[Genealogy] X Did Not Mark That 1940 Spot, Good Notes Should, US Land Records Webinar
Michael John Neill
mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Tue Oct 6 13:30:43 CDT 2026
Genealogy Update 6 October 2026
** X Did Not Mark the 1940 Census Spot
** new---US Loal Land Records Webinar---new
** BLM, Newspapers, and Females
** Good Notes Should
** More Land Platting with AI and Getting the Most From the Census
** Recorded Webinars
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X Did Not Mark the 1940 Census Spot
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[image: image.png]
When Kethyleen Seigle came to the house on Maple Street in Elvaston,
Illinois, she found eighty-year old Anna Habben living alone. Anna’s
husband John died the year before and Anna would only live there for a
short time before she herself died in 1941.
Like any census enumeration, Anna’s needs to be evaluated in the context of
other entries on the census page. There are two immediate aspects of the
entry that are unusual:
- There is no circled “x” indicating who provided the information.
- Household 51 does not appear on the census page.
The circled “x” is to indicate the individual in the household that
provided the information to the census taker. My first thought was that the
notation was not made because since there was only one household member
that they were automatically the provider of the information. That’s not
necessarily correct. The next thought was that the enumerator simply did
not indicate the provider of information for any single member household.
That was not correct either as other households in the same enumeration
district with the same enumerator had the circled “x.” Did the census taker
forget or did someone else provide the information?
There is a missing household number in the sequence? There is no household
number 51.
Entire census page for Annie Hobbin’s 1940 census enumeration.
At this point, I need to review the 1940 census enumerator instructions
<https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/1940instructions.pdf>. I also need to
keep in mind that the census enumerator can make a mistake. I had wondered
briefly if the missing household somehow was tied to Anna’s two
granddaughters whose parents died before the 1940 census enumeration. It
was not as a review of my notes indicated those granddaughters were married
and living with their husbands in 1940 and enumerated separately. All four
of Anna’s sons (Mimka, Henry, George, and Louis) are enumerated in their
own homes in the portion of Prairie Township outside the village of
Elvaston.
The 1940 census enumeration for Elvaston does not give street names or
house numbers. This makes it more difficult to see what home was missed (if
any). Anna’s home is known to have been on Maple street.
Other than being enumerated as “Annie” there’s nothing about her
enumeration that is different from any others in which she is listed
beginning with the 1870 enumeration where she appears with her parents in
Prairie Township. It is possible that a neighbor or someone else provided
her information since there is no circled “x” by her name and she’s the
only one in the household. Being listed as “Annie” is not that unusual, but
given that it’s different it could suggest that someone else provided her
information.
Then there is her age.
Ages ending in a “0” sometimes make researchers wonder if the age has been
estimated by someone. This is more likely to be the case when the
individual in question is older. If the age is unknown or the enumeree
unwilling to respond, an age is sometimes estimated and those estimates
frequently end in “0.” That’s not the case with Anna. Her age has not been
estimated. She was born in March of 1860 and by the date of the 1940
census, she would have been exactly eighty. The fact that her age ends in a
“0” in this case only indicated that her age was either corrected or
guessed correctly.
I’ve made a note in my transcription of this census that the household
numbers are off and that no one in the household is indicated as having
provided the information for the census. Since nothing else about this
entry is unusual, I’m not going to follow up any further.
I will keep my eyes out though for any other households where no one is
indicated as having provided information–just because I’m slightly curious
about that.
*Note*: Household 51 may be at the end of the entries for the enumeration
district.
----------------------------
US Local Land Records Webinar
----------------------------
*Special Announcement*
*Land records have you confused? We have the answer.*
Reading the Deed Books: US Local Land Records for Genealogists
There are a lot of records your ancestor may have avoided being listed in.
But if he bought or sold land, there was a record created to document that
transfer and a copy of that record was probably made at the local court
house. Even if your ancestor never bought or sold the land he owned, he may
appear in local land records. Deeds are some of the most reliable records
we have, and genealogists overlook them all the time.
This presentation covers the land records kept at the county and town level
in the United States and the general structure and form of a deed itself
along with land record terminology. We'll talk about how the records are
usually organized, how to use grantor and grantee indexes (and what to do
when they fail you), and why the record you need might be sitting in a
parent county formed fifty years earlier. Local land records are not just
deeds, we'll look at mortgages, releases, powers of attorney, and the land
divisions that followed a death.
We'll also spend time on what a deed can tell you beyond the sale itself.
The legal phrasing often hides useful clues, and the details people skim
past, like witnesses, neighbors, or a wife releasing her dower, can point
to relatives and connections you didn't know about. We will look at
examples from a variety of US locations.
Searching these records can always be done onsite, but we will also talk
about accessing them where possible via FamilySearch (including manual
browsing and using full-text search where applicable).
You should be comfortable with basic research before signing up.
Presentation and handout included.
Receive recording only by 19 October 2026 for $15.99
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3M24AP7JGYQG2>
Purchase recording for delivery by 19 October 2026 and participate in a
one-time question and answers session regarding land deeds on 26 October
starting at 7:30 pm central time via zoom
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3M24AP7JGYQG2>
.
Michael John Neill has actively researched his genealogy forever forty
years, descends from generations of land-owning farmers, and has utilized
land records in his own research extensively during that time. He is a
former community college math instructor with a master’s degree in
mathematics.
*==============*
Announcement
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Tract Books and the 2026 BLM Land Patent
Search site update
This presentation will discuss what the BLM tract books are (they keep
track of complete and incomplete federal land transactions), how to search
them on FamilySearch–there are multiple ways (focusing on manual searches
for when the indexed do not work), what clues can be gathered from these
records, accessing additional records suggested in the tract books,
documenting your searches of these books. Also included will be a
discussion of the current iteration of the Bureau of Land Management
Federal Land Patent search site.
Presentation to be released on 18 October–$17.99
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=UQKGYQSX63Z3Y>
Researching Female Ancestors
This presentation discusses approaches and techniques for determining an
ancestor’s maiden name and locating “missing” females. Geared towards the
advanced beginner or intermediate researcher, it focuses on American
records and sources before World War I. The content is not specific to any
one time period and many of the approaches can be refined for different
locations or types of records. Concepts discussed will include:
-
overview of women’s legal rights;
-
property ownership;
-
inheritance;
-
citizenship;
-
and strategies for making the most from what you can find.
If you are stymied on your female ancestors–and half your ancestors are
female–this presentation may give you the insight you need.
-
Order for immediate download. $19.99
<https://michael-john-neill.dpdcart.com/cart/add?product_id=32846&method_id=32794>--after
29 Sept price is $24.
Researching US Newspapers
This presentation will discuss finding copies of newspapers (digital and
microfilm), searching newspapers (digital and manual searches), saving
images, organizing images and your search process, and creating citations.
-
Order for immediate download–$18
<https://michael-john-neill.dpdcart.com/cart/add?product_id=243621&method_id=266115>--after
29 Sept price is $22.
Michael John Neill has over forty years of genealogical research experience
and has utilized records in a variety of states in the Midwest, New
England, and the Southern United States.
----------------
Good Notes Should
----------------
>From 2018:
I finally received my copy of Val Greenwood’s *The Researcher’s Guide to
American Genealogy*, 4th edition
<http://www.genealogical.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&ref=1783&item_number=2364&affiliate_banner_id=1%22%20target=%22_blank%22>.
I have two of the earlier editions, but Greenwood’s book is essential to
genealogical research in the United States–especially once home sources
have been used and “easy to figure out people” have been “figured out.”
The book is especially helpful in developing a general understanding of
most records utilized by genealogists–particularly courthouse records such
as land/property, probate/court, and vital records. Its coverage is much
broader than that and it’s treatment of these records is somewhat general
(state laws and practices create some differences), but it gives the reader
a good general grounding in these records. That’s especially helpful when
research leaves the relatively easy to interpret census and vital records
(errors in those records notwithstanding).
I’ve read it before, so I’m not sitting down and reading it cover to cover
like I did years ago. Like most genealogical “textbooks” it can be used as
a reference for specific information or as a review of a certain topic.
In leafing through, I found a particularly helpful nugget when Greenwood
states on page 155:
Good notes should also tell the purpose of your search of each source.
That’s excellent advice. I will admit that I don’t do this all the time,
especially when the reason fits my informal definition of “obvious.” If my
research notes indicate that I looked in an estate index in Mercer County,
Illinois, for Andrew Trask between the years of 1870 and 1890, then it’s
probably because I have reason to believe he died there sometime after 1870
and had property in that location. Of course, my notes should indicate just
what I was searching when I searched the “estate index.”
I need to be clear when I indicate that I searched the “estate index.” Is
that the actual title of the index? What did that “estate index” actually
index? Was it an index that only included numbers of the “case file” that
contained the original documents created during the settlement of the
probate? Was it more of a general index that also included index references
to all the probate journals (eg. administrator’s record, order probating
will, executor’s bonds, administrator’s bonds, inventories, etc.)? I need
to be specific in what I searched. The “estate index” may not be an index
to all the various records and if I just my own created title for what I
searched, I don’t really know what I searched at all.
The title matters. And if the title to an index is not clear–look at what
is actually indexed in the index. Make a note of that.
If you are really clear in describing what you searched, for whom you
searched, and the time period, the reason why should be clear for most
records.
After all, if I’m looking for Andrew Trask in the “estate index” in Mercer
County, Illinois, between 1870 and 1890 it probably is because he was last
known to have been alive in 1870 and had reason to have an estate probated
in Mercer County, Illinois (which would likely be because the bulk of his
property was in that location).
And if all that’s not clear from your research notes–then add it.
It’s not to make busy work for us while we research. It’s to save time
later when we look at our notes so we don’t ask ourselves:
what was I thinking when I looked in that index?
It also allows us to later go back and vet our process when we don’t find
what we think we should or when we still have unanswered questions. Later,
when we review our reasons why we searched something, we may discover that
our “reasons” were the problem.
Or sometimes not.
But we don’t know if we don’t have them to look at.
------------------------------------
More Land Platting with AI
-----------------------------------
This session will expand on the “Metes and Bounds with AI” presentation. It
will include additional and more convoluted examples of metes and bounds
properties, discuss platting out properties in federal land states
involving sections and townships, and include an example of a metes and
bounds description in a federal land state. This session presupposes that
the listener has a basic understanding of land record terminology and knows
how to locate land deed records as those topics are not a part of this
presentation.
Release date: 15 October 2025.
Early order price: $18.99
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=C4JG43VE263BW>
Order includes audiovisual file and handout.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Getting the Most from US Census Records
----------------------------------------------------------
This session will help you to get the most from United States census
records–covering from 1790 through 1950. We will start with what you should
do when you find any census enumeration–which is not to transcribe it. We
will highlight the questions asked, talk about using enumerator
instructions, see how to get as much from a census enumeration as possible,
determine when a census suggests other records be searched, and more.
We will cover typical errors and how those arose, concerns about
reliability of the informant (did they just guess at information?), reasons
why people lie, and more.
We will talk about research strategies for people who are difficult to
find, ways names get written and transcribed and how to formulate a census
search plan those individuals who are difficult to locate.
The presentation will last approximately ninety minutes. Purchase includes
media file and handout.
Pre-release order price is $15.99.
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=H4MQXGKGGXM9U>
Release date: 16 October 2026.
--------------------
Webinars
--------------------
Ready-to-Go Webinars from Michael–download immediate:
-
AI as a Genealogy Consultant
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/using-ai-as-a-genealogy-consultant/>
--New!
-
Creating Children’s Stories from Genealogy Events
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-childrens-stories-from-genealogy-information/>
-
Creating Families from pre-1850 Census Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-families-from-pre-1850-census-records/>
-
DeedMapper webinars
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/deedmapper-intro-and-more-deedmapper-webinars/>
-
FamilySearch Catalog
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/02/19/using-the-familysearch-catalog-webinar/>
-
Farming Ancestor webinars–landowner and non-landowner versions
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/rooting-around-for-farmers-and-tenants-and-laborers/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/05/updated-familysearch-full-text-search-webinar/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch with Common Names
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/>
-
How Errors Get in Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/how-errors-get-in-records-webinar/>
-
Illinois Genealogy Research
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/03/10/genealogy-research-in-illinois-webinar/>
-
Metes and Bounds With AI–platting and analysis
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/using-ai-for-metes-and-bounds-deed-analysis/>
-
Unburying Funeral Home Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/unburying-funeral-home-records/>
----------------------------------------
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17
Henderson, IL 61439
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