My great-grandmother Irene Adele Petipren was born December 22, 1892 in Anchorville, St. Clair, Michigan to Joseph Henry Petipren and Mary Ann (Schultz) Petipren. I found her listed in the 1900, 1910, and 1920 census with her family.
1900 U.S. Census, Saint Clair, Michigan, population schedule, Ira Township, enumeration district (ED) 86, p. 3B, dwelling 45, family 44; Joseph Petipren; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 January 2012); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 741.
In the 1900 census, we learn a lot about Irene's family. The enumerator records Joseph and Mary as having seven children: Andrew, Irene, Roy, Alice, Marion, Agnes, and Cecilia. A couple of the children's names are spelled differently on the census than how they are spelled on other records. The census includes the birth month and year for everyone in the family though I found other sources show some of the birth years were off by one or two years. The children were all born in Michigan. We also learn Irene's mom and dad were married about 10 years and both were born in Michigan. Her father's parents were born in Switzerland and her mother's parents were born in Germany. The family rented a farm in Ira Township, St. Clair County, Michigan. Irene's father Joseph was a store keeper. The three oldest children were in school and the enumerator records which family members have an education and are literate.
It is amazing how much you can learn about a family's life from a 100 year old document. Each fact of information is like finding pieces of a puzzle. As each little piece is snapped into place, the picture becomes more clear in describing the life of an individual and their family.
