Di, Interesting question that I have wondered myself. I've never seen an explanation. Generally those enumerated next to each other are neighbors. But, you wonder in which direction the enumerator traveled. Did he go in a circle. I have often thought of the starting point myself. Think about a modern block. If he started at my house and went down the block in one direction, one of my next door neighbors would be listed far from me depending on the direction. Next door neighbors in bordering townships (right on the line) would seem miles away by the census. Does that make sense?? Hopefully someone has an explanation, but it probably varies by county/township. David
Dave? I had read an article in Family Tree Magazine http://www.familytreemagazine.com/ (not to be confused with Family Tree Maker) and it talked about a census taker, a female school teacher who took two weeks to cover her area....there was a city map of the era, and it was marked with the route she took. Am wondering if there wouldn't be old city/town/area maps that could be had that would provide the information that would show the direction of the census takers' route. Unfortunately, the article isn't one that they feature on the website, but it was interesting reading. Mari List Admin At 08:26 PM 2/7/02 , David W. Taft wrote: >Di, > >Interesting question that I have wondered myself. I've never seen an >explanation. > >Generally those enumerated next to each other are neighbors. But, you >wonder in which direction the enumerator traveled. Did he go in a circle. >I have often thought of the starting point myself. > >Think about a modern block. If he started at my house and went down the >block in one direction, one of my next door neighbors would be listed far >from me depending on the direction. Next door neighbors in bordering >townships (right on the line) would seem miles away by the census. Does >that make sense?? > >Hopefully someone has an explanation, but it probably varies by >county/township. > >David > > > >============================== >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