Hello Searchers, So...the information on census records is not what you expected, hoped for, wanted, or preferred? I always chuckle when folks declare: "She always lied about her age," "He lied that he was single," and, "She lied about her last name," etc, etc. Boy, we had so many living liars in the "olde" days, it's a wonder they weren't sent to The Tombs! Folks, the miz-facts may not be due to your ancestors' responses, or even a miz-taken census takers. When census taker Henrietta Diddely arrived, if the whole family was not home, she'd question a child, or live-in great Aunt Mamie, or, yes, even the neighbor, Mrs. Yenta. Mrs. Yenta saw Mrs. Schmata living with Mr. Mensch, so assumed that Mrs. S, is the wife of Mr. M., and that's why she reported to the census taker. Neighbors reported information, when they were uninformed. Maybe Mrs. Y thought your g-g Grandma Elsie Klimminshlepper looked like twenty-eight years old, when she was actually thirty-four. Capeesh? Imagine a day in the life of a NYC census taker climbing those dank, unlit staircases in packed-like-sardines tenements, with perhaps eight people living in two rooms, including boarders. They had a job to perform, and why would they want to return to try to possibly catch the family? Census taker folk lore tells of ascending flights in one apartment building, then hopping over the roof, to the next attached building. Then they'd continue census recording in that building, from the top floor downward. Another consideration yet, is: Why would Uncle Elmo tell a complete stranger of his occupation as a pyromaniac? Did Mr. Thug state that he was a hit man? No. They are recorded as laborers. Why would someone confide whatever they felt was personal, to a stranger? As for miz-spellings on records, these likely occurred due to your immigrants' accents, illiteracy, assignations with "Mr. Jameson," or miz-pronunciations. Did Joe Gianviollaciaini really know how letters were in his name? What about those surnames that begin with all consonants, like Tscz; were vowels inadvertently omitted? One of my favorite examples is the German midwife's miz-spelling of my grandma's father as "Shorely," when his name was Charlie. Then too, some census records show nicknames one decade, and proper names the next. As with today's transcriptions of records that were written in cursive (on Ancestry, GGG, IGG), if the transcriber is unfamiliar with cultural spellings, a miz-take is easy to make. Check out those German, Polish and Russian surnames for examples. When each swarm of a new ethnicity arrived in NYC, citizens might have heard Cana for the surname McKenna. Census records are but clues, as are all the documents we compile. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." That's why we dig for various parts, to construct a full and rich biography of an ancestor. Miz-Scarlett @8-24-09 pfeifer@verizon.net writes: > Well, it is definitely her (Josephine Bell) as they are living in the > same > address as in 1910. Why change all the facts? Since John has not been > found > in the 1910 census anywhere, maybe he took off and then years later, > Josephine wrote him off. Funny how he considers himself widowed in 1920 > assuming it is the same guy. > Bill

I love that! I ran across some interesting spellings researching a great-grand-aunt who emigrated to Laredo, Texas. When I was reviewing the census information, it was really obvious that the census-taker was a native Spanish speaker, who took down names like Thomas O'Connor as Tomas Oconor. Edel Codd, Tralee In Kerry/Dingle Peninsula: ASHE-Camp & Ballyknockane, & related; BROSNAN-Dingle Town, & related; CAVANAUGH–Holyoke, MA area (related to BROSNAN) In Wexford: CODD, Woodlands & Carne, & related; FARDY, Coolboy, Gusserane, & related; PRESCOTT – Albany, NY --- On Mon, 8/24/09, MizScarlettNY@aol.com <MizScarlettNY@aol.com> wrote: From: MizScarlettNY@aol.com <MizScarlettNY@aol.com> Subject: [NY-IRISH] Census & [BKLYN] divorce information To: NYBROOKLYN-L@rootsweb.com, NYNEWYOR@rootsweb.com, NY-IRISH@rootsweb.com Date: Monday, August 24, 2009, 3:38 PM Hello Searchers, So...the information on census records is not what you expected, hoped for, wanted, or preferred? I always chuckle when folks declare: "She always lied about her age,"  "He lied that he was single," and, "She lied about her last name," etc, etc. Boy, we had so many living liars in the "olde" days, it's a wonder they weren't sent to The Tombs! Folks, the miz-facts may not be due to your ancestors' responses, or even a miz-taken census takers.  When census taker Henrietta Diddely arrived, if the whole family was not home, she'd question a child, or live-in great Aunt Mamie, or, yes, even the neighbor, Mrs. Yenta.  Mrs. Yenta saw Mrs. Schmata living with Mr. Mensch, so assumed that Mrs. S, is the wife of Mr. M., and that's why she reported  to the census taker.  Neighbors reported information, when they were uninformed.  Maybe Mrs. Y thought your g-g Grandma Elsie Klimminshlepper looked like twenty-eight years old, when she was actually thirty-four. Capeesh?  Imagine a day in the life of a NYC census taker climbing those dank, unlit staircases  in packed-like-sardines tenements, with perhaps eight people living in two rooms, including boarders.  They had a job to perform, and why would they want to return to try to possibly catch the family?  Census taker folk lore tells of ascending flights in one apartment building, then hopping over the roof, to the next attached building. Then they'd continue census recording in that building, from the top floor downward. Another consideration yet, is: Why would Uncle Elmo tell a complete stranger of his occupation as a pyromaniac?  Did Mr. Thug state that he was a hit man? No.  They are recorded as laborers.  Why would someone confide whatever they felt was personal, to a stranger? As for miz-spellings on records, these likely occurred due to your immigrants' accents, illiteracy, assignations with "Mr. Jameson," or miz-pronunciations.  Did Joe Gianviollaciaini really know how letters were in his name?  What about those surnames that begin with all consonants, like Tscz; were vowels inadvertently omitted?  One of my favorite examples is the German midwife's miz-spelling of my grandma's father as "Shorely," when his name was Charlie. Then too, some census records show nicknames one decade, and proper names the next. As with today's transcriptions of records that were written in cursive (on Ancestry, GGG, IGG), if the transcriber is unfamiliar with cultural spellings, a miz-take is easy to make.  Check out those German, Polish and Russian surnames for examples. When each swarm of a new ethnicity arrived in NYC, citizens might have heard Cana for the surname McKenna. Census records are but clues, as are all the documents we compile.  "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."  That's why we dig for various parts, to construct a full and rich biography of an ancestor. Miz-Scarlett @8-24-09 pfeifer@verizon.net writes: > Well, it is definitely her (Josephine Bell) as they are living in the > same > address as in 1910. Why change all the facts? Since John has not been > found > in the 1910 census anywhere, maybe he took off and then years later, > Josephine wrote him off. Funny how he considers himself widowed in 1920 > assuming it is the same guy. > Bill ====NY-Irish Mailing List==== Don't forget to check out the NY-Irish mailing list website.  Also, check/add your NY-Irish surnames on the Surname Registry:  http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/NYIrishList/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NY-IRISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message