Burt Pease at Work Transcribing
Buxton & Hollis Censuses
Burton Pease has been busy during his spare time transcribing the census reports from Buxton and Hollis and has recently prepared and gifted several copies of each to the Historical Society. So far, he has completed the years 1860, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 for both Towns and is two-thirds through 1880!
Burt was born and raised in Bar Mills, where he lives with Barbara, his wife of over 60 years. He attended the Bar Mills Grammar School, which is now the home of the Buxton-Hollis Historical Society. Graduating from Buxton High School, Burt has always had an interest in history, both during his school years and since, especially American and local history.
On the Pease Family Tree there are ancestors who were in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. To learn more, Burt dug into genealogical data, including the Buxton and Hollis Census reports. He found that the census reports for both Buxton and Hollis have generally between 35 to 50 pages each, with up to 50 names on each page! If you're looking for a special individual, where do you start? The name could be on the first page, last page or anywhere in between. He thought how much simpler it would be if the head of households were listed in alphabetical order. Hence, that is the project he has been working on for the past few years, both for his own use and for other researchers.
The varying occupations of our townspeople over the years has interested Burt, as well as family changes. He also has been able to get an idea of the new people who moved into Town, if their name did not appear on a previous census. “Of course, the age of the person is important to consider, too,” he stresses, “particularly if a name appears in one census and not in a later one.” This hints at what happened, which may lead to research in another direction or resource, i.e. perhaps the person moved or passed away.
Volunteers at the BHHS Research Library are finding Burt’s alphabetized census lists very helpful as they assist researchers, who can go to that particular census, then look for the name and page, rather than searching the entire census. What a time saver!
We are very grateful to Burt for his dedicated, detailed and excellent work, which will assist researchers for many years to come! THANK YOU SO MUCH, BURT!
*Copies are available for patron viewing in the BHHS Research Library and for sale in the BHHS Museum Store.
Burt was born and raised in Bar Mills, where he lives with Barbara, his wife of over 60 years. He attended the Bar Mills Grammar School, which is now the home of the Buxton-Hollis Historical Society. Graduating from Buxton High School, Burt has always had an interest in history, both during his school years and since, especially American and local history.
On the Pease Family Tree there are ancestors who were in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. To learn more, Burt dug into genealogical data, including the Buxton and Hollis Census reports. He found that the census reports for both Buxton and Hollis have generally between 35 to 50 pages each, with up to 50 names on each page! If you're looking for a special individual, where do you start? The name could be on the first page, last page or anywhere in between. He thought how much simpler it would be if the head of households were listed in alphabetical order. Hence, that is the project he has been working on for the past few years, both for his own use and for other researchers.
The varying occupations of our townspeople over the years has interested Burt, as well as family changes. He also has been able to get an idea of the new people who moved into Town, if their name did not appear on a previous census. “Of course, the age of the person is important to consider, too,” he stresses, “particularly if a name appears in one census and not in a later one.” This hints at what happened, which may lead to research in another direction or resource, i.e. perhaps the person moved or passed away.
Volunteers at the BHHS Research Library are finding Burt’s alphabetized census lists very helpful as they assist researchers, who can go to that particular census, then look for the name and page, rather than searching the entire census. What a time saver!
We are very grateful to Burt for his dedicated, detailed and excellent work, which will assist researchers for many years to come! THANK YOU SO MUCH, BURT!
*Copies are available for patron viewing in the BHHS Research Library and for sale in the BHHS Museum Store.