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<DIV><EM><FONT face=Verdana size=3>One other thing to think about with census
records. The image we see is the third rendition [and the guy who wrote it
was hired for his handwriting].</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT face=Verdana size=3></FONT></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT face=Verdana size=3>The census taker, [he had a horse], wrote the
information onto the forms. His copy went to the county. The county
copied over the census and sent that to the state. The state copied over
the census and sent it to the feds. The microfilm copy we see is the feds
copy. </FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT face=Verdana size=3></FONT></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT face=Verdana size=3>SOMETIMES the original still exists with
the county. </FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><BR>Barb<BR><A
href="mailto:wulf@bendcable.com">wulf@bendcable.com</A><BR><A
href="http://home.bendcable.com/wulf/Project/siteMapNoImage.htm">http://home.bendcable.com/wulf/Project/siteMapNoImage.htm</A><BR></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=CKlooster@aol.com
href="mailto:CKlooster@aol.com">CKlooster@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us
href="mailto:or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us">or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, June 03, 2004 8:26
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [or-roots] Ornery
Ancestors</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Les, you make a good point about census data. I have always
considered it to be collaborative for the following reasons:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV>The census takers themselves varied so greatly in their education (as
evidenced by spelling, handwriting, etc.) and also in how precisely they
recorded data. You'll notice in the 1880 census for the French and
other related families that the census taker carefully calculated the Indian
blood quantum for those of mixed blood showing "1/4 Indian; 3/4
White". Some census takers under "Race" wrote "Mixed" or "Breed" (as
in "half-breed").</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also, the information for the whole family was given by whomever
was at home at the time the census-taker called, sometimes an older child to
whom the birthplace of mom and dad might be a bit hazy...as might be their
ages. I've always made it a mental "rule-of-thumb" to be less
skeptical of the ages of children in the census records because there is
less room for error...a three-year-old doesn't look like a
ten-year-old.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I read a letter written by an Indiana census-taker in the late 1800's
who recorded the data given to him on scratch paper then sat down each night
and carefully filled out the census forms so that they would display his
very best penmanship. I don't know how common that practice was, but
it is obvious that numbers could be transposed and errors made in the
copying. I had visions of this man laboring over the census forms late
into the night by kerosene lamp...and anyone who has used kerosene lamps as
a light source knows what a strain that is on eyes and concentration.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Then, of course, there is the deliberate misinformation as you
mention. Sometimes there was a reason for deceiving the
census-takers...an attempt to hide an identity, for example. One
factor that I've come across several times in the 1800's is what appears to
be a deliberate deception about place of birth; individuals born in Canada
or some other country stating that they were born in the U.S. In one
instance, this seems to have been because the individual had filed a mining
claim and he had to be a U.S. citizen to do that. Donation land claims
may have been another reason to claim U.S. birth, or even voting.
</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If I find consistent data in several census records, or if the census
record is consistent with other records, I feel that it adds to the body of
documentation supporting a fact or facts. I love the online census
because it provides valuable clues...neighboring households, with the wives of
each household having a father born in New Brunswick. Are they
sisters? Possibly. So I start digging for further
information. Finding great-great-grandpa is relatively easy.
Finding great-great-grandmother's sister is really hard since women's identify
(i.e. family name) disappeared when she married. The census sometimes
helps in that area.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Carla</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>