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I have to wonder sometimes if the record takers were paying attention or if the folks providing the information were paying attention or even cared enough to pay attention. A perfect example is my great grandfather and his father (my 2nd great grandfather). They lived right next to each other in Tn in 1910. On the 1910 census, my 2nd great grandfather notes that he was born in TN... A few lines down the census my great grandfather is listed and he notes that his FATHER was born in Kentucky. WHAT? His father is just a few lines up the census and it clearly says he was born in TN and I have never seen it noted that he was born anywhere else but TN on any other documents... So someone clearly was NOT Paying attention during this record taking event.. i am just not sure who!
The trait was common back then because on this same 1910 census, my 2nd great grandfather notes that his FATHER (my 3rd great grandfather) was born in TN.. but my records show that he was in fact born in Ohio. It is evident to me that these types of records and facts were JUST NOT very important to the folks back then. They had no idea that in 100 years one of their ancestors would be using this information to help them research their family. I think that they probably could never imagine having the TIME to do such things.. hobbies were probably something they simply had NO TIME For..
I have to wonder sometimes if the record takers were paying attention or if the folks providing the information were paying attention or even cared enough to pay attention. A perfect example is my great grandfather and his father (my 2nd great grandfather). They lived right next to each other in Tn in 1910. On the 1910 census, my 2nd great grandfather notes that he was born in TN... A few lines down the census my great grandfather is listed and he notes that his FATHER was born in Kentucky. WHAT? His father is just a few lines up the census and it clearly says he was born in TN and I have never seen it noted that he was born anywhere else but TN on any other documents... So someone clearly was NOT Paying attention during this record taking event.. i am just not sure who!
The trait was common back then because on this same 1910 census, my 2nd great grandfather notes that his FATHER (my 3rd great grandfather) was born in TN.. but my records show that he was in fact born in Ohio. It is evident to me that these types of records and facts were JUST NOT very important to the folks back then. They had no idea that in 100 years one of their ancestors would be using this information to help them research their family. I think that they probably could never imagine having the TIME to do such things.. hobbies were probably something they simply had NO TIME For..
Sometimes when states seem to change it is because the borders between states changed. A town that was in one state originally could be in another state later. There was such a change for TN and KY. Of course, that would not explain TN and OH. You can see if the TN/KY line change might have affected your family. Apparently settlers in the area were never completely sure what state they were in until about 1859!
Sometimes the person giving the info may have known that someone lived in one state and assumed he was born there.
County borders changed a lot. That means when you start looking for records you have to know when the changes happened. Otherwise you may be looking in the wrong courthouse.
I have to wonder sometimes if the record takers were paying attention or if the folks providing the information were paying attention or even cared enough to pay attention. A perfect example is my great grandfather and his father (my 2nd great grandfather). They lived right next to each other in Tn in 1910. On the 1910 census, my 2nd great grandfather notes that he was born in TN... A few lines down the census my great grandfather is listed and he notes that his FATHER was born in Kentucky. WHAT? His father is just a few lines up the census and it clearly says he was born in TN and I have never seen it noted that he was born anywhere else but TN on any other documents... So someone clearly was NOT Paying attention during this record taking event.. i am just not sure who!
You don't know who supplied the information for each household unless the census enumerator happened to note on the document who supplied the info, which I don't think was required until the 1940 census. Not only could anyone in the household have supplied the info (like perhaps your great grandmother who may not be as knowledgeable about where her in-laws were born) but if no one was home, it's possible even a neighbor supplied it - that is usually my explanation when census details go REALLY wrong. Like the age of one of my ancestor's being off by 8 years and his birthplace being listed as the wrong country AND his wife's name being totally wrong! I could only surmise that the info was supplied by someone who didn't actually know the family very well - either that or the enumerator was drunk, lol. In another case, I think I have 3 different census records for the same individual with three different birth locations named! If one or two incorrect parent's birth place is the worst of your issues, you've got it pretty good, LOL!
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The trait was common back then because on this same 1910 census, my 2nd great grandfather notes that his FATHER (my 3rd great grandfather) was born in TN.. but my records show that he was in fact born in Ohio. It is evident to me that these types of records and facts were JUST NOT very important to the folks back then.
I would not make that assumption... like I say, you don't know who supplied the info and there is also the likelihood that the enumerator simply misheard or got confused. You have to remember that census data is taken for demographic purposes, not identification, so some minor details were not of the utmost importance to the enumerator. That doesn't mean it was always of little to no importance to the family. After all, if society as a whole considered it of no importance, the government probably wouldn't consider collecting it on the census to be worthwhile to begin with. Some families and some individuals might not feel it important but obviously, society as a whole did.
I had a hole in my tree. My grandmother was raised by her maternal grandmother since she was just a few years old. Her brother was raised by the paternal grandfather.
No one ever talked about the parent of these two kids. I found out when I answered a question online about my great great grandmother, and some guy sent me copies of handwritten notes from the 40's from a cousin.
When I got the names I confirmed it easily.... but without the names there was no way.
Kinda funny -- normally when you hit a brick wall, you hit a brick wall. It's not often you have a brick wall with a window.
President Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)was born near the NC/ SC border and was never sure which state.
There was some question whether President Chester Arthur (1881-1885) was really born in Vermont, or in Quebec where his parents had lived at one time (and which would have Constitutionally disqualified him from being President).
I did some genealogy for a friend once who didn't know much about one side of the family. He said that the family didn't talk about it, and it was rumored to be an incest situation.
Well, when I looked into it, what it was, was a man married his former sister-in-law. No incest. But no one would talk of it, apparently.
LOL if they didn't want anyone to KNOW they were Indian they certainly weren't signing up to be on a roll. Few realize there are many Indians who evaded the reservation system and never "signed" up as they didn't trust the government and for good reason.
I have many full blood Indian friends who know they are indian but their ancestors refused to be a part of the system, it's not as uncommon as you would think.
LOL if they didn't want anyone to KNOW they were Indian they certainly weren't signing up to be on a roll. Few realize there are many Indians who evaded the reservation system and never "signed" up as they didn't trust the government and for good reason. There was illegitimatcy in our family so surnames were "iffy" at best.
I have many full blood Indian friends who know they are indian but their ancestors refused to be a part of the system, it's not as uncommon as you would think.
Thanks for the explanation. I wouldn't have found that scandalous at all. I remember being a kid and reading the Little House books and being shocked that Laura Ingalls Willder was married at 15!
Also, my grandmother once told me that her father made her oldest sister and her boyfriend (not sure of his age) get married at 15 "before they had to". I was kind of shocked at that, too, because I didn't think that people did THAT back then outside of marriage, lol, but since then, I've seen great-aunt Bertha's grave. Her daughter is buried next to her, and she is only 16 years younger than her mother.
Just found this older message - I think you'll find that Laura Ingalls was eighteen when she married Almanzo Wilder, who was ten years older. Laura had taught school for about a year prior to her marriage, in addition to working as a seamstress, and was viewed as a young adult by all in her community (well, Pa still called her "half-pint", but he was her Pa, after all!).
I know when a widow applied for a civil war pension, she had to name her children and supply their birth dates. Once the children reached age 16, they no longer qualified for pension benefits. I guess they were considered adults then.
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