This is longer than most posts, but about average for me. There’s a joke about rambling and unicorns at the bottom. Here are some tips about finding your ancestors in the census, using Jerome Turner Pack as an example.

My hunt started with a message:

Hi Ted,

I just read your info. I am great-grand daughter of J. Turner/ Jerome T. Pack married to Susie E. Justice. My great grandfather is shown as J.T., Jerome T. and J. Turner, born around 1859. Susie E. was native Cherokee, at least 1/2, mother's side. I just got started in this search and cannot find Jerome T./J.Turner's parents. My family resided in Cheattham, TN born and died in that county. Can you enlighten me?

Jeana in Oklahoma.

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So, I looked on Ancestry’s census images for Jerome Pack in Cheatham County in any year. There was just one:

1910, Civil District 7, Cheatham, Tennessee;
Jerome T Pack, 39
Susie E Pack, 34
Herbert L Pack, 14
Loyd E Pack, 10
Clide E Pack, 7
Beulah Pack, 4
Joseph M Pack, 3/12

Note he was born in 1871, not 1859, and there is just one “t” in “Cheatham”.

Lesson 1: Don’t trust your correspondents, especially if they just got started. Help them, of course; they are dear people, and we genealogists are known for being warm, wise and gracious. Just don’t assume newcomers have their facts straight.

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I can’t find them in 1920. I do find a Clyde E Pack, 17, relation “nephew,” in Dickson County, Tennessee, a Bulah Pack, 15, relation "no relation", in Montgomery County, Tennessee, and a Lon or Loye Pack, 19, in South Dakota, relation “servant”, which was the term for hired hand back then. He was mucking out stalls and plowing, not wearing a black dress coat and announcing tea was served. That hints, but doesn’t prove, that Jerome died and either his wife died with him or her new husband didn’t want the teens cluttering up the house. No lesson here, just a need for more research.

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I turn to Tennessee Marriages, an Ancestry Data base. I find:

J Turner Pack to Susie Justice on 7 Mar 1895 in Dickson County.

Dickson, not Cheatham.
Lesson 2: Check other sources, if you have them. See above about not trusting your correspondent, too.

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I search for any Pack born 1871 or so in Dickson County in 1900. No luck. Then I search for any Jerome, then any Turner, limiting the search to Dickson and the birth year to 1871 (+/- 5) each time. Bingo!

1900, Civil District 13, Dickson, Tennessee:
Turner Back, 30
Susie Back, 23
Herbert Back, 4
Loy Back, 11/12

Back, Pack. They sound alike, as you know if you’ve ever ordered pizza as Mr. Pack and heard them announce “Mr. Back, your pizza is ready”. Susie, Herbert and Loyd match 1910.

Lesson 3: Try given names only. Soundex isn’t perfect. Note this works best when you have a birth year range, a rare given name and a small county. If your man is John and he lived in Chicago, you won’t find him by given name alone.

Lesson 4: People sometimes switch between first and middle names. My correspondent warned me. John Wesley Pack becomes Wesley J Pack, or JW, or WJ.

He is born in 1869 on the 1900, not 1871.

Lesson 5: use a 5-year date range for birth year.

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Let us see if he is in Dickson in 1880. I search for any Pack (that is, given name blank, surname “Pack”, with soundex) born in 1869, with a 5-year range, in Dickson County. Here he is:

1880: District 7, Dickson, Tennessee:
L. D. Pack, Self, 55, TN, Farmer, NC, NC
Martha Pack, Wife, 34, TN, Keeping House, TN, TN
(All kids TN, TN, TN)
Saleanna Pack, Dau, 18
Ada Pack, Dau, 16
Zippora Pack, Dau, 14
Tusnur Pack, Son, 11
Fletcher Pack, Son, 9
Charley Pack, Son, 7
Lennore Pack, Son, 4
Lou Pack, Dau, 2

“Tusnur” isn’t a common given name, but it is close enough to “Turner” that this is our boy, 11 years old and living with his parents. Whoever transcribed the page did the best they could with chicken tracks.

Lesson 6: Don’t trust that the given name will be spelled correctly.

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I look for all the Packs in Dickson County in 1870 and find:

1870: District 7, Dickson, Tennessee;
S D Pack, 45
Martha Pack, 35
Bettie Pack, 8
Ada Pack, 5
Mary Pack, 3
Jerone Pack, 1
Jesse Stong, 19

Mr. Pack's initials look like "L D" to me in the image, even though they are indexed as "S D". Martha, the wife, is 34 in 1880 and 35 here in 1870. “Mary” here is “Zippora” in 1880, probably, and “Turner” in 1880 is “Jerone” here.

This is the same lesson I learned all night – don’t trust the given names will be the same throughout the years. It shows you can't always trust the ages given, either.

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Here they are in 1860, Middle Division, Dickson, Tennessee:
L D Pack, 28, NC
M S Pack, 17, NC
B B Pack, 1/12, NC
(Census taken September 27th)

Lesson 7: Birth states won’t always match. Compare these to LD and Martha on the 1880.

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I try for them in 1900 to see what L D’s name was, and find Martha widowed in 1900, in Civil District 13, Dickson, Tennessee

Martha Pack, 58, widowed
Fletcher Pack, 29, son
Charley Pack, 26, son
Hardy Pack, 19, son
Fred Fowler, 16, boarder

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Back to Tennessee Marriages.

Leroy D Pack to Martha L Sims on 5 Oct 1859 in Dickson County.

“Martha Sims” matches “M S” in 1860. “Leroy D” matches “L D.” They had a one-month old child in September 1860, so the date fits. Most couples wasted no time making sure their union produced issue, back then. My “L D” on the census is almost certainly Leroy D.

I’ve found Jerome Turner’s parents and learned some lessons about hunting people on the census.

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Promised joke about rambling:

My brother limits his personal correspondence to adding his name to the Christmas Newsletter his wife writes every year. Last month I told him that the USPS gives you a break on the second ounce. It is only 17 cents, although the first one is 42. If you write a 6-page letter and throw in a couple of pictures of the kids, you can send it first-class for 59 cents instead of using two first-class stamps for 84 cents. I have a small stock of 17-cent stamps for just such occasions.

He looked at me like I had told him if he ever shot a unicorn, to make sure the sun was behind him, use a medium speed film for detail, a small f-stop for good depth of field, and make sure the background was uncluttered. He knew I was trying to help, but the chance he would ever be in a position to use my advice was terribly small.