California Voter Lists 1900-1944 Online

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:

Ancestry.com Uncovers California's Political Persuasions With More Than 30 Million Names in Voter Registration Lists, 1900-1944

A Modern-Day California Gold Mine for Family History Research, 20th-Century Voter Lists Reveal Party Loyalties of California Residents and Celebrities

PROVO, Utah, Jan. 31 -- Ancestry.com, the largest online resource for family history, today announced the launch of California Voter Registration Lists documenting more than 30 million names of Californians who registered to vote between 1900 and 1944. The collection, now searchable for the first time online, comes just prior to Super Tuesday, one of the most significant milestones in the 2008 race to the White House.

The unique collection reveals the political persuasions of California residents -- including famous celebrities who registered to vote during the first half of the 1900s. The collection also documents the voter's name, occupation, gender, age, street address, voting district, and city and county of residence. Many of the earliest voter registrations include detailed physical descriptions of the register and even naturalization information. Because the lists were updated every two years, the collection enables users to track their ancestors through time and serves as a valuable replacement for census records since California did not take state censuses.

"Peeking into the political preferences of our ancestors and celebrities is fascinating," said Megan Smolenyak, Chief Family Historian for Ancestry.com. "Very few historical records actually reveal the opinions of our ancestors. With this collection of voter registrations, someone with California family ties can discover the political black sheep in the family or which ancestor changed their family's party affiliation forever."

Several California celebrities and political figures are found inside the collection, including:

-- Actor and future U.S. President Ronald Reagan was registered to vote in 1942 as a Democrat and remained a registered party member until at least 1954. According to Reagan's 1958 voter registration, he and wife Nancy Reagan changed their party affiliation to Republican.

-- Lucille Ball is found in the collection registered as a Communist in 1936 and 1938, and was later asked to testify before Congress during McCarthy's Communist witch hunts.

-- According to the 1944 records, Ozzy and Harriett Nelson are both registered as Republicans. Harriett was employed as an "actress," and Ozzy as an "orchestra leader."

-- In a 1924 voter registration list, Walt Disney is found alongside brothers Robert and Roy. Walt and Robert were registered as Republicans, while Roy chose to "decline statement." In 1940, Walt's wife Lillian changed her party affiliation to Democrat, while Walt remained Republican.

"These records give evidence of a changing and growing America," said Smolenyak. "Every American with California roots can appreciate this collection and what it tells them about how their own family evolved over the years."

About Ancestry.com -- Visit us at http://www.ancestry.com/

With 25,000 searchable databases and titles and more than 2.5 million active users, Ancestry.com is the No. 1 online source for family history information. Since its launch in 1997, Ancestry.com has been the premier resource for family history, simplifying genealogical research for millions of people by providing them with many easy-to-use tools and resources to build their own unique family trees. The site is home to the only complete online U.S. Federal Census collection, 1790-1930, as well as the world's largest online collection of U.S. ship passenger list records featuring more than 100 million names, 1820-1960. Ancestry.com is part of The Generations Network, Inc., a leading network of family-focused interactive properties, including http://www.myfamily.com/, http://www.rootsweb.com/, http://www.genealogy.com/ and Family Tree Maker. In total, The Generations Network properties receive 8.7 million unique visitors worldwide and more than 416 million page views a month (© comScore Media Metrix, October 2007). For more information, visit The Generations Network media room at http://tgn.mediaroom.com/.

View images of selected celebrities' voter registration lists at http://blogs.ancestry.com/.

Comments

[Carlos]

Ancestry.com gets my vote!!!

This is exactly the type of value-added data that gives me reason to subscribe, year after year.

[M. Diane Rogers]

Alas, I just looked & that database doesn't even seem to be on Ancestry.com yet?
This could include my elusive Smith.) Tried again, and now ancestry's search is down. Maybe the Newsletter readers are trying to get at that index all at once! I will certainly try again.

[Carlos]

It's online, but they haven't put a link on homepage yet, so you won't find it in the 'what's new' section. You can find it under 'search' when you look specifically at California records.

[Athena]

This collection was the subject of an Ancestry blog article yesterday. You can get to the collection via

http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=1249

It is not an indexed collection and accessible only as a full text search; which means you end up with a lot of false positives.

[Karl]

I'll take a lot of false postives for these records (I haven't had too much problem with the 3 or 4 people I've looked up). Its great - has profession on some records, politcal party, address. Now we just the other 49 states! :).

[kiluco]

I have a rather unique name. I queried Ancestry Voter's Registration for my name, and after finding more than 200 entries, I gave up. I can guarantee that there are not 200 folks in the entire world with my same name. I queried my wife's married name, and yes, she was there, as was I. But, none of the several (my name) I found in the same year linked to that same record. Once again, Ancestry has gotten it partially right. I have gained alot of knowledge through my Ancestry subscription, but it has been one of the most frustrating experiences I can imagine.

[Ellen]

Just tried this site and none of the images displayed, all I got were blank pages. There is a link from the Ancestry home page under What's New. Ancestry again has jumped the gun in their announcements. Am really getting tired of their "non-performance".

[Dick Eastman]

I just checked and the pages are displaying perfectly here. You also will note the earlier comments posted above by other people who have already used the new images and commented on them. Obviously, the pages did display for them. I don't doubt that you are experiencing difficulties but not everyone is.

- Dick Eastman
(in a hotel room in Las Vegas)

[catpurrson]

The problem with using this database -- as is the problem with many databases across the board in genealogy -- is that it does not look for the entire text string as a unit. So if the two words occur any place on the same page, you get a "hit." Makes searching very difficult when you think you have found your correct Mickey Mouse only to discover "a" Joe Mouse and a Ralph Moose who happens to live on Mickey Street.

[Chris]

catpurrson, if the name fields are not returning the results you need, try searching for exact phrases using quotations marks in the keyword field ("Ronald Reagan" or "round meadow rd").

[Chris]

Clarification, a search for the exact phrase "Ronald Reagan" in the keyword field returns no results because names are listed surname, first name. To get that name via the keyword field, one should search for "Reagan, Ronald" (exact phrase). Of course, he can also be found using the name fields.

[Chris]

Clarification, a search for the exact phrase "Ronald Reagan" in the keyword field returns no results because names are listed surname, first name. To get that name via the keyword field, one should search for "Reagan, Ronald" (exact phrase). Of course, he can also be found using the name fields.

[ida]

Ellen - I initially had the experience of thinking that "none of the images displayed, all I got were blank pages", just as you wrote.

What I realized was that for some reason I was being shown only a blank portion of the page. I chose "fit image" from the pull-down box, and the whole correct document appeared.

Hope this helps.

[Lorelee]

Thank to Dick Eastman for letting us know this was on ancestry. I found my dad in 1930 with one address and then in 1932 found his wife{not my mom, 1st wife} with a different addresses. This gives me a really good idea of when they divorced.

[Lyn]

I was very happy to see my voter registration was NOT there. So long as I'm still breathing I figure my voter registration is no one's business but mine. County I registered in had many missing years. Probably the first time in my family history searching life I've been happy about data being missing.

But... I'll likely look up friends, family and acquaintances. I admit to a "snoop" gene.

[GERALDINE]

WOW! What a great source of info on my CA relatives! It took me awhile, but I traced my grandmother, Minnie Boone Ingersoll, from 1928-1954 using the Voter Registration Lists (they are 1900-1968, by the way.)I did not know Minnie, so charting her many moves during this time was very cool! She was a school teacher and single mother. Minnie lived in at least eight different places (8 documented by the VRL) between 1928 and 1954. I'm pretty sure she purchased, and then rented out most of the residences that are listed...nice little sideline for a teacher.
I also could confirm that Minnie gave herself the middle name of GRACE, and when, and could then guess why.
VERY, VERY COOL RESOURCE FOR THOSE OF US RESEARCHING CALIFORNIA RELATIVES!

[Barbara]

I found the person I was looking for in 1962. In the party column there was a DS. There were others on the page with R or D. This was Los Angeles County. Does anyone know what DS was?

[Barbara]

I found the person I was looking for in 1962. In the party column there was a DS. There were others on the page with R or D. This was Los Angeles County. Does anyone know what DS was?

[Timothy Eastman]

I believe DS was 'decline statement' for those who did not wish to commit or admit to a particular party affiliation.

[Suzia]

DS indicates "Declined to State" for party affiliation.

I've had luck eliminating false positives by using the Exact Name search, occasionally using a known word in the keyword box. Since these are full page scans, matches are done on a proximity basis. (This does not, however, eliminate duplicate scans of the same page; rather frustrating when you find yourself loading three images of the exact same page, especially on a slow dial-up connection.)

Unfortunately for me, the county I most need to research is one of the 7 excluded. (Omitted are Colusa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Placer, Plumas and Riverside.) Still, with 51 counties included for at least some years, this is a terrific resource.

[Helen Crowe]

When I find my family, the site is great. There are some missing pages, however. I could not find an uncle in 1942 in Contra Costa County, but I did find my parents who lived next door. When I went back page by page, I found that that precinct started part way through the alphabet. Since my uncle was in the state legistature at the time, I knew he had to be registered. It might also be stated that some counties do not have many years posted.

[Suzanne B]

We have seen an overwhelmingly positive response to the release of the California Voter Registration database and have enjoyed seeing so many Ancestry users dig into the collection. We have a reporter interested in speaking with someone who's found an ancestor in the collection. If you have discovered a family member in the California Voter Registration collection and would like to share your story, please contact us at share@ancestry.com.

[newport driving school]

Looking at the sample, Harriet Nelson “declined statement” in 1944. It was the woman below Ozzie who was a Republican.