BRATTLEBORO, Vt. – The next meeting of the Windham County Genealogy Interest Group will focus on an exploration of Sanborn maps and the 1900 census, and researching your ancestors using state census records, on Saturday, Jan. 18, from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., via Zoom, and at the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro. In case of inclement weather, it will be Zoom-only. This program is free and open to all.]
Please register at www.bit.ly/WCGIG2025.
A Zoom link will be sent before the meeting. For those people in the local vicinity, an in-person meeting will also be conducted at Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, Vt.
Using the 1900 census and the Sanborn fire insurance maps, we can learn a lot about any ancestors who were alive at that time. Sanborn maps are detailed maps of U.S. cities and towns in the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally published by the Sanborn Map Company, the maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the United States. Since they contain detailed information about properties and individual buildings in approximately 12,000 U.S. cities and towns, they give a picture of a place in a specific time period. The 1900 census schedules contain the most information of all the schedules released to date, give for each person: name; address; occupation, relationship to the head of the household; color or race; sex; month and year of birth; age at last birthday; marital status; and if a wife is listed within the household, then the census gives the number of children she had. It also gives birthplace information and citizenship status. We will explore how to use these tools for genealogy.
State censuses were taken between census years for a number of states beginning in 1825. These records also include colonial censuses for New England states, which includes Vermont. The later records may fill in information between census years, and many of them asked unique and different questions from the federal census that could enhance family information. Examples of such questions are the relationship of individuals to the head of household, military service, birthplace of parents, and immigration questions. The session will explore how to find these censuses in the databases, a few of state censuses specific to New England, and other states with unique questions.