Do You Have Ancestors in the 1925 Iowa State Census?

I receive notifications from Ancestry with Hints after working some portions of my tree.  Yesterday I had worked on my daughter's paternal lines in the branch which came from Germany and settled around Franklin County Indiana.  One of the hints for a Charles Abram Gesell, my daughter's 1st Cousin 4 times removed, pointed to information available in the Iowa State Census Collection 1836-1925. (subscription required)  

This was an entry for the year 1925.  I was amazed to see that for this particular year, they had asked for the name and birthplace of each of enumerated person's parents.  I already knew his Charles' parents names but think of the potential info for an ancestor who is the head of household.   You'd get names and birthplaces for his parents and his in-laws. They also ask for Place where the parents married.  I'm so envious of anyone who has ancestors in this census. What I wouldn't give for this information for those of my ancestor.  I have a few siblings of my direct line who lived in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio so I'm going to check this database for the rarer surnames.  I might be able to also check for the more popular ones if I narrow down by location.  Not sure that Ancestry's search is working correctly but it always seems to work better when I'm searching in one database.  There are two pages(images) of information so be sure to check the one immediately following your household of interest for the second portion of the household's entry.

I did a quick search for Acuffs(main surname, father's surname, and mother's surname.  Anyone doing a One Name Study should check out this database.  The year 1925 was one in which there was a great deal of "moving around" in the US.  During that time period, many of my Tennessee relatives were heading to other cities and states looking for work and were not where you'd expect them to be.  There are a variety of earlier Iowa state census records in this collection.  The information collected varies from each census to the next.  If you aren't subscribed to Ancestry, you may be able to access it on-site at your local library.  The Family Search Library also has several of the Iowa State Censuses including the 1925 Iowa State Census.  You will need to have a FamilySearch account(which is free) and you don't have to be an LDS member to use FamilySearch.

Will of Phillip L. Gesell--1871 Franklin County, Indiana

My daughter's Paternal 5th Great Grandfather Phillip L. Gesell has such an informative will.  I found it today at Ancestry.  I've been wondering what all I'd see as far is it pertained to my own ancestry with the roll out of Ancestry's  Genetic Communities and today I thought about what it might mean for her ancestry as she too has atDNA tested at AncestryDNA.  While pretty much all of my lines are here in the US prior to the Revolutionary War, my daughter, Brittany has German lines which come to the US around 1830.  She also has an English line that immigrates in about 1890.

Phillip L. Gesell's Will is so wonderful because it names the children  and the husbands of his daughters as well as naming those who live out of state.  Three of the children are living in Iowa.

His Will is Recorded in Franklin Co Indiana.

Below is a small snippet of the will but it is perhaps the most informative portion.

Will of Phillip L Gesell
Probate Date 28 Aug 1871
Probate Place Franklin, Indiana, USA
Item Description Will Records, Vol 2-3, 1870-1890

Will Records; Author: Indiana. Probate Court (Franklin County); Probate Place: Franklin, Indiana   Will Records, Vol 2-3, 1870-1890  Ancestry.com. Indiana, Wills and Probate Records, 1798-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Indiana County, District and Probate Courts.
Accessed March 21, 2017