Bravo Debra!!! -- an excellent point -- many people do not like the Soundex for the 1880 census; however, I have always felt it useful for that very reason. It is very tedious and often results in blurred vision and headaches -- but if you are sure your people should be in a census -- just read the closest to the original you can get. The head of household's name may be unintelligible, but if you know the names and ages of wives and children and perhaps even neighbors, you may be able to nail them!! Unusual names are even more often misspelled -- Furnie is a 1st name in my Pike Co. people, but the census comes nowhere close to the correct spelling. Even that is not always foolproof, I cannot find my ggf in the 1930 census in Brundidge and he was the mayor!!! ----- Original Message ----- From: Debra Crosby To: alpike@rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 9:59 PM Subject: Re: [ALPIKE] Ricks/Stewart (Stuart) of Pike Co. AL Peggy look for Rice and Rich's Please remember that any transcription or index is done by an individual looking at the record and writing down what they think the record states. In the census records the names were handwritten by census takers and their handwriting can be very difficult to read and transcribe by volunteers. If you are looking at a handwritten census record and transcribing it Ricks could very easily be interpreted as Richs. Any transcription is subject to the transcribers vision, expertise, do they think a letter looks like an a or an o etc. One reason why for whatever you find, try to get the original source record and confirm it for yourself. Census takers in most cases were doing a job to make an income, walking up to a house and taking names and dates, they did not require that the person filled it out for themselves so hughey could be easily converted to hewey or huey depending on how the recorder thought it sounded. Even more importantly the census taker arrived at the house to get information, no one was at home, so they asked the neighbors, while the neighbors may have some info like names, they may not specifically know actual birth dates but the census taker accepts even a guess by the neighbor. Census records are a documentable source for information but they are not infallible because of the way in which they were taken. That means today if you are researching a surname, close your eyes, say your surname, and think to yourself, how does that name sound, how could people spell it. I can say that because my maiden name is Hughey. It sounds like Huey, Hewey. I've seen it spelled over a dozen ways. I have a will of my ggggrandfather and in that one original handwritten document that name is spelled Hughey, Hewey and Huey. Those 3 spellings are in one single document, which means the recorder of that document just didn't know. Please please remember in your research to check ALL spelling possibilities or your surname. Debra Crosby -----Original Message----- From: alpike-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:alpike-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Peggy G. Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 2:35 AM To: alpike@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ALPIKE] Ricks/Stewart (Stuart) of Pike Co. AL Thank you so much. So quick. No Ricks but maybe I can figure out how they spelled it cause I'm sure they should be there. Peggy G. ----- Original Message ----- From: JColetx@aol.com To: alpike@rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 8:16 PM Subject: Re: [ALPIKE] Ricks/Stewart (Stuart) of Pike Co. AL <Does anyone have an index for Pike Co., Alabama 1850 census? My familes in Pike Co Alabama RIcks & Stewarts (Stuart)>. See below. _http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/al/pike/census/1850/indx1850.txt?o_xid=0 022846292&o_lid=0022846292_ (http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/al/pike/census/1850/indx1850.txt?o_xid=00228462 92&o_lid=0022846292) ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALPIKE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALPIKE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALPIKE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message