Stories From the 1950 Census ~ Census Number 10 For Aunt Claude

My second great grand aunt, Anna Claudine Freeland, lived long enough to be enumerated in ten federal censuses!

I have previously written about Great Aunt Claudine Freeland. I have also shared her brief obituary. (She outlived her four siblings by several decades.)

Sadly, as genealogists know, the 1890 federal census didn't survive a fire in 1921, with most of the damage coming from water used to put out the fire. Following is a summary of what I have found for "Aunt Claude" in all the other federal census records.

Year      Name                                Age      Occupation            Head of Household                  
1860     Hannah E. Freeland             5            -                         her parents, James and Nancy
1870     Clara Freeland                   15         at school               her widowed mother, Nancy
1880     Claude A. Freeland            25        School Teacher     her widowed mother, Nancy
1900     Anna C. Freeland               43        School Teacher     her widowed mother, Nancy
1910     Claudie Freeland                41        School Teacher     her (unmarried) brother, William
1920     Glaudine Freeland              50        School Teacher     lodger living in a boarding house
1930     Anna Claudine Freeland    75        None                      roomer living in Orlando, Florida
1940     Claudine Freeland              85        None                     lodger living in a boarding house

Stories From the Census ~ Libby in 1950

My paternal grandmother (born Elizabeth Adsit) was called by her nickname, Libby, even by her grandchildren. I found her under the name Elizabeth A. Rust relatively easily in the 1950 census using the National Archives index.

She and her (second) husband, Edgar C. Rust, lived in Newton, Massachusetts.

Not all their information in the census is accurate, making me wonder who provided the details to the census enumerator. Perhaps Libby provided the information and didn't want to be truthful because she was about 15 years younger than her husband. The census reported that they were five years apart in age.

1950 U.S. census, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Newton, ED 26-89, sheet 8, lines 1-5, household 51 (Edgar C Rust & family); U.S. National Archives, 1950 Census (https://1950census.archives.gov/search/).

Edgar C. Rust, age 65 [actually 67], and Elizabeth A. Rust, age 60 [actually 52], both born in Massachusetts [actually Libby was born in Illinois], lived at 22 Gatehouse Rd. in Newton. (Not quite the right address - more about that below.)

Edgar worked 45 hours the previous week as an Executor in a Banking Firm. Libby is listed as "H" (keeping house). Three maids lived with them: 65-year-old Katherine M. Fannon, a widow, born in Ireland; 50-year-old Theresa Walsh, never married, born in Ireland; and 45-year-old Susan H. MacWhister, never married, born in Scotland. These women worked 60 (!) hours during the previous week as maids for a private family. (Libby's "keeping house" was likely telling the maids what needed to be done.)

The 1950 census included space either at the top or the bottom of each page for the enumerator to write additional notes about the households on that page. Be sure to take a look at any notes on the page.