NORCAL-L Archives

From: Al Martinez <>
Subject: M635 asked What's a Soundex?
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 01:06:16 -0800 (PST)

Larry,
This was VERY infomative!! I especially enjoyed the URL to the
SOUNDEX site. I learned another step in the genealogy school today!!
Thanks
From M635

+++++++++++++++++
---Larry Kuttner <> wrote:
>
> At 09:18 PM 1/31/98 -0800, Al Martinez wrote:
> >Hi All,
> >Okay, I've seen it before, now what is it?? What is a
> >soundex??? As in the msg below, "I looked in the 1880 soundex." How
> >does it work?
> > Al Martinez
> =====================================================
> The census for 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 were "soundexed". The
> soundex is a system of preparing an "index" to a particular year's
> census based on a four digit code calculated for each name. Names
> that are different can well return the same soundex code. For
example,
> KUTTNER returns the soundex code K356, as do several Japanese names.
> For 1880, only families with children under or not over 10 years of
age
> were listed in the soundex [I can't remember which]. For 1900 and
1920
> all states and all census entries were soundexed. For 1910 only
certain
> [I think 16-18 states] were soundexed. This had something to do with
> whether or when the state had gone to centralized recording of birth
and
> death records.
>
> The soundex is a letter followed by three digits. The letter is
always the
> first letter of the surname. The three letters are computed from the
> non-vowel letters that follow. Zero (0) can be a valid number here,
for
> example LEE soundexes as L000 since it has only vowels.
>
> One a name is soundex coded, one obtains the soundex microfilm for
that
> code. The microfilm will list all names that soundexed with the
same code
> by first name alphabetically, regardless of where they lived in the
state
> chosen.
> Then all one has to do, if one is lucky or fortunate, is to go thru
the
> listing
> and find the first name one is looking for. One real advantage is
that if I
> check K356, and the name was misspelled with only one T, [KUTNER],
it will
> be there.
>
> The 1910 census was miracorded, but it appears to be nothing more
than a
> computer generated soundex or was a manual version of the soundex but
> done by a different company who couldn't use the word soundex.
>
> The soundex will usually not only give you the location of the
person you
> are interested in, clear down to euneration district, but can give
you basic
> information as to residence, genealogical information on head of
household
> and other members of household. Sometimes you can spot the parents,
who's
> names you don't have by finding a family with the same children as
you know
> about.
>
> This information is available at the branch offices of the Nat'l
Archives
> and also
> thru the LDS church family history centers. It's probably available
from
> private
> companies, but I've not seen too many times I would want to own it.
>
> After you find your target families in the Soundex, you can call for
the
> real census
> pages so that you can get the original scoop.
>
> I think the soundexing was done in the 1930's to obtain information
for the
> new
> creature "Social Security". If you figure the oldest child was born
in
> 1870, such a
> child would have reached 65 in 1935.
>
> Recommend this URL:
>
> http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/soundex/soundex.html
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>
> Lawrence E. "Larry" KUTTNER of Oregon
>
> Larry Kuttner <>
>
> RESEARCHING:
> KUTTNER [CA, NY, Prussia]
> BELLAH/BALLAGH [CA, AR, SC, VI, Ireland]
> GIBSON [CA, AR, TN]
> NEWCOMB [CA, CT, NY, ME, MA, England]
> REYMANN [CA, NM, TX, Alsace]
> SHADDUCK/SHATTUCK [CA, MO, IA, OH, NY, England]
> SHARROCK [CA, TX, IL, OH, NY, England]
>
>

==

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/a/r/Alfred-Martinez/index.html

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This thread:

• M635 asked What's a Soundex? by Al Martinez <>