death certificate - NYC & NYS

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by GiveMeCoffee

I don't know what he considered himself to be, but the census does not take that into account.

It sometimes does. There are certain census years where "mother tongue" would be reported as "Russian (Polish)".

https://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst1910.shtml

"125. For example, if a person reports that he was born in Russia and that his mother tongue is Lithuanian, write in column 12 Russ.-Lithuanian; or if a person reports that he was born in Switzerland and that his mother tongue is German, write Switz.-German."

I think I've also seen this sometimes in the place of birth column. Looks like 1920:

https://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst1920.shtml

"138. Column 19. Place of birth of person [...] 139. If a person says he was born in Austria, Germany, Russia, or Turkey as they were before the war, enter the name of the Province (State or Region) in which born, as Alsace-Lorraine, Bohemia, Bavaria, German or Russian Poland, Croatia, Galicia, Finland, Slovakland, etc.; or the name of the city or town in which born, as Berlin, Prague, Vienna, etc."

[GiveMeCoffee]

Originally Posted by PA2UK

It sometimes does. There are certain census years where "mother tongue" would be reported as "Russian (Polish)".

https://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst1910.shtml

"125. For example, if a person reports that he was born in Russia and that his mother tongue is Lithuanian, write in column 12 Russ.-Lithuanian; or if a person reports that he was born in Switzerland and that his mother tongue is German, write Switz.-German."

I think I've also seen this sometimes in the place of birth column. Looks like 1920:

https://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst1920.shtml

"138. Column 19. Place of birth of person [...] 139. If a person says he was born in Austria, Germany, Russia, or Turkey as they were before the war, enter the name of the Province (State or Region) in which born, as Alsace-Lorraine, Bohemia, Bavaria, German or Russian Poland, Croatia, Galicia, Finland, Slovakland, etc.; or the name of the city or town in which born, as Berlin, Prague, Vienna, etc."

Fair enough. My situation is probably a bit different. My family is Jewish, so the mother tongue was probably Yiddish. The language was spoken by Jews throughout eastern Europe, and whatever government was in charge didn't change that.