The Ancestry.com "Suggested Records" Features Helps Me Again

I don't often go back and check my close relatives (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) in Ancestry.com, but I guess that I should do it more often.   I did that today while working through the WebTags feature in RootsMagic and discovered a record for my father that previously had escaped my search.

Here is the 1920 U.S. Census Record Summary for my father:

Over on the right side of the screen is the "Suggested Records" list.  The last one on the list above is a 1940 U.S. Census entry for Frederick W. Seaver.

Was that my father?  I already had an entry for him in the 1940 U.S. Census living with his sister and her family in Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts.  I clicked on the link and saw:

The name is right, the age is right, the birthplace is right, and the residence in 1935 is right.  What's he doing residing in a YMCA in Newton, Massachusetts?  Here's the image:

I abstracted the information in this census record for Frederick W. Seaver:

*  Name:  Frederick W. Seaver
*  Relation:  Lodger
*  Gender:  Male
*  Race:  White
*  Age:  28
*  Marital Status:  Single
*  Attended School?:  No
*  Highest Grade Achieved:  C-1
*  Birthplace:  Mass.
*  Residence in 1935:  Leominster, ----, Mass.
*  On a farm?  No
*  Was person at work on during March 24-30:  Yes
*  Number of hours worked during March 24-30:  48
*  Occupation:  Sales Manager
*  Industry:  Finance Co.
*  Class of worker:  PW
*  Number of weeks worked in 1939:  50
*  Amount of money salary or wages in 1939:  $1440
*  Did you receive more than $50 in earnings other than money wages or salary?  Yes

The source citation for this record is:

1940 United States Census, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Newton; ED 9-398, Page 81A, line 20, in Newton YMCA, Patrick J. Delaney household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 August 2013), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T627, Roll 1614.

As far as I can tell, all of the information is accurate, and is pretty consistent with the other 1940 Census entry in My Father in the 1940 U.S. Census.

One lesson learned here is to:

*  Check the "Suggested Records" for leads to other records on Ancestry.com.  You never know what you're going to find.  I've written before that about 90% of these "Suggested Records" pertain to the person I'm searching.

*  Revisit records for your close relatives (you know, the ones that are all "done") and see if ancestry has snuck some records for them by you.

Of course, if the persons are enumerated and/or indexed wrongly, then you are not likely to find entries unless someone has added an Alternate Name to the index.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/08/the-ancestrycom-suggested-records.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver