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Visualizing the Parish Census (By R. Green)
Visualizing and Actualizing Congregation Data
Visualizing and Actualizing Congregation Data
By taking historic maps, and overlaying them onto present day geography, I was able to recreate a community that no longer exists.
What is this, anyway?
What is this, anyway?
The ArcGIS page I have created is a partial visualization of data recorded in a bound book.
You can view it here. (Please open it on Map Viewer. It does not work on Map Viewer Classic.)
The book originated from The Sacred Heart (Sacre Coeur) Parish, a Catholic, Franco-American congregation based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It is written mostly in French.
The Church has long since been torn down. Sacred Heart congregation has merged with several sister parishes in the area, and they are cumulatively known as Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
This community as it was does not exist anymore... But I can find who and where they were.
The information in the bound book contains the address, names, and ages of members of the congregants and their families at the time of the initial recording.
There are additional updates from when this list was first created, such as births, deaths, marriages, and if the family had left town or not whilst the book was still in use.
I have taken selected entries to locate the homes of the congregants in an effort to map the physical community in relation to where the Sacred Heart Church once stood.
However, it has been around 100 years since the later entries of the book. The landscape has changed a good deal. Not to worry. I had THE SANBORN FIRE MAPS.
What are the Sanborn Fire Maps?
What are the Sanborn Fire Maps?
The Sanborn Fire maps are a series of cartographical undertakings by an insurance agency seeking to chart properties and assess risks.
They generally list the material composition of buildings, and address/lot numbers, as part of risk assessment, and documentation of what could be lost in a fire.
The annual publication also happens to be some of the most startlingly accurate street maps ever created, making them incredibly valuable to historians.
For anyone who is curious, I recommend checking out some of the collection that has been digitized by the Library of Congress. They also provide a quick explanation of how to read the material!
This project utilizes the 1924 recording of New Bedford, the presumed final year that the Parish Census was updated, to visualize its information.
What Did I Do?
What Did I Do?
I guesstimated the approximate modern location of relavent or listed addresses from the Parish Census.
I acquired copies of individual map slides from the 1924 edition of the New Bedford Sanborn Fire Maps. (Thank you Boston Public Library, and your microfolm readers!)
I georeferenced slides of historic Sanborn Maps onto ArcGIS' present day satellite imagery of the area.
I took legible entries from the Parish Census, and placed them onto the map. (More on why I did it the way I did later...)
I... got a good grade on this assignment..?
Some places have hardly changed!
Some places have hardly changed!
These historic maps are basically 1:1 with the present location of things!
Others look VERY different!
Others look VERY different!
"Hey, who dropped this highway on the neighborhood!" - Someone from New Bedford at some point, probably.
SOMETIMES THIS WAS ALL EASIER SAID THAN DONE.
SOMETIMES THIS WAS ALL EASIER SAID THAN DONE.
Admittedly, the original document is in rough shape...
Admittedly, the original document is in rough shape...
The cover is barely attached.
The cover is barely attached.
The spine is gone, and the bindings are very fragile.
The spine is gone, and the bindings are very fragile.
The wear on more utilized sections is visibly apparent.
The wear on more utilized sections is visibly apparent.
Some pages are actually legible.
Some pages are actually legible.
And some are scuffed, scribbled, smudged messes.
And some are scuffed, scribbled, smudged messes.
(Handwriting also varies quite a bit throughout that document! It implies that more than one person worked on it, but also creates some misery when it transitions to worse penmanship!)
There are some entries that have been erased as well!
There are some entries that have been erased as well!
Apparently this was salvaged by someone who "went dumpster diving!" Whether that means that grabbed it before it was thrown out, or if they actively hopped into a trash receptacle is anyone's guess! I know what the funnier possibility is, and I know which one I hope happened, given that I touched this document with my bare hands.
Apparently this was salvaged by someone who "went dumpster diving!" Whether that means that grabbed it before it was thrown out, or if they actively hopped into a trash receptacle is anyone's guess! I know what the funnier possibility is, and I know which one I hope happened, given that I touched this document with my bare hands.
I think I pulled this off quite well, given the humble origins of the data.
I think I pulled this off quite well, given the humble origins of the data.
Just look at all the colors on top of the Sanborn Maps! Those are all Census entries put into context! Each color corresponds to information that the entry yields, like births or deaths.
I didn't even do 1/4 of all of the entries in that book! And there is already so much!
The Map Key:
The Map Key:
Purple is used to indicate churches related to the parish.
Green homes indicate that the family stayed in the area.
Blue homes indicate that the family left the area. (Indicated in the original document as 'PARTI,' or 'Left/Moved away,' in English.)
Black borders indicate a resident passed away since first being recorded. (Abbreviated as 'DEC' standing for décédé, or in English, 'Deceased')
Orange borders indicate one or more births in the family since they were first recorded. (Indicated in the document by recording the child one column to the right from the rest of their family, implying it is a later addition.)
Grey borders indicate that the resident is still a member of the congregation, but is not living in the area at the time of recording. (Abbreviated as 'ABS,' short for 'Absent')
Red borders indicate that a resident was married (MARIÉ, or married in English)
Pink borders indicate that the home unit was occupied by more than one family unit.
There are also occasionally pins over certain homes to indicate some peculiarities in the family's entry. For example, some reasons for ABS designation were listed, or perhaps the destination of a family who left is noted.
HERES THE WHOLE PROCESS IN ACTION
HERES THE WHOLE PROCESS IN ACTION
Step 1: Find an entry I could read
Step 1: Find an entry I could read
This one looks pretty good!
Step 2: Find the location
Step 2: Find the location
Locating 22 Locust street is easy, because house and lot numbers are visible on the Sanborn Maps.
Step 3: Mark the location according to the color code.
Step 3: Mark the location according to the color code.
The green indicates that the family stayed in town while the document was being written, while the orange indicates that a new child was born, and had turned 4 before they were finally added to the document.
Step 4: Input the info so others can see it.
Step 4: Input the info so others can see it.
Nothing crazy, just typing up info that is already in the book.
Some entries can be quite curious! I want people to see them!
Some entries can be quite curious! I want people to see them!
This green pin...
This green pin...
It's for the residents of 71 Hazard St.
Here's that entry!
Here's that entry!
It looks like Mr. Bessette is absent in St. Pierre in Canada!
The recorder seems quite baffled!
He's staying with his parents and not his wife?
He's staying with his parents and not his wife?
Wow, wonder if there was any drama there!
Not the most technologically crazy thing in the world, but I'm happy with it. It helps me visualize a long gone community!
WOW. Thanks for reading this far just for a proof of concept. That's crazy.
WOW. Thanks for reading this far just for a proof of concept. That's crazy.
Do you like maps? Me too! Click here to look at what I made out of all this stuff if you haven't already!
Do you like maps? Me too! Click here to look at what I made out of all this stuff if you haven't already!
Questions?
Questions?
Answers!
Original demographic data courtesy of the Parish Collection at the French Institute at Assumption University, box 4.
Sanborn Map Company, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, 1924. New York: "Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Massachusetts, (1867-1950)." Courtesy of the Boston Public Library
Project completed for the final of Hist. 7888.
Page updated
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