----- Original Message ----- From: Woodchippy@aol.com To: Rick-Gregg@hawaii.rr.com Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 8:10 PM Subject: Question for you, Rick Rick, The email copied below is self-explanatory I think. Hope you can answer the question as to why the state of birth for the parents are underlined as they are. If there's some significance to it, it might help in my search. Thanks Edna Clack Email from Sylvia: Edna, I checked the 1880 (Newton Co) census again and notice that the birthplaces of N. Mayham's parents are underlined. ie. Mo Mo Mo. I read all the notes at the beginning of the book and it doesn't say what that means but I noticed there are some others in the census that have the same thing. You might ask Rick Gregg or Gary Swift on the Dallas Co. list. They may be able to tell you what this means. If you find out, please let me know. Sylvia in CO ============================================== Edna and Sylvia - It has been my understanding that a name, date, etc. when underlined can indicate that the information is being recorded as it appears on the original even though it doesn't make sense. Using the 1880 census as an example, if there were a family which listed Dad as being born in TN and Mom as being born in KY, then listed the children as Mo Mo Mo, the last two Mo would be underlined. The children's info. should read Mo Tn Ky (not Mo Mo Mo). If the original said Mo Mo Mo then it would be reported Mo Mo Mo with the last two underlined. Another example is from the marriage records: "William Phariss - Nancy Hearill; md. at residence of A. W. Herill". This is an actual entry in Book "A" compiled by Audrey L. Woodruff. The compiler underlined the "eri" in A. W. Herill because the spelling did not match Hearill (it left out the "a"). This lets you know that this is not an accident but was compiled that way on purpose (i. e. not a "type-o"). Another example: "Johnson Lee - Marry E. West". Here the compiler underlined the double "rr" in Mary to let the reader know that is how it appears on the original even though most of us would spell Mary with just one "r". I'll send your e-mail, along with my explanation to the MODALLAS list. I'm sure others will have different experiences and/or examples. Rick Gregg