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Re: Accuracy of birth records/census records



Another factor in census records is that the census taker talked to who ever
was at home.  You can sometimes tell if it was an adult or a child by the
names that are given.  Adults tend to use William, a child Billy or other
nick names.  Since children often don't know the actual facts they tend to
guess.  The other factor is that people spelled things the way they sounded
and used events to mark time rather than calendars.
Susan Bzdell
Morgan County Archives
Decatur, Al
----- Original Message -----
From: Bernadette A. Boucher <balibra76@YAHOO.COM>
To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2000 7:11 AM
Subject: Re: Accuracy of birth records/census records


> An addendum to inaccuracy in birth records---
>
> In using the various federal census for Massachusetts,
> I found three different birth years for my
> grandfather. Whether the census taker couldn't
> understand his broken English (my grandfather was
> French-Canadian), or whether my grandfather didn't
> understand the census taker's English, or whether my
> grandfather didn't want anyone to know how "old" he
> really was, or whether my grandfather didn't know his
> birthdate--- that is lost to history.  The census also
> gives varying years of when my great-grandparents came
> to the U.S.--- which makes sense, because they were
> "target earners" who came to the US to earn money,
> went back to Canada, came back to the US to earn
> money, went back, etc., more than a dozen times over
> the 1880s-1910s.
>
> Just because it's written doesn't mean it's so!
>
> Bernadette  :)
>
>
> --- "Linda C. Morrison" <lcmorrison@MINDSPRING.COM>
> wrote:
> > Paul Bergeron has some good points about the
> > accuracy of birth records.
> > When I went to Dummerston, VT and asked to see my
> > grandmother's birth
> > record, I was shown an entry that read "Elise"
> > instead of "Elsie." {A.
> > Barrett] By the time of my childhood she didn't like
> > the name Elsie, but she
> > was always known by that name.  The misspelling is a
> > legitimate name,
> > though, and someone correcting obvious mistakes
> > wouldn't catch it.  It was a
> > handwritten record; 1888.
> >     You can't assume anything is accurATE, always
> > be skeptical!!
> > Linda Morrison, Boston area.
> >
>
>
> =====
> Bernadette A. Boucher, MLS (Rutgers, May 1999)
> "It's alright to 'like books' but a librarian should like people."
>
> balibra76@yahoo.com
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