Keiri
Sergeant
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2015
so I have a bit of a mystery. My most likely civil war ancestor's last name was Cointin. They were from France and I have found them in St. Louis since the early 1850s and on those records it is spelled cointin. The name morphed later - one son kept cointin (my line) and the other took quanty. So in searching by even reading every single soldier list at the archives for Union, and then what records there are for confederate, I found nothing for those or sound alikes. I contacted St. Louis archives for exemptions. No luck.
So then I looked again at my records. I know for a fact that I have the right family for them in the 1870 census. Ages, first names, location, it all checks out. But the LAST name doesn't. The name as clearly as I can tell, comparing with other handwriting from the census taker, is written as Grenier. (Granary, barn, or attic in French). I mean, it doesn't even sound like it. I don't think he gave him his profession by accident because he was a farmer. And he had been in the us for 20 years and probably knew a little English by then.
So let's assume the census taker heard right. Why would he have given him the wrong name purposely? Would there be a reason he wouldn't want them to know? Would it matter if he served for the confederacy? Any thoughts? Conjecture is fine
So then I looked again at my records. I know for a fact that I have the right family for them in the 1870 census. Ages, first names, location, it all checks out. But the LAST name doesn't. The name as clearly as I can tell, comparing with other handwriting from the census taker, is written as Grenier. (Granary, barn, or attic in French). I mean, it doesn't even sound like it. I don't think he gave him his profession by accident because he was a farmer. And he had been in the us for 20 years and probably knew a little English by then.
So let's assume the census taker heard right. Why would he have given him the wrong name purposely? Would there be a reason he wouldn't want them to know? Would it matter if he served for the confederacy? Any thoughts? Conjecture is fine