1905 Wisconsin States Census

I've been updating my genealogy program this week. I noticed (duh!) that I hadn't entered any census information for my ancestors. Since I was working on my mother's maternal line, Bartunek, I thought, “Why not start with this line.” Wow, what a concept!!

My great-grandparents, John and Frances (Hajek) Bartunek were married June 1893, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Between 1894 and 1917, they had seven children. My grandmother Jennie (born 1901) was their third child. The first four children were all born in Chicago between 1894 and 1903. Children number five, six and seven were all born in Clark County, Wisconsin.

Since I hadn't been able to located them in the 1900 U.S. Population Census. I started looking for them in the 1905 Wisconsin state census on Ancestry.com. Yippee, I found them in Town of Hoard, Clark County! 

Schedule No. 1—Population.

Enumeration of the inhabitants in the Town of Hoard in the county of Clark, State of Wisconsin, on the 1^st day of June, A. D 1905.
Sheet No. 6

Column 1:

Number of family in the order of visitation.
#117

Column 2:

NAME of each person whose place of abode on June 1, 1905, was in this family.
Enter surname first, then the given name and middle initial, if any.
INCLUDE every person living on June 1, 1905.
OMIT children born since June 1, 1905.
(Line 1) Bartunek, John
(Line 2)        “         Frances
(Line 3)        “         Mary
(Line 4)        “         Bessie
(Line 5)        “         Jennie
(Line 6)        “         Joseph

Column 3:

Relationship of each person to the head of the family.
(John)   Head
(Frances) Wife
(Mary)  D
(Bessie)   D
(Jennie)  D
(Joseph) Son

PERSONAL DESCRIPTION.

Column 4:
Color or race.
(John)   W
(Frances) W
(Mary)   W
(Bessie)    W
(Jennie)    W
(Joseph)   W

Column 5:

Sex.
(John)  M
(Frances)   F
(Mary) F
(Bessie)  F
(Jennie)   F
(Joseph)   M

Column 6:

Age at last birthday.
(John) 33
(Frances)  31
(Mary)   11
(Bessie)   9
(Jennie)  4
(Joseph)  2

Column 7:

Whether single, married, widowed or divorced.
(John)  M
(Frances) M
(Mary)  S
(Bessie)  S
(Jennie)  S
(Joseph)  S

NATIVITY.

Place of birth of each person and parents of each.
Column 8:
Place of birth of this person
(John) Bohemia
(Frances) Bohemia
(Mary) Illinois
(Bessie) Illinois
(Jennie) Illinois
(Joseph) Illinois

Column 9:

Place of birth of Parents of this person.
(John) Bohemia
(Frances) Bohemia
(Mary) Bohemia
(Bessie) Bohemia
(Jennie) Bohemia
(Joseph) Bohemia

Column 10:

OCCUPATION, TRADE, OR PROFESSION
of each person FOURTEEN YEARS of age and over.
(John)   Farmer

Column 11:

Months employed.

OWNERSHIP OF HOME.

Column 12:
Owned or rented.
(John)   O

Column 13:

Owned free or mortgaged.
(John)   M

Column 14:

Farm or home.
(John)   F

2013© Gayle Ficarra Wolcott

Book Review

Finding Family

Last week I attended a book club meeting with a few people from our genealogy society. We try and get together once a month to discuss and share the books we have on our shelves. Sometimes we have eight people in attendance, sometimes we have only three or four.

This month, one member discussed a book she borrowed from another member of our society who bought the book from our Ways and Means Sales table at one of our general meetings. She said she couldn't put it down and finished reading it in one sitting. She gave it to her daughter who also finished reading it in no-time flat. That intrigued me.

When we got up to leave, I asked to borrow the book and then pass it onto another member who also said she was interested in reading it. This past week I started and finished this wonderful, easy to read and hard to put down book from Richard Hill called “Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA”.

I love a good mystery, in fact, that's mostly what I read on my Nook. This book kept me up late at night; I was sneaking a few chapters as I ate lunch or while a passenger in the car. Let me quote what is on the back of the book:

“...this isn't fiction. It's an engrossing account of an adoptee trying to reclaim the biological family denied him by sealed birth records. This fascinating quest—including the author's landmark use of DNA testing—takes readers on an exhilarating roller-coaster ride and concludes with a twist that rivals anything Hollywood has to offer.”

The book is only 249 pages but they are packed with insightful and helpful tips anyone could use. The chapters were tight, didn't ramble and moved the story along in a nice easy clip.

I'm not adopted, nor is anyone else in my family, but I would highly recommend this informative, delightful and sometimes humorously funny mystery.  Our society's Ways and Means chairperson will be purchasing more of these books for our sales table.