I have had success in using the Steve Morse web portal <www.stevemorse.org> and the Ancestry.com for-fee website to research family members and to locate family records in United States censuses. Since I have learned from my research that one of my family branches arrived in the United States in the early 1880s, I have become more interested in locating census records prior to the 1900 U.S. census. Unfortunately, most of the 1890 U.S. census was destroyed in a fire. What can a genealogist do?
Most of my family members came to the U.S. through the Port of New York City and initially lived in that city. Earlier this year, a posting on the JewishGen Discussion Group Digest noted a book entitled Aid to Finding Addresses in 1890 New York City Police Census: An Index to Street Addresses in Manhattan and West Bronx Found in the 894 Extant Books of the 1890 New York City Police Census, by Howard M. Jensen (Heritage Books). The posting said this was a second edition of an earlier version.
A key sentence on <www.heritagebooks.com>, the publisher’s website, describes the current edition: “This book indexes every address in the 894 extant books of the original 1,008 books, listing the book number in which the address will be found and a cross-reference of that number to the film number at the Latter-Day Saints Library in Salt Lake City.”
The challenge of the 1890 New York City Police Census is that it is not indexed by name—only by street address. Without knowing how to locate an address among the books, or where in the microfilm series a record is located, a researcher has almost no chance of finding a specific rec-ord.
The Family History Library online catalog at <www. familysearch.org/end/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp> shows that a finding aid (to the earlier edition) was available at the LDS library in a book whose call number is 974.71 X22ja 1890 and on microfiche with call number 974.71 X2. I saw no mention in the catalog, however, of the existence of a cross-reference to LDS microfilms. This was essential, because I was planning to attend the IAJGS conference in Salt Lake City in a few days. Would the finding aids at the library, reflecting the earlier edition of the book, include the critical cross-reference of street addresses to LDS microfilm numbers? I decided not to risk it, and I paid $35 for the book prior to a planned trip to Salt Lake City.
City directories and other records supplied my ancestors’ 1890 street addresses. To find them in the LDS Library catalog, I did a Subject search on “1890 Manhattan directory” and then selected “New York (New York) city directories.” By clicking on the tab to “View Film Notes,” I located a microfilm entitled 1889/90 Trow’s New York City Directory, by Trow City Directory Company, FHL US/CAN Film 1377196, and 1890/91 Trow’s New York City Directory, by Trow City Directory Company, FHL US/CAN Film 1377197.
The ancestor known to have arrived earliest was Isaac Moses Blankfort who came in 1880. The 1889–90 New York City directory listed him living in Manhattan at 138 E. Broadway; and he was employed as a teacher. I looked him up in the Jensen finding aid book. East Broadway addresses are on page 124; in the listing for Book 93 of the 1890 police census are the even-numbered addresses from 120 to 190. Page 268 in Jensen’s book has the cross-reference to Book 93—and FHL Film #1,304,782, item #17, AD #4, and ED #15.
Taking the film from the shelf at the Family History Library and scrolling through to the beginning of the AD #4 section, On pages 21–22, I found the following column headings: Street, No., Name, Sex, Age/Adult and Age/Minor. Handwritten entries were made for “E Bwy 138” on all of page 21 and the first few entries on page 22. On the fourth line from the bottom of page 21 is listed “Blankfort, Isaac M,” M (Male), and his age (40). Following him are the entries for his wife Bella (40), son Bernard (17), daughter Rebecca (14), son Henry (10), daughter Ida (8), and son Josie (5) (known elsewhere as Joseph)—the first pre-1900 family grouping record I have found.
I also tried to locate another ancestor, Joe Spivack, in the census. I successfully found an address for a person I believe to be him in the city directory, but in this instance I could not find him in the 1890 census. I found the address and listing, but he and his family were not at the address in the census. It goes to show that people move around and are not always where you think they should be. Of course, it’s always possible that the police representative/census-taker may have missed him.
I am happy that I had the one success at Salt Lake City at the Family History Library using a newly republished finding aid. I look forward to looking for additional ancestors using this valuable tool.
Jeff Miller organizes U.S. reunions with descendants from Lithuania, Ukraine and Poland. He and his sister visited Lithuania this year, the site of their great-grandparents’ inn-farm-blacksmith shop. He has served as a board member of LitvakSIG and JGS of Greater Washington. Jeff resides in Montgomery County, Maryland.
