Be careful what you accept as fact. I have always been reluctant to accept information at face value and now I am sure that my natural skepticism is spot on. Even when dealing with "official" records, there is still a human element and a margin of error that must be considered. This is not a criticism of contentious enumerators and transcribers who have a difficult task and make every attempt to be accurate. However, through the resident, enumerator and transcriber there is the risk of misunderstanding, difficulty with handwriting, an enumerator taking a shortcut or a resident intentionally misinforming the enumerator. Initial errors would be continued and additional errors could be added to an already dubious report. My most frustrating example concerns the birthdate of my great-grandfather, Simeon Hunt: 1850 Census, age 28 = 1822 1860 Census, age 33 = 1827 1865 Mustered out of IA 13th infantry, age 44 =1821 1880 Census, age 45 = 1835 1910 Died, age in local newspaper 91 = 1819 It would seem that he aged very slowly between 1850 and 1860; got old in a hurry between 1860 and 1865; kept his youth extremely well between 1865 and 1880 (did he find a fountain of youth in Iowa?); but, alas, as in The Portrait of Dorian Grey, it more than caught up with him by 1910. I can't wait to see what the 1870 and 1900 census figures have in store! Being off by one year is understandable but this 16 year swing is bothersome. Suzanne Hunt Thielmann, Keeping her sense of humor through the frustration.

Numbers are not the only thing to be skeptical about. I have an ancestor that was born in Ireland, Scotland or Canada - depending on which census you believe. Be wary of spelling, too. Many of us have been caught in the "My family always spelled it this way" trap. Many of our ancestors could not read or write, and depended on others to write their names correctly phonetically. One of my ancestors had her name spelled two different ways, at the same church, in one day, and a third way a year later. I know HUNT is hard to misspell, but every time one of them gets married, it brings another name into this madness we call genealogy. Only a Genealogist regards a step backwards, as progress. Howard Hunt Curran Oviedo, FL [email protected] Researching: CURRAN - Vermont, New York >> Ireland McCOLLUM - Vermont >> Canada >> Scotland HUNT - North Carolina STITT - Indiana >> Ireland -----Original Message----- From: Thielmann [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 10:51 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [HUNT-L] Trouble with Numbers Be careful what you accept as fact. I have always been reluctant to accept information at face value and now I am sure that my natural skepticism is spot on. Even when dealing with "official" records, there is still a human element and a margin of error that must be considered. This is not a criticism of contentious enumerators and transcribers who have a difficult task and make every attempt to be accurate. However, through the resident, enumerator and transcriber there is the risk of misunderstanding, difficulty with handwriting, an enumerator taking a shortcut or a resident intentionally misinforming the enumerator. Initial errors would be continued and additional errors could be added to an already dubious report. My most frustrating example concerns the birthdate of my great-grandfather, Simeon Hunt: 1850 Census, age 28 = 1822 1860 Census, age 33 = 1827 1865 Mustered out of IA 13th infantry, age 44 =1821 1880 Census, age 45 = 1835 1910 Died, age in local newspaper 91 = 1819 It would seem that he aged very slowly between 1850 and 1860; got old in a hurry between 1860 and 1865; kept his youth extremely well between 1865 and 1880 (did he find a fountain of youth in Iowa?); but, alas, as in The Portrait of Dorian Grey, it more than caught up with him by 1910. I can't wait to see what the 1870 and 1900 census figures have in store! Being off by one year is understandable but this 16 year swing is bothersome. Suzanne Hunt Thielmann, Keeping her sense of humor through the frustration. ==== HUNT Mailing List ==== The HUNTList Support Staff Doug Hunt <[email protected]>, Sandy Hunt <[email protected]> and Courtney Tompkins <[email protected]>