Image used courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Saturday, October 6, at 2 p.m., Conference Room

This event is co-sponsored by the Middlesex Genealogical Society.

The eagerly awaited 1940 Census made its public debut on April 2, 2012, but early users were challenged by the lack of an index. What a difference four months and thousands of volunteers can make! The Census is now completely indexed and ready to be explored. Most researchers find it helpful to begin with the 1940 Census and work backwards to locate people in earlier generations. Toni McKeen will share tips and tricks developed over the years to help locate difficult relatives who don’t seem to want to be found.

Census records can provide the building blocks of genealogical research, both confirming information and offering leads to expand a family tree. Taken at the end of the Great Depression and on the brink of U.S. involvement in World War II, the 1940 Census documents Americans during a time of national struggle. The first Federal Population Census was taken in 1790, and has been taken every ten years since. However, data from recent censuses are not available after 1940 because of a 72-year restriction on access to the Census.

Toni McKeen has been doing genealogy research on her own extensive Italian and her husband’s Irish family for the last 27 years. She now has more than 8,000 of her closest family members entered in her Family Tree Maker program.  Toni has identified relatives on extended branches who married into the family include those from various immigrant ethnic groups as well as others who have been here long enough to practically have greeted George Washington when he arrived.  She is a member of several genealogical organizations.

For the last 7 years, while not doing continuing research on her own family, Toni has been teaching several levels of genealogy in her home town of Ridgefield, CT. Toni is on a mission to expose as many people as possible to the fun, excitement, and importance of tracing their own genealogy. She believes documenting your family history is important for yourself and for future generations, even if they are not interested or have the time now.

Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen’s).