12th Missouri Yankee
Sergeant
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2014
One of my own grand mothers hid her age so well that my parent did not know how old she was until I researched the census records and found out she was seven years older than my grand dad.
I found a relative who had a baby a year before she was married... and from that point forward lied about her marriage date on the census.
Not a lie, but interesting to find on the census. One relative had the interesting job of running the county poorhouse.
Very true. There are so many things we may never know due to lack of records. Our great great great great grandchildren may have the ability to learn about almost every hour of our lives thanks to things like Facebook and the internet, but for many of our ancestors we know little more than when they were born and where they lived!I was a census worker one year and it was COMPLICATED! Some people treated me like an unwanted FBI agent. Others had me all the way in to the dining room and sat and drank coffee while they happily answered.
What gets me is an assertion I keep making is, MOST HISTROY ISN'T RECORDED. Even the census.
We have 2 cabin sites on the old farm and their is NO record of anything about anybody living in either place!
It was deep woods till 40 years ago. Legend on one site is that it was a outlaw family member in his old age.
Judging by the huge mound of whiskey bottles that might be true.
One site has local lore that says that at one site an unknown man squatted on the site and built a cabin and brought out his wife and toddler son. One day both were struck by lightning and killed and the man soon committed suicide.
ONE local newspaper seems to refer to this incident, but at NO point are names given. This second site is where I found the planted rows of jonquils I mentioned in the thread titled, Spring.
Whether your rifling through old census records or walking over old ground, your mind is wondering what REALLY happened here!?
Has anyone else found any funny lies on the census?
I haven't the faintest how you get Arry from Benjamin Francis, but I have a few equally weird ones in my own family. I guess if Clive Staples Lewis could call himself Jack, anything was possible.My sister and I spent hours looking for an "Arry" listed in the 1871 census, he ,she or it ,suddenly appeared. We couldn't find a paper trail. Then, having found his father had been jailed for stealing money from the public house he ran, we got hold of the court records and lo: " are you Benjamin Francis Wallis, known as "Arry" ? GOT HIM !
Born the wrong side of the blanket and not acknowledged by his own father, we don't think he was even adopted, he just arrived and stayed. He was buried in that name too, which is technically illegal here.
There's a "gentleman" in the 1860 census of Lauderdale county district 1. I eventually learned that he was the retired father-in-law of the man listed as head of household. I guess giving him an occupation in the census was important to the family because otherwise it appeared as if he was a dependent.I've not found any outright lies but have seen all the stuff noted by Allie. My great grandfather (avatar guy) was listed once as "guano salesman" and for a while I thought that was a joke but soon discovered that guano was sold for fertilizer at the time. When I was first getting started researching I couldn't find him or any of his immediate family on the 1880 census although everybody showed up on the 1870 and 1900 ones. Eventually I found them with the surname Wyan. That threw me until I imagined what the census taker likely heard: a very country Georgia accent pronouncing Winn. It was an early lesson in looking for different spellings.
I've also got a great grandmother who showed up twice in one census, once with her father and brothers in Florida and again with her new husband in Georgia. Looking at the dates of the census records I realized that what had happened is she was recorded first in Florida, then got on the train and moved to Athens to join her husband at his new job, and was thus recorded again the next week in Georgia. Took me a bit to figure that out (how to be in two places at once in 1900 or did great grandpa have two wives with the same names or what).
I've seen several wealthy guys who listed their profession as "gentleman." Yeah ... I don't actually soil my hands, just sit around and ring for the servants.
We reckon it was "Harry" , possibly a nickname but as to how ???I haven't the faintest how you get Arry from Benjamin Francis, but I have a few equally weird ones in my own family. I guess if Clive Staples Lewis could call himself Jack, anything was possible.
We reckon it was "Harry" , possibly a nickname but as to how ???
Gosh, that is sad.I posted on another thread that on the 1880 census a woman living with a man who might be my great great grandfather listed her occupation as "satisfying the pleasure of the one paying her board."
The saddest tombstone I ever saw was of a 2-year old in the 1800s. It said "Illegitimate - murdered."
One interesting death certificate I happened across was for a young woman who was apparently a teen runaway. She gave birth to a baby at a hotel and then died, all the time refusing to give her name. I can't remember the details exactly but as I recall she was estimated to be about seventeen, white, and this happened in Haywood county shortly after the war. So many questions, but I wasn't able to find out if anyone ever learned who she was, or who ended up with the baby.You also see a lot of interesting comments on death certificates - The favorite cause of death I have found was a man who died of being "Shot by wife while coming through the front window of their home." Probably a pretty good story associated with that one, wish I knew what it was. Also, on another death certificate the occupation of the deceased was listed as "general layabout."