Nice answer, I have read these reasons and you are right. I have questioned what happened to the 1900, 1910 & 1920 census, they are hard to read and so dark on some pages they cannot be read? Ann ----- Original Message ----- From: <OmahaMom@aol.com> To: <TNUNION-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, October 11, 1999 5:54 AM Subject: Re: Census data > There are a lot of theories on why someone's information doesn't stay the > same from census to census, or they don't age in 10 increments, etc. Any of > these possibilities may turn out to be true depending on the individual > family (except since we can't talk to them, there's no way of answering the > question of what is the actual case in OUR family's instance.) > > 1. Mother answered the questions one year and gave the ages right. > 2. Father answered the questions one year & estimated the ages, because he > couldn't remember for sure. > 3. Mother was embarrassed about being older than dad, and fibbed a little? > 4. The family wasn't home so the neighbors answered the questions. > 5. The eight year old answered the questions one year, and was really way > off, but at least we now know what everybody's nicknames is. > 6. The person answering the questions was getting older, & really couldn't > remember off-hand how old anybody was. (I wish I could not relate to this > one, but I find that I have to stop & figure out some of the ages in my > family these days.) > > As for the places people were born, some people didn't know where their > spouse was born, much less where their spouse's parents were born. Not only > that, in territorial days, it might have been one territory to start with, > and gone through two or three names before it actually became a state. > > Just some ideas, > Karen > > > > ==== TNUNION Mailing List ==== > If you live in Union County why not pitch in. Take a day and write down the tombstones in the nearest cemetery. Send it to us for others to use. You could be helping a cousin. Go to the courthouse and copy some early marriage records. Anything helps. > >