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Oddity in census record
Looking for an interpretation of data found on Ancestry.com:
On the 1900 census sheet I have 7 relatives listed:
Martha is listed as widowed and head-of-house
Marjorie is listed as dau-in-law and widowed
George is listed as son and single
Robert is listed as grandson and single
Jane is listed as granddaughter and single
Marquis is listed as grandson and single
James is listed as grandson and single
On the citation of the record Marjorie is listed as widowed
but her spouse is listed as George
On George's citation he is listed as single but
his spouse is listed as Marjorie
It seems that the citation is trying to 'tidy up' the data found on the census sheet. I welcome any explanations from more experienced researchers.
On the 1900 census sheet I have 7 relatives listed:
Martha is listed as widowed and head-of-house
Marjorie is listed as dau-in-law and widowed
George is listed as son and single
Robert is listed as grandson and single
Jane is listed as granddaughter and single
Marquis is listed as grandson and single
James is listed as grandson and single
On the citation of the record Marjorie is listed as widowed
but her spouse is listed as George
On George's citation he is listed as single but
his spouse is listed as Marjorie
It seems that the citation is trying to 'tidy up' the data found on the census sheet. I welcome any explanations from more experienced researchers.
Views: 152
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on
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Hi Greg-
Can you find this family in later census or previous census records?
By citation, I'm assuming you are referring to the index on Ancestry?
Its possible the indexer was confused, and made assumptions? If the census record is unclear as far as handwriting, the indexer may have tried to interpret something that wasn't there?
Kate
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Permalink Reply by Paul Drake on
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Hi, Greg. Kate's advice is good. Ancestry.com has almost nothing of any depth unless you pay an obscene sum to view what they have, and as you found, they have frequent mistakes. Try "Cyndi's list" and also search the name of the county you want to see. As examples, Google "Marion county OH free census view" or Google "1900 free census view PA -ancestry.com".
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You can also find the 1900 census on FamilySearchLabs for free, you will need Adobe to use the site-
Kate
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Permalink Reply by Greg Settle on
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I am a paying member of Ancestry. And it is pricey considering I am paying for digital access to public records that I paid to have collected, collated, etc. But that is another issue.
I've viewed the scan of the original census sheet but it was just odd to me how Ancestry came up with the info they did when it seems clear to me no such relationship existed.
Thanks for the replies!
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sometimes family members using the census records will make corrections? or sometimes the indexer gets carried away-I have seen some weird things on Ancestry. :)
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I recently helped a friend whose family came to TX from Nova Scotia. The TX census for 1920 was for that family but it appeared that for a few pages the taker put in the names but inserted the other (wrong) data later.
My favorite is the STL 1870 Census. With an open "A" and a cramped ending, we became "Olinstend" to the transcriber.
No wonder it took so long to find Great Grandpa Almstedt !
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Permalink Reply by Cindy Pirani on
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Are you looking at an information sheet or the actual census page? Like when you click on a census result on Ancestry, you get this first white page with all the info clearly spelled out and then you have the option to click on the actual form. In that case, the head of house is not listed along with the rest of the names and is at the top of that information sheet Ancestry creates. So if George is the husband, he could also be the father of George the single son. To really know what is going on, I would have to actually see what you are seeing.
Cindy
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