Monday Is for Mothers: Delilah "Delia" Grove (1845 - 1925) Iowa Census Records, Ancestry vs. FamilySearch

When I looked at what I had written about this maternal great great grandmother in 2014 I found that I hadn't included entries for her (and her husband Richard Worden) from various Iowa State Census records.

While that omission may have because I didn't think it important to add those records for a couple who remained in the same location (Jones County) from their arrival there by the 1850 U.S. Census until their deaths* it also could have been, at least in the case of the 1915 state census, because of the poor quality of the image provided by Ancestry.

[Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.]

I had forgotten that when a record appears in two separate websites, it's useful to check both databases because what I found at FamilySearch is obviously the from the same source but is much easier to read.

["Iowa State Census, 1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8926-ZVY9?cc=2240483&wc=QSZP-HZ9%3A1291580202%2C1291585001 : 5 October 2016), Jones > Tasker, Mrs. Minnie-Zumbrunnen, Peter > image 1958 of 2374; Iowa State Historical Department, Des Moines.]

Inspired by that I decided to look at another Iowa census, this time for 1905 to see if there was a difference. What showed up via Ancestry was an index of the enumeration but not the individual cards for both of them.

[Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.]

The records on FamilySearch have been indexed and I located Delliah's card (#585) but a search for Richard Worden (#584) produced nothing. The cards in this file are not in numerical or alphabetical order (either by surname or township) so there's no clue to where his is.

["Iowa State Census, 1905," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9ZV-BWXH?cc=2126961&wc=QDRZ-TC3%3A1589972866 : 23 August 2016), 007486409 > image 3127 of 3956; State Historical Department, Des Moines.]

Although her given name is spelled Delliah in both these censuses, that's not the way it was recorded in other records. I honestly don't know which spelling she preferred.

Here's how she's related to me.

[Ancestry.com]

*1912 for Richard and 1925 for Delilah.



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