8 ms·

I was using this to try to find the records that included my family. The search for 'Firstname Lastname" seems to search for Firstname OR Lastname. Does anyb

I was using this to try to find the records that included my family. The search for 'Firstname Lastname" seems to search for Firstname OR Lastname. Does anybody know if its possible to search for Firstname AND Lastname and what the syntax for that might be? It seems to just still match any of the strings when entered that way.

geogra4 5y ago
Yes, almost impossible to find someone otherwise
- drewg123 5y ago
  It seems impossible to find anyone regardless. My mom's family has common names, so there are pages and pages to wade through. Meanwhile my dad's family has a very unusual last name, but their data seems to be missing from the 1950 census.
armagon 5y ago
Perhaps someone knows more, but from what I can see, my conclusion is no. The search box says "First and/or Last Name" The tips at https://1950census.archives.gov/search/ https://1950census.archives.gov/search/ say: > Tip #1: Search for the first and last name of the head of household (plus state and county of residence if known) because the surname was written on the census form only on the line for the head of household and other persons in the household with a different surname. > Tip #3: You don't have to know the exact spelling of a person's name in order to perform a name search. Enter as much as you know. The search engine will return any close variations or matches. The FAQ also adds: > Is there a name index to the 1950 Census? > Yes, researchers will be able to search the 1950 census by name. Please note that the name index will not be 100% accurate because it is based on optical character recognition (OCR) and artificial intelligence/machine learning. The website will feature a transcription tool to enable users to submit name updates, which will improve the accuracy of the name index and make the records more accessible for everyone.
redytedy 5y ago
Wait for this to appear on FamilySearch (if not already) and search there I think will be your best bet. FamilySearch is owned by the Mormons but free and very functional.
- drewg123 5y ago
  Yes, they are the best. I used them several years ago when constructing my family tree. And a big raspberry to their competitors that lock everything behind a paywall. I think one of them (ancestry) has exclusive deals with some states, so they have records you can't see without signing up.
  - Asparagirl 5y ago
    They do. I’ve seen the contracts, and even the RFP’s that led to the contracts. It’s illegal. They will sometimes make a free gateway portal to those records, where you input your in-state zipcode to get access, or some other nonsense like that. But they actually have the gall to say in their contracts that the digital files cannot be redistributed by the (public, taxpayer-funded) state or local archive. Funny, the state law says they can’t do that… And so the non-profit I founded and run is starting to reclaim those public records, for the public, for free.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - JaimeThompson 5y ago
      If you can please link to the non-profit here, I think a lot of us would enjoy it.
      - Asparagirl 5y ago
        It’s in my HN bio, but here you go ;-) https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/ https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/
codegeek 5y ago
Enter FirstName then space then LastName. It worked for me for a random "John Smith" in Camden, NJ.
xefer 5y ago
If you happen to know the address of where the individual lived, you can make a much more targeted search if you know the census enumeration district. With the ED in hand, just looking up by last name may be sufficient, but you can also just step through the individual sheets. This site has a way to look up the ED by street address: https://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html https://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html Depending on the street, there will be 1 or more districts; e.g.: "9-27", etc. Just enter that string in the "Enumeration District" search field. I knew the addresses of several relatives based on the 1940 census and it made looking them up in the 1950 census very easy.

geogra4 5y ago

Yes, almost impossible to find someone otherwise

drewg123 5y ago
It seems impossible to find anyone regardless. My mom's family has common names, so there are pages and pages to wade through. Meanwhile my dad's family has a very unusual last name, but their data seems to be missing from the 1950 census.

armagon 5y ago

Perhaps someone knows more, but from what I can see, my conclusion is no. The search box says "First and/or Last Name" The tips at https://1950census.archives.gov/search/ https://1950census.archives.gov/search/ say: > Tip #1: Search for the first and last name of the head of household (plus state and county of residence if known) because the surname was written on the census form only on the line for the head of household and other persons in the household with a different surname. > Tip #3: You don't have to know the exact spelling of a person's name in order to perform a name search. Enter as much as you know. The search engine will return any close variations or matches. The FAQ also adds: > Is there a name index to the 1950 Census? > Yes, researchers will be able to search the 1950 census by name. Please note that the name index will not be 100% accurate because it is based on optical character recognition (OCR) and artificial intelligence/machine learning. The website will feature a transcription tool to enable users to submit name updates, which will improve the accuracy of the name index and make the records more accessible for everyone.

redytedy 5y ago

Wait for this to appear on FamilySearch (if not already) and search there I think will be your best bet. FamilySearch is owned by the Mormons but free and very functional.

drewg123 5y ago
Yes, they are the best. I used them several years ago when constructing my family tree. And a big raspberry to their competitors that lock everything behind a paywall. I think one of them (ancestry) has exclusive deals with some states, so they have records you can't see without signing up.
- Asparagirl 5y ago
  They do. I’ve seen the contracts, and even the RFP’s that led to the contracts. It’s illegal. They will sometimes make a free gateway portal to those records, where you input your in-state zipcode to get access, or some other nonsense like that. But they actually have the gall to say in their contracts that the digital files cannot be redistributed by the (public, taxpayer-funded) state or local archive. Funny, the state law says they can’t do that… And so the non-profit I founded and run is starting to reclaim those public records, for the public, for free.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - JaimeThompson 5y ago
    If you can please link to the non-profit here, I think a lot of us would enjoy it.
    - Asparagirl 5y ago
      It’s in my HN bio, but here you go ;-) https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/ https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/

codegeek 5y ago

Enter FirstName then space then LastName. It worked for me for a random "John Smith" in Camden, NJ.

xefer 5y ago

If you happen to know the address of where the individual lived, you can make a much more targeted search if you know the census enumeration district. With the ED in hand, just looking up by last name may be sufficient, but you can also just step through the individual sheets. This site has a way to look up the ED by street address: https://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html https://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html Depending on the street, there will be 1 or more districts; e.g.: "9-27", etc. Just enter that string in the "Enumeration District" search field. I knew the addresses of several relatives based on the 1940 census and it made looking them up in the 1950 census very easy.