Celebrity Census — Business Men & Women

There are many immigrants who have come to America and built empires, leaving a legacy for their family and the American public. It's fascinating to see the story of these American dreams unfold in the U.S. Census documents. Some arrive with $20 in their pocket, but later go on to create vast fortunes in their new home. This category will feature interesting stories from the business community, names that are well known brands in some cases today. Once such example is Chef Boyardee. Born in Piacenza, Italy on 22 October 1897, Hector Boiardi came to America like many of his countrymen and eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio. This 1920 census image (below) shows a 23-year old Boiardi as a cook in Cleveland City, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He is listed as one of several lodgers living in the home of Annie Simonetti. By the time of his death on 21 June 1985 at the age of 87, Boiardi had established a brand and pioneered an industry which still bears his name to this day.

Among the other business men and women appearing in U.S. Census records are the following: Henry Ford, Louis B. Mayer, David Sarnoff, Amadeo Giannini, Charles Merrill, Stephen Bechtel, Willis Carrier, Walt Disney, R. H. Macy, Juan Trippe, William Levitt, Walter Reuther, Leo Burnett, Thomas Watson, Jr., Ray Kroc, Estee Lauder, Pete Rozelle, Akio Morita, Sam Walton, and even Bill Gates (but it might be a few years before we can see the schedules for Bill and some others).

Other Useful Sites for Genealogy
When conducting family history research, you will quickly realize that no one source can answer all your questions. This is true for original source material, physical archives, and those archives that have been digitized and transcribed for searching via the Internet.

While this site is focused on Celebrity census, there are a host of other record types and Web sites that may be of interest. Here are some of our favorites:

¤ 1950 Census - Free tips for researching census records
¤ Census - Overview of US 1790-1940, Canada, & UK
¤ Genealogy 101 Tips for Beginners & Free forms
¤ NY Arrivals Searcing NY passenger arrivals
¤ Vital Records Tips at Genealogy Worldwide
¤ Ellis Island The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
¤ American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island
¤ New York Passenger Lists, detail about the Port of NY
¤ SteveMorse.org One Step Search Tools
¤ Castle Garden
¤ APG Assoc. of Professional Genealogists
¤ LDS Church The Mormon Church
¤ Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter By Dick Eastman