Tuell.Net

Sometimes it seems so strange to me that, when we are gone from this life, all that is left of us are the bits and scraps of paper that carry our name, the photos (the good, the bad and the ugly), and whatever documents that are required by the government.  It is those government documents that become the backbone of genealogical research.  Birth, death, marriage, divorce and property records are priceless. But when it comes to verifying the residence of a person or family in a given location, or tracking the movements of families across and around the country, nothing beats the census.  Through the census images available on Ancestry.com and other sites, I've found family members I didn't know existed.  I've followed my 4th great grandfather, John Rossiter Smith, from Hebron, Conn., to Armenia, Penn., and learned how he and many of his neighbors moved to the same place at the same time around 1833. I would never have been witness to this if I did not have access to the original images. 

That's why I cannot fathom why the federal government has decided not to digitize the current census documents, but instead, to simply do a statistical summary and have the documents destroyed.  This was proposed in 2000 but defeated by tremendous public outcry.

Congress can persuade these agencies to reconsider. Send letters supporting the imaging of the 2010 census forms to:

Rep. Ed Towns
Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Rep. Darrell Issa
Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
B-350 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C, 20515

Senator Tom Carper
Chairman, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security
432 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator John McCain
Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government information, Federal Services, and International Security
241 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

You can also address your concerns to:

Adrienne Thomas
Acting Archivist
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20741-6001

Thomas Messenbourg
Acting Director
U. S. Census Bureau
4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, D.C. 20233