Participate In and Preserve the 23rd U.S. Federal Census: 1-April-2010

I have a special appreciation for this census as it marks the 23rd census to record eight generations of consanguineous Powells, from my granddaughter to her 5th great grandfather. We are fortunate in the U.S. to have this census record because it has the added benefit to aid in the research of family history. So participate, and encourage others to participate, because, besides being required by law, it may be a legacy to your descendents and cousins.

This is my granddaughter’s first census. Because they hold the census detail for 72 years, she won’t get to see herself listed in the 2010 census census until 2082. It’s conceivable that my granddaughter could view her detail of the 2020 census in 2092, or maybe even the 2030 census in 2102. My mother, born 1916, saw herself listed in two censuses — the 1920 and 1930.

In the First U.S. Federal Census, 1790,  we find Richard Powell, born about 1755, in Union County, South Carolina.  He has a wife, daughters, and sons, one of which is 3 year-old Benjamin Powell, born 1787. 

In the Second Census, 1800, we find Richard Powell again in Union, South Carolina.  He has a wife, daughters, and sons, including the teenaged Benjamin Powell.

In the Third Census, 1810, we find that Richard has passed away and his wife, Sally, is now the head of household. Daughters and sons remain on the farm, including Benjamin Powell, 23.

In the Fourth Census, 1820, we find Benjamin Powell, about 33, in Union, South Carolina, as head of household with wife Catherine, his mother Sally, and five young children.

In the Fifth Census, 1830, we find Benjamin Powell, together with several of his neighbors seen in the previous four censuses, have moved as early settlers to Lawrence County, Tennessee, about 1825.  He is in Lawrence, Tennessee with six young children.

In the Sixth Census, 1840, we find Benjamin Powell, about 53, in Lawrence, Tennessee with wife Catherine and four children, the youngest of which is 6 year old Jacob Marion Powell, born 1834.

In the Seventh Census, 1850, we find Benjamin Powell, 64, in Lawrence, Tennessee with wife Catherine and the two youngest children, including Jacob Marion Powell.  This is the first census where names are listed along with additional detail, a portion of which is shown here.

In the Eighth Census, 1860, we find Jacob Marion Powell, 24, in Lawrence, Tennessee in his own household with wife Mary Ann Elizabeth Pullen and three young children.

In the Ninth Census, 1870, we find Jacob Marion Powell, 35, in Lawrence, Tennessee, widower, with nine children.

In the Tenth Census, 1880, we find Jacob Marion Powell, 46, with wife Eliza Caroline Day and eight children now in the household, one of which is 5 year-old Guy Herion Powell, born 1875.  This is the first census where relationship to the head of household is recorded.

The Eleventh Census, 1890, was destroyed by a fire at the Commerce Department in Washington, DC on 10 January 1921. The tragic loss of the 1890 census is a reminder to all generations of the importance of participating in and preserving the record.

In the Twelfth Census, 1900, we find Guy Herion Powell, 24, born Dec 1875,  in the household of his half-brother, William M Powell.

In the Thirteenth Census, 1910, we find Guy Herion Powell, 34, in Lawrence, Tennessee, with his wife Olivia Zillie McMasters and five children.

In the Fourteenth Census, 1920, we find Guy Herion Powell, 44, in Lawrence, Tennessee, with wife Zillie and nine children, including 6 year-old Charles Theo Powell, born 1913.

In the Fifteenth Census, 1930, we find Guy Herion Powell in Lawrence, Tennessee with wife Zillie and seven children, including teenager Charles Theo Powell.  However, about 1923, Guy moved his family to Caddo County, Oklahoma for a short while.  One of Guy’s sons remained in Oklahoma when the family moved back to Lawrence, Tennessee.  But the depression era had begun at this Fifteenth Census, and 17 year-old Charles Theo Powell, is looking back toward Oklahoma where his brother is established.

In the Sixteenth Census, 1940, to be released in 2012, we should find Charles Theo Powell with wife Thelma Theda Venable in Anadarko, Caddo, Oklahoma or Elk City, Beckham, Oklahoma.

In the Seventeenth Census, 1950, available about 2022, we should find Charles Theo Powell with wife Thelma and two daughters in Carnegie, Caddo, Oklahoma.

In the Eighteenth Census, 1960, available about 2032, we should find Charles Theo Powell with wife Thelma and a daughter and a son that would be me, Charles Emmitt Powell, born 1953, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Oklahoma.

In the Nineteenth Census, 1970, available about 2042, we should find Charles Theo Powell with wife and son, Charles Emmitt Powell in Oklahoma City.

In the Twentieth Census, 1980, available about 2052, we should find Charles Emmitt Powell, with wife and son Powell, born 1979, in Oklahoma City. 

In the Twenty-first Census, 1990, available about 2062, we should find Charles Emmitt Powell with wife and a son and a daughter in Dallas County, Texas.

In the Twenty-second Census, 2000, available about 2072, we should find my son Powell in Stillwater, Payne, Oklahoma.

In this, the Twenty-third Census, 2010, available about 2082, we should find my son Powell with his wife and my grand-daughter Powell, born 2008, in Collin County, Texas.  2010 then, marks the twenty-third census, 220 years after the first in 1790.

The census record gives a sense of continuity in place and time and history.  2010 is here. I hope you get to participate and preserve.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Federal Census,Census,Genealogy,Powell,Lawrence County Tennessee,Union County South Carolina

Kanye, Red-headed Elinor Burkett: Shock and describing it

As we dealt with it all, we turned Kanye into an eponym.

Ben Zimmer eloquently explains the technical turns and terms in his blog at the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus.

As a verb, Kanye has typically been used in the passive.

But Burkett was so brutal, Kanye’d is now understandably used in the active voice to describe her, uh, behavior. 

There are many interesting points in Zimmer’s blog:

"Kanye": Rebirth of an Eponym : Word Routes : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

Willadean loves her new word, eponym.

Oklahoma City Hippopotamus For Christmas

Gayla Peevy [I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas]  gave a delightful interview on 103.7 FM in Dallas this morning. 

Gayla shared a story similar to this found at www.christmas-lyrics.org :

Here’s an interesting fact about the popular Christmas hippopotamus song – in 1953 a ten-year-old girl from Oklahoma, Gayla Peevey sang the song as a way to raise money for the Oklahoma City Zoo’s first hippopotamus. It became a nationwide hit after that, although John Rox wrote the song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" in 1950! The song was not written specifically for the Oklahoma zoo, its just that when they needed the hippo the song came out so the Christmas hippopotamus song just fitted in.

Thank you, Gayla, for providing my childhood hippopotamus at the Oklahoma City Zoo.

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas Lyrics

Technorati Tags: I Want A Hippopatamus For Christmas,Gayla Peevy

Talking about YouTube – Windy City Cowboys do Dallas

 

The dance club from Chicago, Windy City Cowboys, perform in the 2009 Dallas Pride Parade, 20-Sept-2009.

YouTube – Windy City Cowboys do Dallas
 

Photosynth – Texas Freedom Parade, Dallas 2009

The crowd slowly disperses after the parade in Dallas on Cedar Springs. 

Photosynth – Texas Freedom Parade, Dallas 2009

Technorati Tags: Texas Freedom Parade,Dallas Pride Parade

Are you complacent about complaisant?

Willadean scratches her head on this one, because she’s not complacent about the power of words.  The words complaisant and complacent are confusingly similar. It was Willadean’s determination to be not so complaisant that saved her life.  (see Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife)

The m-w.com Word of the Day opens with:

The homophones "complaisant" and "complacent" are often confused — and no wonder.

See Merriam-Webster Online

McDonald’s Puts the Accent on Advertising : Word Routes : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

This article by Ben Zimmer is going to keep Willadean busy for days.  It might grab the attention of marketing students, hot coffee litigators, multi-syllabic named coffee aficionados, buffoonish movie characters, and lovers of Sooooper Bowl commercials. Yes, it’s rich.  Ben writes about the language of the McCafé commercial.

Ben nails it with this:

The suggestion seems to be that your prosaic life can be improved by the simple addition of an iced mocha coffee, just as a jaunty little line over a mild-mannered "e" can add a dash of linguistic élan.

But that’s not all.  There’s more. Yep, Willadean is going to look up some words.  And Charles will add some movies to the wanna-see list.

McDonald’s Puts the Accent on Advertising : Word Routes : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

In Search of “Swine Flu” : Word Routes : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

Swine?  Mexican?  Hybrid?  H1N1?  That list demonstrates the wonder of what to call a Bad Thing.  Blogger Ben Zimmer goes even deeper into the history of the flu as shown in this excerpt detail:

The shorthand flu is the result of "clipping" at both ends of the longer word. Typically English words get clipped at the beginning (e.g., [tele]phone, [air/aero]plane, [auto]bus, [motor]car), or at the end (e.g., deli[catessen], rehab[ilitation], condo[minium]). Some words can get clipped at the beginning or the end, like taxicab becoming either taxi or cab. But every now and then a word like influenza can get clipped at the beginning and the end: we also have refrigerator becoming fridge, head-shrinker becoming shrink, and Elizabeth becoming Liz.

In Search of "Swine Flu" : Word Routes : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

I fear to incommode you. — Poirot

Oh my gosh!  The word accommodate will never have the same meaning for me.  In Murder on the Orient Express, Hercule Poirot used the word incommode.  That sounded like an antonym to accommodate, but it turns out to be more interesting than that.

What is the ultimate convenience? The chamber pot (1540), toilet (1667), the commode (1688), of course!  

These come from Latin (with measure) and French (suitable, convenient) and then morph into accommodate (1550) and incommode (1598).

So next time you are, uh, enjoying the accommodations, you can be thankful you are not incommoded.

“Activist Judge”

Can we look for a moment at the term “Activist Judge” as a disparagement used by politicians in comments about the Iowa Supreme Court ruling in the Varnum v. Brien case.

Activist: a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue. Synonym for activist: It is striking that the only listed synonym for activist is militant.

Militant: engaged in warfare or combat. Aggressively active (as in a cause). Fighting. Combative.

Judge: to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premises. A public official authorized to decide questions brought before a court. One who gives an authoritative opinion.

Let’s see: These definitions tell me that the term “activist judge” denies the court’s authority. The term fantasizes of an armed reforming judge – think of activists such as Malcolm X, Malcolm Little, Black Panther, Black Muslim. The world needs activists, but really, has anyone ever seen an activist judge in the United States or in your hometown? Rendering an opinion with which some disagree is not activism.

You know what? “Activist judge” is just a perverted twist of the tongue and mind that exposes extreme frustration and fear that the accuser is losing control and influence in his provincial world. I would be wary of the user of the term as they accuse in press releases and political campaigns. In other words, vote them out of office.

The term “activist judge” should die, but if it will be viable, then let it be used for the ilk of Fred Phelps and the late Jerry Falwell.

For an eloquent and direct treatment of “activist judge” see Our Idiot-Proof Democracy

Definitions are from www.m-w.com, www.visualthesaurus.com, Disparagement "Activist Judge"