For those who are interested in genealogy you are aware that the 1950 Census was recently made available.

I have found my parents and grand-parents in the 1950 Census along with other family members.

Last night I talked to my Mom and Dad and we talked about who their neighbors were in 1950 when they were young. By looking at the census I was able to help bring back a lot of their memories.

I decided to also check out the census for where I went to school in Kansas. We did not move their until 28 years after the census, but I knew that I would find people that I knew.

Using Ancestry I was able to find Ashland on the map and select the enumeration districts to look through in the census.

The first name I found was of someone whom I often visited in a nursing home in a neighboring town. Just seeing her name brought back so many memories. I also found out something that I didn’t know. In 1950 she was a postal clerk in the local post office.

I also found one of my Jr. High teachers. He was my Math teacher and I have great memories of the independent study I participated in. In 1950 he was only 22 and not yet a teacher. He is listed as a Laborer in Building Construction. Just noticed this is the brother of the teacher, but still brought back memories of the teacher.

I also found my neighborhood and the house we lived in. Of course I knew who had lived their before us, and sure enough they were listed in the census.

As I searched through the census I saw many people that I knew, and also found that many of them lived in the same place decades later.

It was sometimes hard to read the names and if I didn’t know the local names it would have been hard to decipher them. Some of the occupations were also very hard to decipher. The enumerator had very poor handwriting at times.

The one person who I was excited to find in the 1950 Census was Pearl Abell.  Abell was a rancher and a state representative.  Pearl Abell left his estate as an eduction trust that has helped many of the students from the county attend college over the years. A large portion of my college tuition was paid for by grants from the Jennie G and Pearl Abell Education Trust. The trust is now managed by one of my teachers from high school.

Looking through the census can bring back a lot of memories, even though it was taken long before my time there.

Steven