Laughlin: Population Schedule — Census of 1920 



209 



search Association, by formal vote of its 

 Executive Committee, respectfully mem- 

 orializes the honorable Director of the 

 Census to provide in the forthcoming 

 general enumeration of the Census of 

 1920, and in all future censuses, for 

 recording the name of the father and the 

 maiden name of the mother of every 

 person enumerated. This could be done 

 by adding to the enumeration sheet for 

 the Census of 1910, between columns 11 

 and 12, two Ij/^-inch columns, the pair 

 of columns headed Ancestry; the first 

 column of the pair sub-headed Full 

 Name of Father of this Person; the second 

 column of the pair sub-headed Full 

 Maiden Name of Mother of this Person. 



"We respectfully set forth the very 

 great value in this and in future cen- 

 suses of the facts which would thus be 

 secured : 



"1. The family ties would be estab- 

 lished and thus all census enumeration 

 records would become available for 

 genealogical and family pedigree-studies. 



"2. Persons of the same name would 

 be distinguished by connecting each 

 other with the name of his own father. 



"3. The position in the family tree of 

 married men and women would be 

 established. 



"4. The relationship of unmarried 

 women in the household would be 

 established. 



"5. Family records would be pre- 

 served intact, despite the change of 

 surname and of surname spelling. 



"6. If used in a series of censuses, this 

 one item would enable the student of 

 American families to construct, from the 

 census records alone, the family trees 

 of all American families. Thus by this 

 relatively simple correction, the United 

 States Federal Census reports would 

 constitute the greatest and most valua- 

 ble genealogical source in the world. 



"This proposition was first urged by 

 Alexander Graham Bell at the annual 

 meeting of the Board of Scientific Direc- 

 tors of the Eugenie's Record Office in 

 1916, and was unanimously adopted by 

 this Board, which at that time con- 

 sisted of : Alexander Graham Bell, Chair- 

 man; William H. Welch, Vice-Chair- 

 man; Lewellys F. Barker; Irving Fisher; 

 T. H. Morgan; and Charles B. Daven- 



port, Secretary and Resident Director. 

 The experience of Dr. Bell in practical 

 census work makes his opinion on this 

 particular matter especially worthy of 

 your careful consideration. 



"Respectfully submitted. 



"February 21, 1919." 



Besides the arguments enumerated in 

 this memorial in favor of supplementing 

 the census records by the addition of 

 "the name of the father and the full 

 maiden name of the mother of every 

 person enumerated," the following points 

 are presented: 



1. By the use of population-records 

 containing these facts, the individual 

 could be located from census to census 

 and from generation to generation. 

 Thus not only could the statistician 

 secure from the census returns mass 

 data descriptive of general demographic 

 conditions, but also he could trace 

 individual and family fortunes. This 

 would enable the analyst to measure 

 the personal "overturn" in population, 

 wealth, occupation and residence. Such 

 investigations would be of the greatest 

 social and political value. 



2. Except for persons who are bom 

 and who die within the same inter- 

 censal period, the entire genealogical 

 trees of all families of the American 

 population, together with many facts 

 of biography and personality, beginning 

 with the oldest generation living at the 

 inauguration of the system, could be 

 constructed and permanently main- 

 tained. 



3. Fragmentary data concerning an- 

 cestors would be sufficient clues to 

 enable the investigator, by the use of 

 the records asked for, authentically to 

 restore a family tree. 



4. The American people are learning 

 to treat family-history archives more as 

 pedigree-records for use in tracing the 

 descent of natural traits, than solely as 

 genealogical studies whose chief motive 

 is superficial social distinction. The 

 desired census data would therefore be 

 put to a very useful purpose. 



5. The records of parentage as given 

 bv the census would be of great legal 

 value in supplementing local records 



