In the 1850 census it does not give her nationality. She was living with Frank and Lydia Hanna in Gilmer Illinois, Adams County in 1850 Her given name is Frances Bertha West. In the census you saw she was the wife of John K Cramer, every census I have found it is Frances, until the 1885 Nebraska State Census. Claire Mares typed that up, and she is the one who did a lot of research for me, because I live so far away from there. 1860 Census, Territory of Nebraska, she is called Frances, and it does not give any nationality. 1870 U S Fed Census, Nebraska Territory, Washington County, calls her Frances, says she is female, 32, born in Ohio, no nationality. 1880 U S Fed Census, Dodge co. Nebraska calls her Frances, says she was born in Ohio, her father was born in Canada and her mother born Ohio. No nationality given. She died in 1889. A circus is the only way I would know how to pronounce that name, and I have often thought that is funny. She was giving birth to babies in Nebraska at an early date. They had snow storms people died in, they had Indian raids, insect infestations that ate crops, times when it looked like starvation looked eminent. The 1870 census said she was insane. Who knows what they meant. She had lived through the death of her father at an early age, the death of a baby, all those hard times on the frontier. I have wondered if insanity was why she gave her name as Asserkus, I have wondered if today they would have a very different definition of her problem. No where to I get any direction on her nationality. There are a good number of redheads in the line. I think I have told you about all I can. My grandpa seemed to like his mother, he named his oldest daughter Frances Bertha. He said he ran away from home because his dad was mean to him. I don't know. That reminds me the census said she was insane about the time he was born, or a young child. Post Partum Blues? I don't know. Wish I did. Karon ----- Original Message ----- From: Deborah Slager To: WEST-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 6:04 PM Subject: Re: [WEST-L] ETHNICITY of the WEST NAME Maybe it just because its been such a long day but I looked at Asserkus and immediatly thought "A Circus". Not very helpful but sure struck me funny at the time. Is there more than one person on that census with that designation? Are you sure it was a nationality or was it perhaps a given name? I found a transcription online of the 1885 Dodge County, Nebraska census... For John CRAMER & Asserkus ?? It looks like it was perhaps a first name of the wife. Doesn't appear to have the nationality listed in the transcript. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nedodge/census/1885/C85DodgeCensus.htm Deb Karon wrote: >That is humorous to me as my mother was saying she was Pennsylvania Dutch to avoid being German. And she wouldn't admit to being any degree of Indian. In the 1885 Nebraska Census, Frances Bertha West was listed as Asserkus. I am totally unfamiliar with that name, and have wondered if it was an Indian name. Anybody on the list know? > >Karon > > > > ==== WEST Mailing List ==== Become a transcriber for the Census Project. www.us-census.org