Saturday, May 20, 2000
I found some interesting stuff in the Soundex for the 1910 Census of Michigan (LDS film number 1370801). Ralph A. Brandi, age 39 was listed (under the name Brande) on page 516, in enumeration district 48, family number 52, with his wife Hellen M (sic), age 36 and born in Germany, and three children: Melvini E (sic), age 11, Vindent J (sic), age 15, and James P, age 13. So now I have an idea of when Melvina was born, but more importantly, I discovered a new sibling. Looking through the Saginaw obituary database, I see an entry for Vincent J. Brandi who died in June, 1917. If it's the same Vincent J. Brandi, that date of death for someone who would have been 22 years old could indicate that he died in World War I.
Alternately, the obituary could refer to another Vincent Brandi I found in the Census index, aged 64, living with his wife Mary, also aged 64, in Saginaw (enumeration district 47, family number 402). My great-grandfather's death certificate lists his parents as Vincent Brandi and Maria Rappa, so this could very well be them living in Saginaw; Aunt Lonnie had mentioned the possibility that they had come to America. If they were age 64 in 1910, they would have been 25 in 1871 when Ralph Sr. was born, which makes them the right age to be the parents.
I found another family of Brandis living in Saginaw in 1910 as well, Mihchael (sic), age 28, with his wife Mary and children Irene, Edmubd (sic) and Lawrence. (Enumeration district 51, family number 364.) I don't know how they're related, or even if they are, but I do what I can to look into it. There's also a Joseph H. Brandi listed as living in Grand Rapids, age 35 and born in Italy, with wife Amelia age 32 and son Raymond age 13. (Enumeration district 112, family number 203.) No idea if there's a connection, but I'll have to look into it.
There's other interesting stuff about this trawl through the Soundex, but I'll cover it when I get the actual Census records. Rather than get the microfilm through the Family History Center, I ordered the CD of the microfilm from Heritage Quest; that way I can peruse it at my leisure. I also took the opportunity to buy a couple of books, The Census Book, since I'm clearly going to be spending a lot of time with the Census in the next few months, and Evidence: Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian. I also "joined" Heritage Quest so that I get a discount on stuff I buy through them. I guess I need to buy probably four more CDs in the next year to have it pay for itself.
Posted at 10:39:46 AM
