[or-roots] Re: Census Records, Marks family

[Barbara Wulf]

Noticed the suggestion to check the soundex for the 1880 Census to find
people on that record.

http://www.familysearch.org

The LDS site has the 1880 Census Index on line and unless you check the
'exact spelling' option will search by soundex.

Barb
wulf at bendcable.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <SwimRef34 at aol.com>
To: <MMDSchwartz at cs.com>; <or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 2:38 PM
Subject: [or-roots] Re: Census Records, Marks family


> Hi Marilyn,
>      The lookups I did were from the online census image and index data at
> Heritage Quest. I am not a paid member, but have access through my local
public
> library. I simply go to my library's webpage, enter my library card
number,
> and can go straight to Heritage Quest. Many library systems are adding
this
> service, check with your Whatcom County system.
>      Regarding George Marks, he was probably the source of the information
> enumerated in the 1900 census. Some of that information was that he was
then 24
> years of age and was born in Oregon in October of 1875. He also reports
that
> his sister Jessie was born in Oregon in February of 1880. Subsequent
children
> were born in Wyoming in 1885 & 1890 and in Montana in 1898. If this
information
> is close to correct, it is most likely that the family was enumerated for
> 1880 in Oregon on the June 1st census day, with Wyoming being a
possibility, and
> other states or territories not so likely.
>      Regarding the date and place of George's birth, I would keep an open
> mind. Family stories are great, and are always based on facts, but nearly
always
> in the telling and retelling some small (and often large) inaccuracies
sneak
> in. George may indeed have been born in the Willamette Valley (if so his
mother
> would have probably been visiting relatives), but it is probably more
likely
> that this occured in the Deschutes Valley, or even possibly where you have
> speculated, in the mountains in between. The date is also in question. You
don't
> really know, as far as I have heard, exactly when either George's birth or
his
> mother's death occured, or whether or not these events were simultaneous.
> Information found on a commemorative marker placed years after the fact
should be
> viewed with great caution. I would keep an open mind on both events until
> other evidence is found.
>      The best chance for finding the family in the 1880 enumeration would
be
> with a thorough search of the Soundex films, beginning with Oregon. When
> online and CD index data fails, people can still be found using the much
more
> accurate soundex index found on microfilm. You are fortunate that
Bellingham is
> only an hour and a half away from the National Archives branch in North
Seattle,
> I urge you to stop in and advance your research. I am a volunteer there,
> specializing in the federal census records.
>
> Best wishes,
> Kevin Fraley
>
>
> Kevin,
>
> Thanks again for the census lookups for the Marks families.  Do you have a
CD
> with all this info on it?  How do you look it up so quickly?  I don't know
> all the ins and outs of genealogy yet.  I haven't been a really serious
> "genealogist," but mainly I just have been trying to find out who my
family was
> because we knew so little until we started this search 3-4 years ago.
>
> My grandfather, George Alfred Marks, was born, as I said earlier, "in the
> Willamette Valley" of Oregon.  But, the family moved on to eastern Oregon
then
> Wyoming/Montana when he was a child.  Grandfather George Marks died at age
30 or
> 31, in 1906, on the day my father Maurice was born.  George's widow,
Edith,
> remarried twice, as you noted from your census lookups.  Mr. Marks left
her
> with an apparently profitable horse ranch in Montana, but her second
husband, Mr.
> Chadwick, was a scoundrel who sold her property out from under her and ran
> off with another woman, leaving her destitute with 4 children.  Her third
> husband, Mr. Davis, was a good man, but they struggled to support the
continually
> growing family. They moved to Washington, the children all took the Davis
name,
> and I believe at that time all contact with the Marks family was lost.
> Contact with the Noble family in Oregon had probably been lost years
earlier when
> George was only a year old and his mother, Charity Noble Marks, died in
1875.
> Mr. Davis also died young, and there wasn't much family history passed
down.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Marilyn Schwartz
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