Thanks to everyone who responded to this question. It was interesting reading everyone's stories. Regards Darlene ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lila White" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 9:54 AM Subject: Re: [IL-CHICAGO] Immigration Country of Origin Question > [email protected] wrote: > > > I have a couple of ancestors with similar circumstances. My > > Grandmother was born in Germany and came to the States when > > she was not quite 4 yrs old. Some census records state her birth > > place as Germany, some state Illinois [where she grew up]. > > Census records might not be the most accurate place to get information. > The census takers are just asking questions that depending on who > answered the door and how old they are, might not provide correct > information. > > > I have three "cousins" whose surnames were changed, without > > going through the courts > > I have a Chicago family that was German, but had a Polish sounding last > name: Burcikowski, which no one ever seemed to know how it was actually > spelled. My gGrandfather assumed the shortened version of Burk, his > brother legally changed it to Barnes. Later generations were confused > and thought it was Burkowski. My grandfather used Burcikowski and also > Burk, but he borrowed a cousin's union card to become a teamster and > assumed the name Voltz at work because of it. There was confusion at > his death and his death certificate had to show his name as Frank J. > Voltz Burcikowski. It also incorrectly states that he was born in > Chicago. He actually immigrated at age three from Gnojau, West Prussia. > > I've found birth years off by a year or two. Usually I assume the older > the record, the more accurate. Children giving information for death > certificates may just try to do the math in their heads and end up a > year or so off, or they may even be unsure of their parents age when > they do. > > Lila > > > ==== IL-COOK-CHICAGO Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from Digest: Send a message to > [email protected] > that contains (in the body of the message) the command unsubscribe > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > >