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>From The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy
Edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking
The Soundex Index System
Page 124
An index and filing system called the Soundex is the key to finding the
names of individuals among the millions listed in the 1880, 1900, 1910,
and 1920 federal censuses. The Soundex indexes include heads of
households and persons of different surnames in each household.
The Soundex indexes are coded surname (last name) indexes based on the
progression of consonants rather than the spelling of the surname. This
coding system was developed and implemented by the WPA in the 1930s for
the Social Security Administration in response to that agency's need to
identify individuals who would be eligible to apply for old-age
benefits. Because early birth records are unavailable in a number of
states, the 1880 census manuscripts became the most dependable means of
verifying dates of birth for people who would qualify-those born in the
1870s. Widespread misspelling caused so many problems in matching names,
however, that the Soundex system was adopted. Because locating eligible
Social Security beneficiaries was the sole reason for creating the 1880
Soundex, only households with children ten years of age or under were
included in that index. All households were included in the Soundex
indexes for the 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses.
How the Soundex Works
Soundex index entries are arranged on cards, first in Soundex code order
and then alphabetically by first name of the head of household. For each
person in the house, the Soundex card should show name, race, month and
year of birth, age, citizenship status, place of residence by state and
county, civil division, and, where appropriate for urban dwellers, the
city name, house number, and street name. The cards also list the volume
number, enumeration district number, and page and line numbers of the
original schedules from which the information was taken.
Coding A Surname
To search for a name it is necessary to first determine its Soundex
code. Every Soundex code consists of a letter and three numbers; for
example, S655. The letter is always the first letter of the surname. The
numbers are assigned according to the Soundex coding guide below.
Code key letters and equivalents:
1
B,P,F,V
2
C,S,K,G,J,Q,X,Z
3
D,T
4
L
5
M,N
6
R
The letters A, E, I, O, U, W, Y, and H are disregarded. Consonants in
each surname which sound alike have the same code.
Use of Zero in Coding Surnames
A surname that yields no code numbers, such as Lee, is L000; one
yielding only one code number, such as Kuhne, takes two zeros and is
coded as K500; and one yielding two code numbers takes just one zero;
thus, Ebell is coded as E140. No more than three digits are ever used,
so Ebelson would be coded as E142, not E1425.
Names With Prefixes
Because the Soundex does not treat prefixes consistently, surnames
beginning with, for example, Van, Vander, Von, De, Di, or Le may be
listed with or without the prefix, making it necessary to search for
both possibilities. Search for the surname vanDevanter, for example,
with and without the "van-" prefix. Mc- and Mac- are not considered
prefixes.
Names With Adjacent Letters Having the Same Equivalent Number
When two key letters or equivalents appear together or one key letter
immediately follows or precedes an equivalent, the two are coded as one
letter with a single number. (Surnames may have different letters that
are adjacent and have the same number equivalent.) Pfeiffer, for
example, is coded P160. Because the P and the F are both coded as 1,
only one (P) is used. The letters e and i separate the coded Pf from the
second and third appearance of the letter f, so one of these is coded.
The double f's again require that only one be considered in the code.
The letter r is represented by 6, and in the absence of additional
consonants, the code is rounded off with a zero. Other examples of
double-letter names are Lennon (L550), Kelly (K400), Buerck (B620),
Lloyd (L300), Schaefer (S160), Szucs (S200), and Orricks (O620).
Occasionally the indexers themselves made mistakes in coding names, so
it may be useful to look for a name in another code.
Different Names Within A Single Code
With this indexing formula, many different surnames may be included
within the same Soundex code. For example, the similar-sounding surnames
Scherman, Schurman, Sherman, Shireman, and Shurman are indexed together
as S655 and will appear in the same group with other surnames, such as
Sauerman or Sermon. Names that do not sound alike may also be included
within a single code: Sinclair, Singler, Snegolski, Snuckel, Sanislo,
San Miguel, Sungaila, and Szmegalski are all coded as S524.
Alphabetical Arrangement of First or Given Names Within the Code
As described above, multiple surnames appear within most Soundex codes.
Within each Soundex code, the individual and family cards are arranged
alphabetically by given name. Marked divider cards separate most Soundex
codes.
Mixed Codes
Divider cards show most code numbers, but not all. For instance, one
divider may be numbered 350 and the next one 400. Between the two
divided cards there may be names coded 353, 350, 360, 365, and 355, but
instead of being in numerical order they are interfiled alphabetically
by given name.
Soundex Reference Guide
For those who are unsure of their Soundex skills, most genealogical
libraries have a copy of Bradley W. Steuart, The Soundex Reference
Guide: Soundex Codes to Over 125,000 Surnames (Bountiful, Utah:
Precision Indexing, 1990).
Soundex Abbreviations
In addition to the letter/numerical codes, Soundex also uses a number of
abbreviations, most of which relate to residents' relationships to the
head of the household. NR (not recorded) is a frequently found
abbreviation.
Native Americans, Asians, and Nuns
Names of nuns, Native Americans, and Asians pose special problems.
Phonetically spelled Asian and Native American names were either coded
as one continuous name or by what seemed to be a surname. For example,
the Native American name Shinka-Wa-Sa may have been coded as Shinka
(S520) or Sa (S000). Nuns were coded as if "Sister" were the surname,
and they appear in each state's Soundex under the code S236, but not
necessarily in alphabetical order.
Soundex Research Tips
The Soundex indexes can be especially useful in identifying family
units, because all members of the household are listed on the Soundex
cards under the name of the head of the household. Often, census
searches begin with only a surname and the name of the state in which a
person or family lived in a given census year. In such cases, the
Soundex can be a means of determining surname distribution throughout
the state. A search can often be narrowed to a smaller geographic area
within a state. Once the county of origin is determined through census
work, whole new paths of research open up. The Soundex can also be used
to locate orphaned children living with persons of other surnames and to
identify families with grandparents living under the same roof. They are
sometimes listed on the Soundex cards, even though they may not be
indexed separately.
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