a special place for him in
my heart. I yearned to know more about my "Grandpa," where his family came from and keep
his memory
alive by recording his family history.
These were my first attempts at genealogy. When I exhausted
the records that my mom and
other family members had saved over the years, I knew I had
to start researching in other states. Since traveling to NJ myself would have
been impossible for me at the time, I want to thank
Kevin Olvaney for generously helping a "first timer" from
another state. The lookups he did
for me were invaluable and his notes, tips and guidance
really helped me get started. My interest
in genealogy soared and Kevin's simple act of genealogical
kindness steeled my resolve to continue on in my genealogy research despite the
occasional walls and skeletons in the closet.
With the few records I had to start
with I traced my maternal grandfather's line to Thomas I. Reed, my
Grandfather's paternal Grandfather. We started with the 1900 census records
from Essex, New Jersey,
Township of Newark. Below is a photocopy of the original
document.
From this census record we get the
following information.
Thomas Reed: m; head; b April 1865 in New
Jersey; age 35; Stationary
Engineer
Annie: f; wife;b.
June 1866 in New Jersey; age 33;
housewife
Louis: m; son; b. July 1887 in New
Jersey; age 12;
student
Adolphas: m; son; b. February 1889 in New
Jersey; age 10;
student
John: m; son; b. June 1895 in New Jersey; age
4
Ida: f; daughter; b. July 1898 in New Jersey;
age 1
Thomas Reed was my great great grandfather. He was listed as a 35
year old white male on this census. According to the schedule 1 part of the
census record, the ennumeration was made on June 8th 1900. The family rented a
house at 63 Madison Street/Ave. in Newark in Essex County. Thomas was a
Stationary
Engineer, out of work 3
months. He could read, write and speak English, so he must have had some kind of
education. Thomas was married
to Annie for 17
years, so we need to look for a record of their marriage sometime around 1883. The census did not list Annie's maiden name. She was the mother of their 8 children,
but only 4 were living at the time the census was
taken.
My
grandfather never mentioned any Aunts and Uncles.
With this information we have 7 more persons to link to and possibly find additional
information. Now we have to search for a paper trail on each family member. Other census' and records of birth, death, marriage, land transactions, etc.
On the next 2 pages we will explore a few of the records that we
uncovered for my great grandfather John Franklin
Reed.
