest of the day.  The next two days will be fairly busy.

Before I go, a picture from yesterday of mums at a farmstand.  I know they aren't everyone's favorite flowers, but I do like them because, when they are in full bloom, they stand out so.  

And now, to take the rest of the day off.