Vernon Parish, Louisiana Federal Census for 1880 - Index Notes Submitted by Michael Cavanaugh ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** ************************************************ Pages indexed in A-B: Pages 47-01 (First page of Census) through 48-55 (Last page of Census) Number shown is family number, not page number (but see Notes). Notes: 1) The computer images that this index dovetails with are in two series, one beginning with Image 47-01 and going for 50 pages, and one beginning with 47-02 and going for another 55 pages. Since the family numbers start over with 48-01, it was necessary to indicate which series the family numbers refer to. So please keep this in mind. 2) Remember to always double-check the actual Census images; do not rely on the typed information; it is only an aid to get you to the original easily so you can decide for yourself whether we transcribers made mistakes, got sleepy, or whatever. I cannot emphasize enough just how prone we transcribers are to mistakes, which just makes us know how easily the original census-takers could have made mistakes. Just to drive this point home, I will list several of the types of mistakes we could make: a) An a can be mistaken for an e and vice versa. That is not such a problem if the confusion is later in a name, since you are likely to find it anyway (Elizabeth and Elizebeth, for example, or Palmer and Palmar). But it can be a problem if it is early in a name. At the very least, you should check the index for names both similar to yours, and it is also a good idea to scan all the names in the same alphabetical letter, just in case there are similar names with markedly different spellings. b) Two e's can easily be mistaken for a u and vice versa. One example that we caught (I don't know how many we missed) was the name "Reese" which might also be rendered "Ruse." In that case (and any other we caught) we cross-indexed, so be sure and look at the first entry for any name you research, to see whether we point you in some other direction as well. d) Double letters are often used one place and not another, even by closely related people. I don't know if the Addisons and Adisons are related, for example, but they live near one another and there is a Thomas in each group. In other cases the answer is obviously yes. In such cases we alphabetized them just as they are spelled, so you should look at both versions. e) An F could easily be misread as a P and vice versa. So if you are looking for the name Paris (for example), be sure and look also under the name Faris. f) Capital U's and V's and W's are confusing, so please check under all of these. 3) Likewise, remember that irregular spelling was quite common both by families and census takers (and occasionally by your humble transcribers). Some illustrative examples we came across were these: a) C's and S's get interchanged. So Cyntha may have a grand-daughter named Sinderella. b) Always look at nearby names for alternate spellings and/or transcriber errors. Is the name Bedgard or Bedgood, for example? Are they the same name or two different names? Where we noticed such a problem, we tried to put an indication, as by putting "see also Bedgood" under the name Bedgard. c) In fact, I would suggest you look under every name in a given letter (or any letter it might be confused with) if you are having trouble finding someone you think should be here. 4) One particularly frustrating error we caught ourselves or the original transcribers at concerns adults or possible adults in a household with a different surname than the head of household. For example, on page 47-17 in the West household is a female named Faircloth L. Is her name Faircloth L. West or L. Faircloth? The lack of a dash before name, plus the fact that there is another Faircloth, L. at page 47-38 in the Self household, who is of a different race from the Selfs there, makes us confident that in this case Faircloth is the surname. However, the dashes are not always clear and we do not know how many errors of this type we might have made. The real difficulty is that if we mis- indexed such a name, you may never find it unless you look through the entire index, unless there is some other person in the household you can key on. 5) We tried to put notes to show how we alphabetized names for which there are varying conventions. For example: a) Mc is alphabetized as if it were Mac, so that Mace would come after McDuff. I typed in a reminder note at the place you would look if you thought it should be alphabetized differently. b) St. is alphabetized as if it were spelled out Saint, so that Scarborough is after St. rather than before it.