Census Records Around the World & Everything About Them

Comment

Comment by Finn S Hansen on September 19, 2009 at 9:10am

It looks to me that the occupatiion is skindresser. In checking Google for a definition, it sounds like it is someone who works with leather, a tanner or something of that nature.

Finn S. Hansen

Comment by Kate Steere on September 19, 2009 at 8:41am

Hi George-
I notice that the head of household is listed as Male, its possible they got that wrong? Was Esther Fredericka's middle name? I would save it as a possible, esp if the family was in that area in other census records.

Comment by Sue McCormick on September 13, 2009 at 8:35pm

I had a success story with the 1870 census today! It seems that the Chester Township, Wabash County enumerator used ONLY initials — which explains why no one in my family showed up. ALSO the indexer misread "W" (for white) as "M" (for mulatto) which was odd for northern Indiana.
I searched the image, page-by-page, and found both grandparents (as young children) plus a great uncle important to family history.
Personal searching and perseverance can pay off! Keep plugging!

Sue

Comment by Mary Taylor Ferrando on September 2, 2009 at 1:20pm

Correction to comment below. My ancestor's name is William P. Wilson born about 1824 in East Canada (Quebec).

Comment by Mary Taylor Ferrando on September 2, 2009 at 1:18pm

I am interested in learning more about my ancestor William P Sprague. I find him on the 1851 census for East Canda (Quebec). I can't find him any earlier. Is there census for that area earlier than 1851? He was born in that area about 1824.

Comment by Kate Steere on August 28, 2009 at 10:58am

Also, something I've done as an indexer and researcher is to look closely at the handwriting, if I can't Id a letter or word, I try to look at the rest of the page or previous/subsequent pages to id the word or letters.

Comment by Evelyn Steinberg on August 28, 2009 at 7:44am

Warren Blatt of JewishGen addressed the issue of inaccurate spellings in a recent lecture. His suggestion was to think like the person who recorded the information - what would they have heard (especially if the speaker had a an accent) and how would they have spelled what they heard phonetically. That has helped me find a few relatives whose names have been recorded but not the way they would have spelled it.

Comment by Barbara M Leydecker on August 27, 2009 at 6:05pm

Another thing to remember about the census-takers. Many times they were immigrants themselves, going door to door in strange neighborhoods. The language barrier had to be a real factor. Imagine a native german speaker trying to take the census in the italian neighborhood!
I have some ancestors who show up on one census in two different households in two different states. The census was taken over a period of several months and they were living in NJ at the begining. A few months later they had moved to NYC for work and were counted as sons in another household.

Comment by Sue McCormick on August 5, 2009 at 8:58pm

I have found that browsing a census, rather than following the index list, often pays off. When you browse, you can often recognize one or two household names, which identify your family, even though the original enumerator and/or the indexer made errors in the names.

It takes time, but it is worth it.

Sue

Comment by Ray Marentette on August 2, 2009 at 8:11pm

Just viewed a census of 1901 where my great grand mother married for a second time after my great grand father died and subsequently the family farm was divided between the both groups of children. The spelling of the names was quite inaccurate. Is this due to the inability to read the written word or they did not know how to spell their names? This is a great site. Thanks for sharing.

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