My ​52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge; Week #3: Out of Place

My 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge; Week #3: Out of Place

​My ​52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge; Week #3: Out of Place

I joined the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge this year, put on by Amy Johnson Crow, and for week #3's challenge, "Out of Place", I immediately thought of my mom. When the 1950 Census came out in April of last year, I, just as many, was on a crazed hunt searching through the 1950 Census digital images for 2 straight days! I had made a list of everyone I had wanted to find in the 1950 U.S. Census, but it was my mom, my dad, my biological father, and my paternal grandmother who I wanted to find the most, especially my mom! Searching the digital images was not that easy, especially if you didn't have an address or your ancestors weren't where they should have been. It took me just 2 days to find everyone on my list, basically ALL of my ancestors to be found on the 1950 Census, with the help of different tools that I had mentioned in "A Whirlwind of Searching the 1950 Census Digital Images!", including Ancestry's 1950 Census helps, such as the Enumeration District Maps tool they had out to help search the digital images one by one.

I was really surprised that I could find everyone from that long list in just 2 days! Well, not everyone; I wasn't able to find my mom. My mom had just passed away, unexpectedly, the year before, and it was extremely important to me to be able to find her on the census for the first time, as maybe it might have helped the healing process in some way. She was the first person that I wanted to find, and her and her mom wound up being the only ones I did not find. I gave up and thought, even though I knew the chance was slim that it would help, I would wait until the 1950 Census became searchable, even though I knew I checked the entire area and surrounding areas thoroughly and painstakingly, image by image/page by page. 

My Mom and the 1950 Census:

My Mom at the Age of 1; ©Diane Henriks

My Maternal Grandmother Holding My Mom, ca. 1948; ©Diane Henriks

My mom was born in 1948 in Massillon, Ohio, according to her and her birth certificate. I knew where she and her mom should have been, so it should have been easy right? Not at all. Her mom was an unwed teenager who had my mom at the age of 17. My mom didn't speak much about her life with her family nor her childhood. Most of the family information, I got when I started my genealogy research over a decade ago. I had to start from square 1 with my mom's lines. As I did the research, of course I was able to find relatives, that were never spoken about, during the process, and I was able to get tons of family stories through them. Let's just say, I understand why my mom wanted to keep mum. I was told by an uncle of my mom, her mother's brother, that he had taken his sister and my mom in and helped raise my mom, before her mom married. That wasn't until just a month or so shy of my mom's 2nd birthday.  She was not with her uncle as told, nor any other family member. She was nowhere to be found. I pride myself on being a diligent genealogist and researcher, and I can usually find needles in a haystack, but not this time. I am convinced that they just aren't on it. Definitely out of place.
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Follow more of my #52ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge here, and let's see if I can accomplish it this year! 
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*Note: These photos are copyright protected and may not be downloaded, screenshot, etc.
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Are you interested in getting prompts to help you to begin jotting down more about your ancestors than just names and dates? Give it a whirl! You can sign up for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks here! 

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This post is a participant in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and Sepia Saturday