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. (Continued)