Census Sunday - Eliza Ann (Wickliffe) Wright - 1870 Census, Benton County, Missouri

This is the 1870 Federal U.S. Census for Tom Township, Benton, Missouri. This is one of my favorite census records, because three of my Wickliffe ancestors are enumerated in a row. My third great-grandfather Charles Wickliffe is enumerated first, just under him is his son, my second great-grandfather William H. Wickliffe, and next is William's sister, Eliza Ann Wickliffe enumerated with her first husband William Harrison Wright.

Figure 1: The 1870 U.S. Census page for Tom Township, Benton County, Missouri, for William Wright  household.

Eliza Ann Wickliffe and William Harrison Wright married on 14 Jan 1858 in Benton, Missouri. I found them in the 1860 census as a young couple without any children. A decade later, they are listed with three children.

Figure 2: Close-up snippet of the William Wright family census entry on lines 18–22.

This is an extraction of the information:

William Wright: Head, 35, farmer, personal estate value $500, born in Virginia.

Eliza Wright: female, 30, keeping house, born in Indiana.

Ellen Wright: female, 11, at home, born in Missouri, attended school, cannot write.

Alfred L. Wright: male, 4, at home, born in Missouri.

Laura Wright: female, 1, at home, born in Missouri.

By the 1880 Census, William Wright is not listed. According to Find-a-grave, he died in 1876. Eliza married Alfred F. Wight on 17 Dec 1876 and is enumerated with him in the 1880 census. It lists another child, Celeste, 6 years old, as being Alfred's step-daughter. So it appears that Eliza and William Wright had at least 4 children before his death. The 1880 census also lists two more children in the home: Ruffian, male, 2 years, and Daisy D., female, age 4 months. These are Eliza's children by Alfred. I have not discovered any other children as of yet. Eliza Ann Wright died in 1899 according to Find-a-grave.

The source citation for this census is as follows:

Benton, Missouri, population schedule, Tom Township, sheet 283B, page 20 (handwritten), line 18, dwelling #139, family #150, William Wright household; digital image; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 May 2013); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 759. 

Census Sunday: Arthur Elisha Ford, 1930 Hunt County, Texas

It's Census Sunday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The census today is the 1930 U.S. Census for my grandparents, Arthur Elisha Ford and Ethel (Wickliffe) Ford, in Quinlan, Hunt County, Texas:

Figure 1: The 1930 U.S. Census page for Hunt County, Texas featuring Elisa [Elisha] Ford and family.

The Arthur Elisha Ford family entry is:

Figure 2: Close-up snippet of the Elisha Ford family census entry on lines 32-35.

The extracted information for this census is:

• Elisa Ford: Head, 33, married (age 24 at first marriage), can read/write, farmer renting farm, born in Arkansas.
• Ethel Ford: Wife, 28, married (age 19 at first marriage), can read/write, keeping house, born in Arkansas, parents born in Missouri.
• Ezra W. Ford: Son, 7, single, in school, born in Texas, parents born in Arkansas.
• Daisy R. Ford: Daughter, 5, single, at home, born in Texas, parents born in Arkansas.

The citation for this census is:

1930 United States Census, Hunt County, Texas, population schedule, Justice Precinct #7, enumeration district (ED) 116-38, sheet 7A, line 32, dwelling 137, family #137, Elisa [Elisha] Ford household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 08 Aug 2012); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T626, roll 2360.

Census Sunday: Arthur Elisha Ford, 1940 Hunt County, Texas

It's Census Sunday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The census today is the 1940 U.S. Census for my grandparents, Arthur Elisha Ford and Ethel (Wickliffe) Ford, in Quinlan, Hunt County, Texas:

Figure 1: The 1940 U.S. Census page for Quinlan, Hunt County, Texas, featuring the Arthur Elisha Ford household.

The Arthur Elisha Ford family entry:

Figure 2: Close-up snippet of the Arthur Elisha Ford family census entry on lines 18–24.

The extracted information from this census record is:

• Line 18: Renting for $4/month, not a farm.
• A. Elisha Ford: Head, 43, married, 4 years education, laborer, PW farm work.
• Ethel Ford: Wife, 36, seamstress for the WPA.
• Ezra Ford: Son, 16, 4 years education, new worker seeking employment.
• Dasie R. Ford: Daughter, 14, 5 years education, keeping house.
• Clay Ford (twin): Son, 5, born in Texas.
• Claton Ford (twin): Son, 5, born in Texas.

It appears that Arthur Elisha Ford gave the information for the census. I have found several errors in the census. Ethel left school in third grade to pick cotton in the fields. This information came from Ethel in an interview in 1985. Elisha and Ethel were both born in Arkansas, not Texas. This evidence comes from other census records found in Arkansas and from the interview with Ethel.

The citation for this census is:

1940 United States Census, Hunt County, Texas, population schedule, Quinlan, Justice Precinct #7, enumeration district (ED) 116-36, sheet 5A, dwelling 98, family #98, A, Eligh [Elisha] Ford household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 07 Apr 2013); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T627, Roll 4072.