How is that for frustrating?

As more and more records become available online, things get a little easier for us family historians however, there are still a few glitches. The lack of the 1890 US Census, the destruction of records and documents in the 1906 SF Fire and Earthquake, and the destruction of Ireland census records to name a few.

This is a quote from http://www.oz.net/~markhow/writing/holl.htmwhich summarizes information from various sources regarding the destruction of the 1890 census.

"One of the things that you learn early on in U.S. genealogical research is that the 1890 census is not available. Usually beginners are told that it was lost in a fire. The individual census schedules from the 1890 which might have been microfilmed to the advantage of all family historians are a gaping hole in our research. The 1890 census was taken at a time of huge immigration to this country and it would have been one of the first Federal records a newly arrived immigrant would appear on after getting off the boat."

"In March of 1896, the special schedules for the 1890 census which included those for mortality, poverty, and handicap status were damaged by a fire and their remains were destroyed by order of the Department of the Interior. By 1921, the original and only copies of the 1890 census population schedules were stored in an unlocked file room in the basement of the Commerce Building, resting on pine wood shelving. A fire of unknown origin broke out in the basement on the evening of January 10th. The Washington D.C. fire department contained the fire to the basement of the building with at least twenty fire hoses pouring water into the basement. In the aftermath of the fire, the Census Director estimated that 25% of the 1890 schedules had been destroyed and 50% were damaged by water, smoke, or fire. Note that this estimate would suggest that 75% of the 1890 schedules survived the fire itself in either damaged or untouched condition."

"By the end of January 1921, the remains of the 1890 schedules were moved out of the basement of the Commerce Building and into temporary storage. The condition of their storage at the Commerce Building had helped to strengthen calls for a permanent National Archives to be built. Between 1921 and 1932, the history of these remnants is difficult to determine. It appears that no salvage or restoration efforts occurred. In December of 1932, the Chief Clerk of the Bureau of the Census sent the Librarian of Congress a list of papers to be destroyed. This was standard Federal record keeping procedure at the time. This list included the original 1890 census schedules! The Librarian was asked by the Bureau to identify any records which should be retained for historical purposes but the Librarian did not note any records on the list worthy of saving. Congress authorized destruction of that list of records on February 21, 1933 and thus the 1890 census remains were destroyed by government order by 1934 or 1935."

Genealogists and family historians have found some ways around the1890 census however, some of the information listed could have proven invaluable for us. What this means in the end is that we should all save our important documents, in multiple formats for the future.

In this age of computer records and huge databases; Where there are tons of extended families and twists and turns in family trees; In this disposable society, you might not care to hold on to a marriage certificate of an ex-spouse of your uncle or you might think that someone could obtain another copy, but who knows when someone will wish it was still around.

You don't need to keep all these documents yourself if you don't want to, there are numerous genealogy sites that collect this type of information. It's darn expensive to get copies of documents like birth certificates now. Hey, while you're at it, note names, dates and locations on those pictures. You might recognize those people and remember where you took the pictures, but your great great grand child won't.

Keep those obits too and burial/cremation records too. Submit the information to the various free obit collections and grave finders online. I know it sounds morbid now, but we all pass at some time or another.

The way I do it is to think, "If I dropped off the face of the earth today, who would pass along the information? Who would go through the photo albums with my son and point out his family that have long since past?"