Unknown County GaArchives History .....Principles of Understanding Census Bloopers and Census Indexing ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Donna Eldridge DonnaEldrid@aol.com June 25, 2004, 3:40 pm THE PRINCIPLES OF UNDERSTANDING CENSUS BLOOPERS AND CENSUS INDEXING (Part 1 of 2) Cenus enumerators over the decades have given the records they have compiled a myriad of complicated and confusing "bloopers". These "bloopers" are nothing more than unintended mistakes, cultural phonics, and a host of spelling disabilities. All of these bloopers are coupled with individual inattention, negligence, oversight and to some extent carelessness. To add insult to injury, all of the above has been multiplied by centuries of unprofessional archival storage. Recorded bloopers have literally invaded every area of record keeping which has put a tremendous burden on present day paleographic-historical-demographers (those who use computers to index or transcribe census records. While there are many definitions that can apply here, we shall limit ourselves to the science of census interpretation and indexing. The final burden of proof in determing the correctness or incorrectness of a name in the census record lies with the researcher. All to often the general public concensus has been to put the total burden of responsibility on the individual or organization doing the transcribing of the census material. While this may be true to a limited extent far greater emphasis must be placed on the shoulders of the individuals doing research. It is interesting to note the statistics that encompose the surnames found in America. In 'AMERICAN SURNAMES' by Elsdon C. Smith, the 7,000 most common surnames in the United States fall into the following catagories. Patronymics 32.23% Occupational 15.16% Nicknames 9.48% Placenames 43.13% a. Landscape 15.17% b. Sign 3.32% c. Village 24.64% According to the Social Security Administration the number of letters found in surnames follows this pattern. a. 25 surnames consisting of just 1 letter b. 253 surnames consisting of just 2 letters c. 3,634 surnames consisting of just 3 letters d. 31,255 surnames consisting of just 4 letters e. 143,078 surnames consisting of just 5 letters 84% of all surnames in America had 6 or more letters It would be well to examine the various bloopers that comprise the body of recorded census materials. The lessons learned here may also be applied to reading and understanding other records. At best we will only be able to give you a basic outline of what pitfalls you may expect with census bloopers. THE CENSUS ENUMERATOR We must look at the following factors. How well educated was the enumerator? Scholastically each enumerator had a diferent degree of inteligence, depending upon his or her degree of education. Therefore spelling for various languages might be difficult. CULTURAL SPELLINGS It is not unusual to have an Enlighman enumerating the German names, Italian names, and Slavic names; you may have a Frenchman enumeratiing the German names. Try an experiment with the common name of "Smith". Pronounce it with the accent that would be spoken by a native of a particular cultural background. We come up with "Smith", "Smythe", "Schmith", Schymthe", "Smite", "Smithee" and so forth. PHONICS Spelling by sound is absolutely the most common method of recording names. Take the name of "Pearce". Or is it "Pierce", "Peerce", Peirce", "Perce", "Parce", "Paerce, and "Pierce". Take another name, "Fisher". We can legally spell it "Pfisher", "Psfister", "Phfister", "Phister", "Ffisher" to mention only a few. This brings us to a point often over looked. TIME ZONES OR TIME PERIODS The name "Polk" today was spelled "Pollok" or "Pollock" several hundred years ago. Taking the name "Fisher" today, it was spelled more frequently "Pfister" in early colonial America. MULTIPLY LETTERING As researchers we all to often look for the usual or ordinary. Quite often we should be thinking of the unusual. The name "Booth" is generally spelled with only two"O's". In actuality it is spelled "Boooth" by some enumerators. The name "Alexander" can and has been spelled "Allexxannddeerr". Another example would be "Briggs" as "Bbrriggss" or "Brriggss". REDUCTION IN THE USE OF LETTERS While we have the extremes of adding letters we also have the other extremes of the reduction or deleting of letters. Here are a few examples. "Green" as "Gren". "Hannah" as "Hana". "Booth" as "Both. "Allen" as "Alen". "McAllister" as "McAlister". "Mitchell" as "Mitcel" or "Mitchal". VOWEL INTERCHANGING The use of various vowels can place the name in an index many pages apart. Use these examples. "Myers" and "Mires", Meyers", Maeyers" or "Miers." "Smith" and "Smythe. One of the rules that is a must for any researcher at any level is that any vowel can be substituted in any name without restrictions because "that is the way is was written and there is nothing anyone can now do about it. MISFORMED LETTERS OR LOOK-ALIKE LETTERS In one instance, research hd misread the name "Sebello" which should have been "Lebello". The "L" and "S" are quite often written identical to each other. "I" and "J" are often difficult to distinguish when just given as initials. When written as an open top "a" can be mistaken for a "u". Or a closed top "u" or open "o" can all be confused with an "a". The possible combinations are unlimited. SINGLE NAME FACTOR There are a number of reasons why we have people with one name only. Until the late part of the 19th century many ethnic cultures only had one name. Many religious orders only gave their people one name. The question is how do you deal with them. Most people would see this as an easy problem. That is not the case when indexing. When just dealing with a surname and no first name or initial the problem is not so severe. Given that you had a "Mitchell" who was 31 years old, the head of the household and was a female." It would be indexed thus: Mitchell, 31 female or Mitchell, female 31 The following shows the ways in which you may find a single name indexed. This also brings in the concept of what is known as double entering. We will use the following examples and explain "double entering" later. Cato Cato, ___ ___, Cato John John, ___ ___, John Albert 21 ___, Albert 21 male Susan 34 ___, Susan 34 female Olga ___, Olga from Sweden Other single names will include those people who have titles of one type or another and are handled in the following manner. Major Adams Adams, Major Adams, ____ Maj. Col. H. Jones Jones, H. Col. Dr. J. Brown Brown, J. Dr. Brown, J. Phys. Gov. G. Boggs Boggs, G. Gov. Hon. John Tibb Tibb, John Hon. Judge Miller Miller Judge LISTING OF ETHNIC NAMES This is a very broad base of names. It would include American Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiin, Pacific Islanders, spanish, and Mexican to mention a few. Listing these people is not an easy task and it will take some patience on the part of the research to learn the method with which these names have been indexed. Here are a few examples: Intawba Intawba, or ___, Intawba or Indian, Intawba Chow Chow, or ___, Chow Ching-Lee Ching-Lee, or Chinglee, Hannamaimai Hannamaiai, or Hannamaimai RELIGIOUS ORDERS Quite often the names of individuals in religious orders can be and are all to common and difficult to find. If given the following names this is how they might be indexed. Rev. Davis Davis, Rev. Rev. James Hanson Hanson, James Rev. If he is the Rector Hanson, James Rev. Rec. Sister Anthony Sister, Anthony or Anthony, Sister Sister Margaret Sister, Margaret Father Johnson Father, Johnson or Johnson, Father Brother John Brother, John NICKNAMES VARATIONS If you look around you today, it is more common to call an individual by a much shorter name than what they were given at birth. This only compounds the bloopers in census records. The following examples give the nick name, how it is indexed and what the real name should be. Bess Thomas Thomas, Bess Danl Jones Jones, Daniel Benny Smith Smith, Benny Willm Brown Brown,William Will Brown Brown, Will Elzth Simpson Simpson, Elizabeth NEVER assume that all nicknames are short for a given name. "Bess", "Liz", "Ben", "Freddy" are all very real given names. THE PRINCIPLES OF UNDERSTANDING CENSUS BLOOPERS AND CENSUS INDEXING (Part 2 of 2) VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY INFORMATION This topic all-too-often opens Pandors Box of a "can of worms". Several catagories of bloopes comprise the quirks in this classification. We had a number of Germantic people who were afraid of the cumpulsive military service requirements from the old country and did not know the total scope of the laws in America. Therefore they often felt that if hey divuldged their correct names and ages they would be inducted into U.S. Military Service. To avoid being located they would often use their "middle name/s" and delee their first name or delete their surname and use only their christening names. The following are a few examples. Albert Martin Frederick Nass would go by one of the following variations of his name. Albert Nass Albert Martin Frederick Martin Albert Frederick Martin Frederick Frederick Nass Martin Nass Since the enumerators were being paid by the name, if they came to an empty dwelling it was the common practice to have a neighbor volunteer the information. This technique was especially valuable in rural conditions so the enumerators would not have to walk long distances back to get a few names. This compounds the errors made on the "original" census manuscripts and thus perpetuated by indexers or researchers. Here ae a few examples of the actual or true record as oppossed to the recorded census information. Thomas James Baldwin M 28 years born in Ohio Mary Francis Baldwin F 26 years born in Ohio John C. Baldwin M 5 years born in Kansas Bella F. Baldwin F 3 years born in Kansas Rosella A. Baldwin F 2 years born in Illinois Thomas D. Baldwin M 6/12 years born in Kansas This is what the neighbor reported. Thomas Baldwin M 31 years born in PA Mary Baldwin F 29 years born in MD J. Baldwin F 6 years born in Ohio Bell Baldwin F 4 years born in OH Rose Baldwin F 2 years born in KS Tom Galdwin Jun. M 1 years born in KS 'AMERICANIZING OF NAMES" Since the colonization of America in 1607 it was and still is a very common practice to try and "Americanize" a persons name. (This has been done for one of several reasons. Most often to give the person a new identity to escape peresecution, and, some people just wanted to melt into the general population without being obvious about it.) It was not until the mid 19th century or later that people were required by law to officially register their changed names in a court of law. (An examination of the Enumeration Returns for the 1890 Census of Veterans and Widows of the Wars shows hundreds of men and even women who entered the U.S. Armed Forces under one name and sometime after the service lived their natural lives under an assumed name or names.) We give the following examples: Edward Brown alias Ed Benson Jonathan Williams alias John Wilson Benjamin Green alias Benjamin Hanks Margaret Benson alias Sarah Timms Frederick Johnson alias Aaron Carter THE 'f" "s" BLOOPERS It was the general practice several hundred years ago to write a double "ss" and "fs". Often the single name with an "s" could have the "s" written like an "f". This practice continued down until the 20th century. It gradually disappeared or changed as records were recorded. It was replaced with what we now know as just the "ss" or "s" in some parts of the country faster than others. Session was written as: Hanson was written as: Wilson was written as: Moses was written as: or Harrison was written as: Jesse was written as: Nass was written as: VARIATION OF SPELLINGS - AS IS Frequently we must take the names just as they are written witout making any interpretations or adjustments in spelling. Examples: Prahl as Prohl or Prol Ahl as All or Al Wondd as Wandd or Wound Aldrich as Aldridge or Eldridge Schwartz as Schwarz or Swarz Eldridge as Allred Zeaumbrecker for Zaumbrecker MISSING A LETTER OR LETTERS Since the census enumerators were generally paid by the name of the individuals they wrote hastly without double-checking any of their work. Note these examples: Karrt instead of Karrot Brggs instead of Briggs Rchard instead of Richard PREFIXES TO SURNAMES Prefixes to surnames is an age old practice. It varies greatly from one nationality to another and how good or bad it may be from the census enumerator. The following prefixes may be appended to surnames. We have "L' ", "Le", "De", "Von", "Van", "Tec", "Teck", "Ter", "Ten", "T' ", "Du", "D' ", "Di", "Vander", "Der", "O' ", "Mac", "Mc", "M' ", "St.", "Saint", "San", "El", and "Santa". The following examples will show how the names may be written and then how you might find them indexed. Johan Van Pelt Vanpelt, Johan Van Pelt, Johan by error Pelt, Johan Van Peter O' Moriarty OMariarty, Peter Moriarty, Peter O. Ezekiel de Baldwin Debaldwin, Ezekiel Baldwin, Ezekiel de John Mc Namara Mc Namara, John John M'Namara MNamara, John Mcnamara, John Frances La Forge La Forge, Frances L'Forge, Frances LaForge, Frances LForge, Frances BLOOPERS BY THE INDEXERS It would be very follish for any person, group, or organization to every claim perfection when it comes to indexing census materials. It would be callis for anyone to fell they are immune to making errors. The standard statement made by A.I.S.I. is to the effect that: "...a complete, correct listing of all persons...has been a rather awesome task...some errors or ommisons are inevitable...A.I.S.I. solicits corrections." The following represent some correct names with possible typing errors. Jacobs Ajcob Jaocb Jones Jons Jonse Joens Mones James Jaems Jamse Jmaes Roberts Robrets Roebrts Morgan Mrogan Miller Mller Millr Milelr Thomas Thoams Tohmas Htomas Smith Simth Smtih Msith Wmith Walker Wlaker Walekr Williams Wliliams Willaims Willims Even with the above examples, occasionally you will find an enumerator who has acutally spelled the name as an actual mistake or blooper. When "James" is incorrectly spelled "Jaems" it is indexed by most people in two ways. Jaems, Christopher --| and James, Christopher *** Names actually spelled WRONG by the enumerator are marked with a "--|" carrot. Different indexers will use different carrot references. The important thing to remember that when spelling a blooper "as-is", it will most always will throw the misspelling any number of pages from the correct page. Abboott, Joshua --| (carrot) Abbott, Joshua*** Source: South Carolina 1810 Census Index Book File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/unknown/history/other/nms21principl.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/gafiles/ File size: 17.2 Kb