What Is This Statistics Project?

FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com have a statistics project that you can be involved with. It’s indexing the 1950 census. This project is unlike any other project I’ve seen. A computer has already indexed the census, and they just want humans to verify that the computer did it right. Also not only can you choose the state, but also the surnames that you verify. The project has been going on for about three months already, but I didn’t look into it until the middle of May.  My home state, Nevada, is 100% done so I missed out on verifying my family’s data. Instead, I tried to find my husband’s family. They lived in Ohio, but some of them moved to California in 1950. I wasn’t sure which month they moved. The program asked me if I wanted to find a particular surname. I chose Sallay a few times in both Ohio and California, and I indexed whatever Sallay person I saw and their entire household. Sometimes I did their neighbors, but most of the time I didn’t. On about the tenth try, this page came up:

I was so thrilled. The family in blue is my husband’s grandfather, grandmother, and Uncle Paul.  His grandparents had died before I ever met my husband, but I have read his grandfather’s journal, and I feel like I know him and his wife pretty well. My husband’s Uncle Paul was very near and dear to my heart. For twenty years he was always very kind to my family whenever we visited him, and it was my privilege to move him into my home and be his primary caregiver for the last 7 1/2 years of his life.

I did not index the record. I had my husband do it. It was a sweet experience. Perhaps YOU have family members who were alive in the United States in 1950 that you could index. It could be one of the most meaningful statistics projects of your life!

How did the computer do indexing my husband’s family members? It got their names right, but it completely got their street name wrong. Since I knew the street name, I was able to change it from something like Ainberland to the correct name of Cumberland.

My father, mother, two sisters, and a brother are in the 1950 Census. They lived in the house that I would come home to shortly after my birth in a few more years. The thing that amazed me the most was our house number. I’ve known the street name my entire life, but I didn’t know the house number until today. For the first 5 years of my life, my house number was 2535, and that also just happens to be my house number for these last 28 1/2 years, too, and I don’t have plans to move anytime soon. I was so stunned at this revelation, that I called my sister who has been to my house many times. She knew the house numbers were the same, but never mentioned it to me because she figured I was so good with numbers that I already knew.

What will surprise you when you look at the 1950 Census? Indexing your own family can prevent errors. I wish I had indexed my family. I would not have said my sister was already a widow at five years of age or that my brother was born in Cavada. Find your family in the census and get their information right!

Now I’ll write a little about the number 1719 because this is my 1719th post.

Factors of 1719:

• 1719 is a composite number.
• Prime factorization: 1719 = 3 × 3 × 191, which can be written 1719 = 3² × 191.
• 1719 has at least one exponent greater than 1 in its prime factorization so √1719 can be simplified. Taking the factor pair from the factor pair table below with the largest square number factor, we get √1719 = (√9)(√191) = 3√191.
• The exponents in the prime factorization are 2 and 1. Adding one to each exponent and multiplying we get (2 + 1)(1 + 1) = 3 × 2 = 6. Therefore 1719 has exactly 6 factors.
• The factors of 1719 are outlined with their factor pair partners in the graphic below.

More About the Number 1719:

1719 is the difference of two squares in three different ways:
860² – 859² = 1719,
288² – 285² = 1719, and
100² – 91² = 1791.

1791 is the sum of nine consecutive odd numbers:
183 + 185 + 187 + 189 + 191 + 193 + 195 + 197 + 199 = 1719.
The numbers in red are prime numbers that form a prime decade.