I found it to be an interesting story regardless of if it was urban myth or not and besides...who knows what each district Marshall or census taker took upon themselves as guidelines. They may not have wanted to ask each person how to correctly spell their name. Thanks for the homework though...ha...it is a great source of info. Mark -----Original Message----- From: Chris Hankins Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 4:10 PM To: njhunter@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [NJHUNTER] Instructions to Enumerators I'm always amazed that folks (especially genealogists!) are content to continue spreading the "urban myth", rather than going to the source for the correct answer. Each of you who is interested can do your own homework and find out for yourself what, if anything, the Instructions to Enumerators has had to say throughout the years about spelling of names: http://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/census_instructions/ > /From:/ christietrapp@aol.com <mailto:christietrapp@aol.com> > > Now, if you are looking a census record, one must always remember the > rules > the enumerator had to follow. The biggest rule was that they COULD NOT ASK > the > person being enumerated how to spell the name. The enumerator had to write > it > down either as the way he thought it should be spelled, the way the > enumerator > knew it was spelled, or the way in which he thought he heard the name > pronounced. For example, > /From:/ Marleen Van Horne <msvnhrn@jps.net <mailto:msvnhrn@jps.net>> > > The reason the enumerators did not ask how the names were spelled is > that many people could not read, write or spell. > > I was told when I first started my research that was the reason > enumerators did not ask, which may be an urban myth. Visit the Hunterdon County GenWeb page at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njhunter ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NJHUNTER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message