----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, September 25, 2000 6:06 PM Subject: SOMETHING FROM ANOTHER LIST > > The below article is posted in the archives on Genealogy.com > > Impossible and Improbable by Donna Przecha > > Genealogy thrives as a rewarding hobby because most people in the past lived > orderly lives. We expect them to be born, marry, have children and die, and > that there will be someone to record most of these events somewhere. Usually > this is exactly what happens. All we have to do is find out where these > events were recorded. However, occasionally we come across events that just > do not fit into the orderly scheme of things. Sometimes they seem to be > highly improbable or completely impossible. > > Disowned Children > > In past times marrying outside the family's religion, race, culture or social > class was considered by some to be taboo. If children violated this rule, > some families would disown them and even declare them dead. In one case the > parents not only declared the child dead but went so far as to erect a > tombstone with her name and her marriage date as the death date. People who > were mentally ill or physically deformed might be sent off to an asylum or > hospital and the family would act as if they were dead. They might be > recorded in the family Bible as having died, so when you find the individual > in a census you will be thoroughly confused! A daughter might also be > disowned if she became pregnant and was not married or a son cut out of the > family if he ended up in prison. Obituaries were generally provided by the > families, and facts and children who did not suit the image the family wished > to project could be omitted. If a child was not mentioned in the obituary in > the local hometown paper, it didn't mean the child didn't exist or was > deceased. > > Finding disowned children can be very difficult because they often moved a > long way from their original home to a completely different environment. > Someone from Connecticut might move to Idaho or Texas for no apparent reason. > With more national indexes becoming available, it is easier to locate these > people. Since most census indexes are still on a state-by-state basis, you > almost have to check each state as there is no predicting where they might > have gone. > > The names of disowned children might turn up in a will or probate. In a will > the parent might want to mention the child just to be sure he or she is cut > out of the inheritance. If there was no will, all living children would need > to be named in legal documents relating to an inheritance. > In past times marrying outside the family's religion, race, culture or > social class was considered by some to be taboo. If children violated this > rule, some families would disown them and even declare them dead. > > Bigamy > > Even in this day of instant communication with cell phones, pagers and the > Internet, you can still pick up the paper and read about a man who was > married to different women and had two different families, each of which was > unknown to the other. (Why a man would want the responsibilities of two > families and keeping them secret is beyond me!) In the past it was so much > easier to acquire two wives, although it was more often serial rather than > concurrent. If a man from Virginia went to California to look for gold, he > might decide after a couple of fruitless years that he didn't want to go home > and face the ridicule of his family and neighbors. He might decide to just > settle down in California, perhaps open a store or take up farming and marry > a girl he met there. Since he may have stopped writing to his family in > Virginia months ago, he would hardly feel it was necessary to go to all the > trouble and agony of trying to get a divorce. He might even send back an > announcement of his death just to close that chapter of his life. > Even in this day of instant communication, you can still pick up the paper > and read about a man who was married to different women and had two different > families, each of which was unknown to the other. > > When a husband disappears, the wife usually goes through the legal process to > have him declared dead after a certain period of time. You might encounter > the family with the husband in one census and in the next find the wife > listed as a widow. This would lead you to believe he died in the meantime and > you would look for cemetery records, obituaries, wills and death records. If > he simply disappeared, you will not find any of these and may need to explore > court records for a legal document declaring him dead. Of course, he may not > really be dead at all. > > Name Changes > > Many men, especially new immigrants, found it too overwhelming to try to > support a family and just walked off and were never heard from again. They > might even change their names, settle down in a new area and get married > again. This is very difficult to track and document, but one place where this > could come out is in military pension records. If a man was in the Civil War, > his first wife would know he was entitled to a pension and would apply for > one when it became obvious he was never coming back, and could be presumed > dead. If he remarried under another name, he might feel enough loyalty to his > second wife to disclose his military service and the name under which he > enlisted. Once he died and the second wife applied for her pension, both > applications would end up with the same service record. > > If you suspect a possible name change, be sure to consult as many legal or > official documents as possible. > > If you suspect a possible name change, be sure to consult as many legal or > official documents as possible, such as pension papers, wills, naturalization > papers or land deeds. Even if a man changed names he might think he had to > include his "also known as" (AKA) name to be sure the transaction was valid, > fearing the original name might come out at some point and nullify the action. > > A woman could create genealogical confusion by not changing her name. If a > woman had a child out of wedlock, she might move to another town, keep her > maiden name but call herself Mrs., claiming she was a widow. Even if people > knew she had never married, a mother would be called Mrs. as a courtesy > because it would be embarrassing to all concerned to suggest that an > unmarried woman had a child. > > In African-American research, many people assume that a freed slave would > take the family name of the person who had owned him before emancipation. In > fact, the freed slaves could take any name they liked and many experimented > with several names before settling on one. Siblings might choose different > surnames so it is not obvious to a researcher that they are related. A parent > might have lived on a different plantation and select a different name from > the child. Many chose names of famous people or people they admired, so the > surname may or may not be significant for the researcher. > Freed slaves could take any name they liked, so the surname may or may not > be significant for the researcher. > > Duplicate Names > > Sometimes a researcher looking through baptism records will find a couple who > gave the same name to two different children. A look at the burials usually > reveals that the first child with that name died before the second one was > born. In some cases no such death is found. In fact, both children seem to > live, grow up and produce their own records. This can cause the researcher a > bit of confusion and reexamination of the records. For some reason — perhaps > a lack of imagination? — parents will give children almost identical names. > In one family there was a John and a Jonathan, and both lived to adulthood. > Mary and Maria are also possibilities. > > Sometimes, especially in German names, the first name would be the same for > all children of the same sex, but the second name would be different. A > family might consist of Johann Georg, Johann Wilhelm, Johann Josef, Anna > Barbara, Anna Maria and Anna Theresa. Needless to say, the children usually > went by their middle names and the children might be known as Georg, Johann, > Josef, Barbara, Anna and Theresa. In later records, they might reverse the > name since the middle name was the one usually used. This means you almost > have to follow the lives of all the brothers to be sure who was really > Johann. Just to confuse matters, Georg and Josef might use their official > first name, Johann, on a record. > Sometimes, especially in German names, the first name would be the same > for all children of the same sex, but the second name would be different. > > Informal Adoptions > > Very often in the past, adoptions were very informally arranged. A woman > might have a child that she really couldn't care for, because of health or > financial reasons, while her sister might have wanted a child but was unable > to have one. It might be agreed between the two families that the child would > be given to the other to raise. No papers were signed or legal documents > filed. Similarly, a foundling might be taken in by a family and simply raised > as their own. > > Wrong Sex > > We have all encountered a person being classified as a male in one census and > a female in another. This frequently happens with unusual names, or names > that can be either sex, and usually it is just an error on the part of the > census taker. However, there have been cases where children have been raised > as if they were the opposite sex. Boys were dressed like girls when they were > small and a mother who wanted a girl and was unable to have any more children > might well continue that deception until the child revolted. Sex change > operations were not possible 100 years ago but people could live as if they > were the opposite sex. A woman might be especially tempted to masquerade as a > man if she wished to be a soldier or a cowboy or follow some equally > masculine occupation. Very recently a well-known band leader died and it was > found that he, even though he was married, was actually a woman and no one > knew. > We have all encountered a person being classified as a male in one census > and a female in another. This is usually just an error on the part of the > census taker, but alternate explanations are sometimes possible. > > Race Change > > While following a family back through the census you might find a person who > had always been classified as white, listed as mulatto, meaning a mixture of > white and African ancestry. While we know the census taker often made > mistakes, this might mean there is African-American ancestry in that line. > Appearance played a big part in racial designation and when possible, many > people of mixed ancestry would "pass" for white when they could. The children > of Sally Hemings are a good example. (Whether or not you believe Thomas > Jefferson was the father, it is generally accepted that the father of the > Hemings children was white.) > > Sally herself was 1/4 black, as her father and maternal grandfather were both > white. Her children were only 1/8 black. They all drifted off, with or > without permission, and settled elsewhere. Eston at first settled in Ohio and > in 1852 moved to Wisconsin where he changed his name from Hemings to > Jefferson and his race to white. Eston's descendants did not even know of > their black ancestry. Beverly (a son) and Harriet apparently disappeared into > white society. Thomas became a minister in the African Methodist church and > Madison stayed in the black community. > > Many people, especially in the south, have both white and black ancestry. > Given the conditions and disadvantages under which blacks, even free ones, > had to live, it made sense to be classified as white if at all possible. It > made their lives and the lives of their families much easier. > Many people, especially in the south, have both white and black ancestry. > Given the conditions and disadvantages under which blacks, even free ones, > had to live, many people of mixed ancestry would "pass" for white when they > could. > > Facing the Impossible > > I would not encourage anyone to look for any of these extreme situations in > his or her own family research, but if the impossible or the improbable > appears, keep an open mind. If you come across one of these situations, this > line may be truncated. Even if you do manage to work around it, it will take > much research and documentation to gather enough evidence to prove what > really happened. However, if you do manage to piece the whole story together, > it will probably be the highlight of your family history! > > Ruth in NC > > Jack Childers in OKC > The Clan Childers: http://hometown.aol.com/jchild8629/genealgy/index.htm > Index of Surnames: http://mccserv.com/genealogy/genelist.htm >