http://learn.ancestry.com/LearnMore/Article.aspx?id=14122
By Jana Lloyd 12 January 2009
If you’re new to family history, a great place to start is the 1930 U.S. census. It is the most recent U.S. census available to the public and contains information on more than 123 million people. Most people can locate a parent, grandparent, or even great-grandparent in the 1930 U.S. census. And, once you do, it will give you a wealth of information about that person, including his/her address, age, immigration dates, military service, and much more.
Locating Frank Sinatra in the 1930 U.S. Census
To get started, let’s try locating Frank Sinatra in the 1930 census. After that, you can search for someone in your own family.
Start by accessing the 1930 U.S. census on Ancestry.com. To get there, do the following: (Note: These instructions are for the new Search page.)
1. Go to www.ancestry.com and start a free trial or login with your existing username and password. Call 1-800-Ancestry if you have forgotten either.
2. Click the “Search” tab at the top of the page.
3. Click “Census and Voter Lists” in the “Featured” box on the left-hand side of the page.
4. Click “1930 United States Federal Census” in the “Featured” box on the left-hand side of the page.
Now that you are on the 1930 U.S. census search page, you can begin your search. Start by entering “Frank” in the “First and Middle Name(s)” field and “Sinatra” in the “Last Name” field. Click “Search.”
The Search results page says, “We didn’t find any strong matches,” and I can see why—scrolling down the list of search results I see there were a lot of Frank Sinatras in the 1930 census! But that doesn’t mean one of these isn’t the one I’m looking for—just that the search engine couldn’t filter out a high-probability match because there are so many Frank Sinatras.
Let’s try our search again, but this time let’s add “Hoboken, New Jersey” into the “Lived In (Residence)” field, since I know that’s where Frank grew up.
This time I get two strong matches—two Frank Sinatras living in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1930. Since I know Frank’s parents were named Anthony and Natalie I can easily pick out the correct record.
Just for fun, go back and redo your original search using just Frank Sinatra’s name and scroll down the list again. Notice that he’s about fifth on the list of search results. So, the more information you enter in a search, the higher up the correct result usually is—but often with a little detective work you can get there either way.
Click “View Record,” then “View Original Image” to look at the original 1930 U.S. census record with Frank Sinatra on it.
A close-up of Frank Sinatra and his family on the 1930 U.S. census. Note that Frank is 14 years old.
Note: Remember that census takers often misspelled names because they were just writing down what they heard. If you can’t find an ancestor, you may want to try some different spelling variations. Here’s an article with more tips for searching the census records: “Leonis or Lewis? Some Quick Tips For Finding Your Ancestors in the Census.”
What You Can Learn from the 1930 U.S. Census
Now that we have a 1930 U.S. census record, let’s examine what it tells us about Frank and his family, column by column, and what other records it points us to.
It’s a good idea at this point to print one of the blank 1930 U.S. census forms that Ancestry.com provides. These have clear column headings that are much easier to read than those on the original census records. It is also a good idea to write the information from the census record down on this blank census sheet. Writing down the information you see helps you internalize it—and ensures you won’t miss any of the details.
You can access a blank census form by clicking “blank census form” above and to the right of the original census image on your screen.
"Blank Census Form" link.
A blank census form. It's a good idea to fill one of these out with the information you find on your ancestor—it helps you internalize what you've found and keep track of it all.
I won’t go through every column of Frank’s census record, but here are some of the highlights:
Column 1: “Street, avenue, road, etc.” and Column 2: “House number.”
Notice that the street where the Sinatra family lived is written vertically in column 1: Park Avenue. And the address—705—is written in column 2. So, the Sinatras lived on 705 Park Avenue, Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1930.
I typed this address into Google Maps and was even able to see their neighborhood!
Frank Sinatra's neighborhood.
This address might also come in handy when searching other records. For example, many city directories list addresses.
Note also that there seem to be four families on the census living at 705 Park Avenue—the Murphy, Tobin, Sinatra, and Hildemann families. From looking at the neighborhood on Google Maps, it appears that the Sinatras were living in row houses. Multiple residencies existed within one building and were included under one address.
Columns 7 through 10: “Home Data”
Columns 7 through 10 may not lead you to any more historical records, but they provide interesting information about Frank Sinatra’s family. The column heading for 7 is “Home owned or rented” and for column 8 it’s “Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented.”
The “O” next to Frank’s father in column 7 indicates they owned their home, but the number in column 8, “$65,” makes it seem more like they rented. If you scan the rest of the page, the value of the homes others owned were “$5,000,” “4,800” “$8,000,” etc. And rental prices were in the range of “$65,” “$55,” and “$30” per month.
This is a good example of the fact that even with “official” documents, historical facts are relative. In this case, it is likely that either the census taker was writing too fast or the person who answered the door misunderstood the question. That’s where our detective hats can come in handy.
Column 9: “Radio Set”
One interesting piece of information included in the 1930 census is whether or not the family owned a radio set. Radios began showing up in homes in the 1920s, and popularity increased steadily after that.
The census indicates that Frank Sinatra and family did own a radio in 1930. Maybe it was his first exposure to the music and entertainment world.
Columns 11 Through 15: “Personal Description”
Columns 11 through 15 give sex, color or race, age at last birthday, marital condition, and age at first marriage.
At the time of this census, Frank’s father was 36, his mother was 34, and Frank was 14. If you did not know a family member’s birth year, you could use this information to estimate one. Subtract 14 from 1930 and you get 1916. We know from history that Frank Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915. Why the discrepancy? Because the 1930 U.S. census was started on April 1, 1930 (a note at the top of this page says the enumerator, or census taker, recorded this particular page on April 8). Frank would turn 15 that year, but at the time the census was taken he was still 14. This is a good example of how the census can be used to retrieve estimated, but not exact, dates.
The census also shows that Anthony Sinatra was 19 when he and Natalie married—while Natalie was only 17. If you do the math, that means they were married in 1913. You might be able to use this information later on to help you find a marriage certificate, where you could possibly find their parents’ names, if you didn’t already know them.
Note that this is the age at first marriage so if someone was married more than once, this age might be from a previous marriage.
Columns 18 Through 24: “Place of Birth/Citizenship”
Columns 18 through 24 tell where each person, and his/her mother and father was born, as well as the year they immigrated to the United States and whether or not they are naturalized.
This census shows that Frank was born in New Jersey, but that his parents were both born in Italy. And, each of their parents were also from Italy. In addition, Anthony Sinatra immigrated to the U.S. in 1895, while Natalie Sinatra immigrated in 1897. Using the age given in this census record for Anthony Sinatra (36), that means he was about one when his family immigrated. Knowing these dates, as well as where Frank Sinatra’s parents immigrated from, could help you track down passenger lists and naturalization records in the future.
The census record shows that Anthony Sinatra immigrated to the United States in 1895; his wife in 1897.
Columns 21A, B, and C, and Column 26D
These codes were not written down by the enumerator, but by Census Bureau staff members once the census forms were turned in. These were special codes used to help them tabulate statistical information, which they reported to Congress. For instance, the “29” in Column 21A for Frank Sinatra’s father was simply the number used to indicate that someone was born in Italy.
These numbers will not give you additional information, but if you would like to learn more about them or see what each ones means, you can visit this webpage: “Deciphering Language and Nativity Codes Appended to the 1930 Census in One Step.”
You can learn what the occupation codes in Column 26D mean by visiting this page: “Deciphering Occupation Codes Appended to the 1930 Census in One Step.”
Columns 25 Through 29: “Occupation and Industry”
Columns 25 through 29 tell what a person’s job was, whom they worked for, what type of worker they were (employers were written as "E," wage or salary workers as "W," a person who was working on his or her own account was "O," and if a family member was working without pay it was listed as "NP"), and whether they were at work the day before (Column 28: “Whether actually at work yesterday (or the last regular working day)”).
If the person had not been at work the day before, or was unemployed, an “N” would be placed in Column 28 and a number assigned to Column 29. This number cross-referenced to an “Unemployment Schedule” where more information was recorded. Unfortunately, these unemployment schedules no longer exist.
From this census record we can see that Frank Sinatra’s father was a fireman who worked for the city. Neither Frank nor his mother were listed as employed.
Columns 30 and 31: “Veterans”
Columns 30 and 31 indicate whether an individual had served in the U.S. military or naval forces and, if so, for which war. No one in Frank’s family had served in the military by the time this census was taken, but if they had, this could help you search out other military records, such as draft cards, military service records, or pension files.
Column 32: “Farm Schedule”
If the person worked on a farm, more information was filled out on a separate census schedule. Unfortunately, like the unemployment schedules, none of the farm schedules for the 1930 census have survived.
As you can see, the 1930 U.S. census holds a wealth of interesting information about the people in it. And besides that, it is information that is useful for helping you locate even more records and more information. At the very least, I should also now be able to trace the family, or at least Frank’s parents, back through the 1920, 1910, and 1900 U.S. censuses. If I located Anthony and Natalie as children in the 1900 and 1910 censuses, it would help me identify their parents and siblings. I may also want to look for WWI draft cards, naturalization records, city directories, and other records from that period. The fact that I know Frank’s parents came from Italy in 1895/97 should help me locate passenger lists.
Now that you’ve had some practice searching, try locating one of your own family members. Start with someone who may have been alive in 1930. For females, use whatever surname was likely to be given the census taker who came to the door at that time—either married or maiden names. (If you don’t know, you can try both.)
Sometimes searching census records takes a little bit of trial and error and persistence. Difficult handwriting, misspelled names, or misinformation (on the part of you or the census taker) can make the challenges larger, but so too the rewards. Try scrolling through several pages of search results for something that may seem close (often looking at the original you realize why that “o” looked like an “a” to the transcriber), or alternate facts, such as the other names of people in the household. Good luck!
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