Labor Day- Occupational Research

Labor Day is a good time to reflect on the occupations of our ancestors.  My great grandfather, Antonino Cimino, was a contadino or peasant farm laborer in Sicily.  He immigrated to Omaha, Nebraska in 1906 and the 1910 census shows that he worked as a laborer for the railroad.
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Antonino moved his family to Sioux City, Iowa about 1912.  On his 1918 World War I draft card, his occupation was written as:  Laborer, C.M. St. P. at 22nd St. Yards, Sioux City, Iowa.  The abbreviation stands for Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad also known as the "Milwaukee Road".  The 1920 census states that "Tony" was working in the Round House at the rail yard.  Today the yard has been turned into a museum known as the Milwaukee Yard.  A visit to this museum is on my bucket list!  In the meantime, we all can take a mini tour of the Railroad Shops here.

My grandfather, Richard Cimino, worked in a packing house in Sioux City, according to the 1930 census.  By 1947, he had moved to Sacramento, California.  I was able to trace his work history through the Sacramento city directories:

• 1947 casing worker, Andrew DeWied Casing Company.
• 1949 his occupation changed to "driver" no company name listed.
• 1952 laborer with State Division of Highways
• 1953 stockman with State Division of Highways
• 1956 clerk State Dept of Public Works
• 1958-1975 storekeeper State Division of Highways
• 1977 retired

My father, Richard J. Cimino, worked while going to school  at a service station and also baled hay.   After high school, he worked as an Electrician Apprentice for 18 months but did not like that there were periods of unemployment in the construction industry.  From 1956 to 1986,  he was employed by Pacific Telephone as a supply man, installer, repairman and desk man on the test board. While in Woodland in the 1950's, he worked the graveyard shift supplying the trucks for the next day.  There was a tomato field next to his building. He would pick ripe tomatoes and sprinkle them with salt for a delicious snack.  

In Sacramento, he worked at 24th & S Streets, as a supply man and later as an installer.  He enjoyed going to the homes of customers when he was a telephone installer, especially the older homes.   Sometimes he would offer to buy their unwanted trash that became his treasure.  On one occasion, I remember that Dad took us to an old house that he had serviced so we could dig antique bottles in the backyard. Dad has always had a passion for antiques and collectibles.  

My father drove a truck similar to this one while employed with Pacific Bell in Sacramento and Santa Rosa.
When I worked for the phone company in the summers of 1973 &1974, I drove a Ford Econoline at Lake Tahoe.

When I was in college, Dad was able to get me a summer job with the phone company.  He transferred to Santa Rosa and he says that was the best thing that ever happened to him.  He loved the weather and the people of Sonoma County.  After retirement from the phone company, he was employed as a school bus driver for the Windsor School District.  He was fully retired by 1996.  His retirement business has been buying and selling collectible toy cars.  He had a camper van that he used to travel to toy shows inscribed with "Cimino's Machines in Miniature."

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UPCOMING EVENT:

One of my clients is interested in documenting her ancestor's occupational experience as a cowboy on the Chisolm Trail.  The 1867 Settlement in Texas City is already well documented as a "Freedom Village" founded by ex-slaves who were cowboys on the Butler Ranch in Galveston County.  All are welcome to join the 5th Annual historical street festival in celebration of the 1867 Settlement Historical District. The event will include a parade, a trail ride and a new historical exhibit.  See the flyer below for more information.

WHEN: September 26, 2015 @ 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
WHERE: 1867 Settlement Historical District & Bell House Museum
106 South Bell Drive
Texas City, TX 77591
COST: Free
CONTACT: Cynthia at 409-770-3085 or Frankie at 409-599-1967

Voting Registers Help to Fill Gaps Between Censuses

One of the new genealogy record collections on Ancestry.com is California Voter Registrations, 1900-1968.  Since my family history includes California, this is an exciting new database for me to explore.   I did a quick search to see if my mom, Jill Cimino would show up in the database.  I was disappointed that I could not find her.

I read the background information about the Voter Registers and learned why I could not find Mom.  The records for Sacramento County range from 1900 to 1944.  My mother did not reach voting age until 1956.  It appears that my grandparents would be better subjects for investigation given these dates.  I then searched Elaine Kelly in Sacramento County.  I immediately found previews of three results that matched in 1940, 1942 and 1944.  The actual register page for 1940 is below:

You can see here that Elaine Kelly is listed at the same address as her husband, George W. Kelly.  They apparently had differing political views since Grandma was a Democrat and Grandpa was a Republican.  This listing of both husband and wife show how the Voting Registers are similar to a census record because all the registered voters in the household will be listed.  

One of the great new features on Ancestry.com is the ability to open up a filmstrip view of the record set.  Most of the digital images that have been collected at Ancestry.com have originated from microfilm.  The ability to scroll back and forth with the film strip view speeds up the process when you need to move around in the microfilm.  In this case I wanted to page back to the beginning of the electoral precinct.  The header shows the information that you can get from these voting registers including: Name, Occupation, Address and Political Affiliation.  Here is the first page of the precinct which shows the precinct number and the Assembly District at the top of the page and the filmstrip view is shown at the bottom of the page.

To show an example of a father and son listed together in a household, I searched for the surname Fairbanks in Sonoma County.  I found Hiram Talbert Fairbanks, my 3rd great grand uncle listed in Petaluma Township.   The image below shows that his son, Dolphes Brice Fairbanks was listed.  These earlier registers give the full names, ages and post office address but not the street address.  A scan of the other names in the precinct reveals that there were several relatives on the list.  The Hill and the Higbee families were related to H.T. Fairbanks.  

One thing you might notice is that there are no women on this page.  Women got the right to vote in California in 1911 so they start appearing in these registers in 1912.  

When you look at the image you will see that the registers from 1900 to 1912 are grouped together.

The only way to figure out the exact year is to page back in the register  and look for the date.  The filmstrip view makes it easier to see the title page as you are scrolling through the images.  Each of the precincts was listed alphabetically in this case.  Here is the title page which shows that this register was dated 1902:

I hope you have enjoyed this little primer in the use of the California Voter Register collection.  Please contact me if you have any questions about your family history.

Who Are Your Saints?

“Oh When the Saints Go Marching In” is one of my favorite songs.  I want to be in that number!  Who were the saints in your life?  I can think of several.  First and foremost are my parents.  Mom and Dad gave us lots of love that sustains me every day of my life.  All of my grandparents were saints to me and I had seven!  One died before I was born.  I knew the other six really well.   I was closest to Grandpa Dick, Grandma Macy, Gram Elaine, and Grandpa George  in Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.  I loved going to San Francisco to visit Grandpa True and Grandma Helen  as a young child.  Are you thankful for your parents and grandparents?  Were you lucky enough to have a great grandparent in your life?  All Saints Day is a good time to honor your parents and grandparents.

Left to right: My great grandmother- Mae Moss Coffman Forbes, my great grand aunt-Viola Coffman Hughes, my grandfather- George Kelly, my grand aunt- Vivian Coffman McGrath, her husband- Lou McGrath and my "Gram Elaine"-  Elaine Coffman Kelly.

Mary McCrory Cimino and husband, Richard "Sebastiano" Cimino 1950

I had other saints in my life.   All of my teachers encouraged me and broadened my horizons.  I took an Italian language class in high school with Mrs. Tornabene.  She told me that I had the “most beautiful American accent.”  Lon Eakes was my favorite English teacher.  We read “Native Son” by Richard Wright and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”.  His class was transformative like no other.  Byron Clemons was our advisor for the Student Government class.  He complemented me on my contributions to the debates.  Did you have teachers that were saints in your life?  All Saints Day is a good time to thank them.

What about your leaders in sports or youth organizations?  My scoutmaster was Jack Myers.  He helped to instill the Scouting values such as trustworthiness, good citizenship, and outdoors skills, through a variety of activities such as camping, aquatics, and hiking.  He also encouraged me to be a leader and presented leadership training for our troop.  I will never forget the three steps for training fellow scouts that I learned in that class:  1) know your stuff, 2) show them how and 3) let them try.  What about your coaches and youth leaders?  All Saints Day is a good time to honor them.

I encourage you to comment on this blog or Facebook or Google Plus to remember the saints in your life.  All Saints Day is a good time to pay tribute to them.