Wednesday, March 17, 2010

You may know me as a local champion for children. My family knows me as the pesky genealogist. My father, now 91 years old, is a first-generation Italian-American. His father, Vincenzo DiMascio, arrived in the United States in 1904. The story is that his father and a brother left Pescina, Italy, at the same time, following the death of their mother and the remarriage of their father to a woman who treated them poorly. My grandfather headed to New York, his brother to South America.

My grandfather died in 1948, years before I was born. My father is the oldest of nine children, so I have many aunts, uncles and cousins -- but nobody ever spoke of my grandfather. In fact, I never saw a picture of him until after my mother died. When I saw that photo, I just had to learn as much as I could about him. I asked repeatedly, but my father just couldn't recall any relatives from his father's family coming to the United States.

Through Ancestry.com, I've been able to search digitized documents, including census records from 1790 through 1930 for various family members. I eventually found the 1930 census for Clarendon, Orleans County, N.Y. And there is my grandfather, Vincenzo (James), my grandmother, Nunziata (Nancy), and my father, age 11, and six of his brothers and sisters. And to my surprise, down the road a bit, was another DiMascio family: Joe, his wife Anna, and six kids: Oriento, Tony, Edward, Rosie, Filipo and Fedora. I called my father right away. It just couldn't be a coincidence -- like too many Smith's in one town.

Turns out my grandfather had quite a few cousins who came to the United States. I've been in touch with one of Joe and Anna's sons, and share documents, photos and information with one of their daughters. Apparently another of Vincenzo's cousins spelled his last name with an "e" instead of an "i" and one of his descendants and I have been able to share information and photographs. Seeing that census record let me reach back in time, connect with my grandfather, and to make a little bit more sense of his story.

Census documents have been preserved for all years from the first federal census in 1790 through today, except for the 1890 census, which was destroyed by fire. By law, they cannot be made public until 70 years pass from the time the census is taken -- to protect the privacy of the individuals. And the information collected in each census changed every 10 years. Before 1850, only the names of the head of household were documented. Wives, children and slaves were numbers on the form. From 1850 on, everyone in the household is listed by name, age and relationship. A gold mine for genealogists! Later census recorded whether one owned or rented property, or possessed a radio. What a great glimpse of what was important in our society at the time.

Those of us who are family historians are eagerly awaiting the release of the 1940 census. But future generations may not have the actual images of our current census to look at.

According to an article written by Robert Ward, president, Cape Cod Genealogical Society: "The Census Bureau and the National Archives have agreed to throw out the 2010 Census forms after archiving statistical data. This means that 72 years later genealogists will see -- nothing.

"The same authorities planned to do this to the 2000 Census, too. A January 1999 Supreme Court ruling forced the Census Bureau to redesign data collection by prohibiting the use of sampling. Responding to an inquiry from Congressman Waxman of the census oversight committee, the Census Bureau and the National Archives re-evaluated their decision. Images of all 2000 census forms were copied onto microfilm.

"For 2010, the Census Bureau and the National Archives once again plan to make a data file rather than capture images of the census forms. Data Killers, a shredding and degaussing company, has a one-year contract to destroy on-site Census Bureau data."

Seventy years from now, someone will be looking for me -- or for you. They will want to reach back in time and know that we lived here, worked here, and had families here.

I encourage you to visit the Cape Cod Genealogical Society's Web site to learn more about how we can work together to protect future generations' rights to have access to these vital documents. You can find the society's site at: http://bit.ly/bnCUL2.

Kathy Tuell is CEO of the Florida Keys Children's Shelter and an ardent genealogist. Contact her at kathy@tuell.net, or visit her genealogy Web site at http://www.tuell.net.