Ray, I believe we all run into these "discrepancies" within all of our family lines. You mentioned this in your post, but it is important to keep in mind that some states boundaries changed with time.... for example: part of North Carolina was once part of Virginia, part of Tennessee was once part of North Carolina, and so forth..... So, if an ancestor was at first considered being born in, let's say, Virginia, and then boundaries changed to where they were then considered being born in a portion of what is now North Carolina. This could be one cause for the differences. Even after the boundaries changed, they and their descendents might still consider themselves being from the original state. Then 10 years later, change their mind. Also, remember many times census takers would be unable to find the family home when needing to take the census information. Instead of riding his horse back to their home at a later time, he would either ask neighbors or they would "guess-timate" ages, spelling of names, number of children, places of birth, etc.... Many families were simply illiterate. They simply did not keep track of their accurate ages or places of birth. Many times, family members had no idea where their mother and father were born and would simply make something up or say something like "Well, let's see, I think Pa said he was born in Virginia, but I ain't real shore." Ok, Virginia it is, according to the census taker! There are many, many reasons why there are so many discrepancies. Makes our work fun, doesn't it? Lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Ezell" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 10:49 AM Subject: [TNMONROE-L] general question to the list > After pouring over various census year pages for a number of my ancestors over the past several weeks. I have noticed....and I am sure that you have too in your own situations....that many of my ancestors didnt seem to know which state they were born in or how old they were from year to year. > > Many times the same ancestor would switch back and forth between Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky as his/her listed birthplace. Most of the time, they listed these different birthplaces when they were well young enough to remember where they had been born, for example, one ancestor in the 1860 census (when he was in his mid twenties) listed his birth in NC, then in the 1870 census listed his birthplace in TN, then in the 1900 census as North Carolina, etc. etc. At first I attributed this to failing memory in old age...but in many cases they couldnt make up their minds when they were obviously young enough to know bettor (or at least should have known better). Rember that this was generally in the early to mid 1800s when state borders were set as they are now and had not changed during the previous 30+ years or more. > > Also, I am increasingly mistified at how my ancestors didn't apparently know how old they were from year to year. I realize that when the census taker came 'round they probably just estimated as best they could how old they were, but as each census came around (every 10 years) it is not uncommon for some of my kin to age at a rate of 15 years....or even 7 or 8 years at a time??? Surely someone told them that the census was only taken every 10 years and not 12 years then 8 years then 15 years...? Again, this seems to happen when the kinfolk should have been young enough and of sufficiently clear mind to at least give consistent answers to the census man.....? > > ...do you folks run into these situations...or am I the odd man out.....any thoughts...? > > > > Ray Ezell, M.A., RPA > Senior Archaeologist > Michael Baker Jr., Inc. > 5088 West Washington Street > Second Floor > Charleston, West Virginia 25313 > 304/769-2112 > [email protected] > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >

> Many families were simply illiterate. They simply did not keep track of > their accurate ages or places of birth. Many times, family members had no > idea where their mother and father were born and would simply make something > up or say something like "Well, let's see, I think Pa said he was born in > Virginia, but I ain't real shore." Ok, Virginia it is, according to the > census taker! I have an ancestor who was pretty close with his age and place of birth except one year. He was born in North Carolina and his wife in Tennessee. In 1860, I think his oldest child, a daughter of 11 answered the questions because every child had the right age and place of birth...the parents ages were ludicrous and I think she answered the their place of birth with something like, "Pa's people were from Virginia" and "Ma's people were from Georgia"...she answered the question as if she were talking about her grandparents. Then their are the relatives of a friend I am doing gen. for. One of her great great uncles had a lot of children and I'm sure the neighbors must have given the information. All the kids names were in mixed up order from their real order but the unusual names were all there...the ages were completely screwy...and this was in 1910. All the toddlers were also the wrong sex. EdrieAnne