Counted in 2 different places in the same census?

[Jamieva]

Anyone have a relative that showed up in the same census twice as living in 2 different places? Like they might have moved during the census year so they happened to get counted in both places? That appears to be the situation with my CW ancestor GG grandfather. So weird.

 

[Rhea Cole]

One of my CW relations appears on rosters as up to five people. His last last name was spelled one way & pronounced quite another. The phonetic spellings of his name gave him the strength of many men... on paper anyways.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Anyone have a relative that showed up in the same census twice as living in 2 different places?

I've seen this happen before occasionally. Usually because they were working in one place but their normal home was somewhere else. I've seen a few instances of a move too, especially for a very transient line of work.

In at least one instance I recall a newlywed couple being listed but one of them was also listed with their parents.

State censuses seem to be worse for this sort of thing than federal census.

 

[lupaglupa]

I have a couple of those. My great-grandfather was going to school and was counted there and at home. I find this situation far less irritating than the opposite - where they don't show up at all due to missing the count in both places.

 

[John Winn]

My great grandmother and her children all showed up on one census in two places. Looking at the enumeration dates in both places I'm convinced that what happened is that they were first counted at the old home place but then took a train to the new home place and were counted there three weeks later. Great grandpa wasn't counted twice because he'd left to go get settled in the new place before sending for the family. I'd bet it wasn't uncommon.

 

[DaveBrt]

The census take frequently did not see the people he was listing, but took information from others. For example, a boarding house owner might give info on all those living in the building, but who were not there at the moment because of being at work. Easy for a "helpful" person to give the wrong spelling, give wrong place of birth, give wrong age or list someone who has left on a trip (and was counted where they went on the trip).

 

[lupaglupa]

The census take frequently did not see the people he was listing, but took information from others. For example, a boarding house owner might give info on all those living in the building, but who were not there at the moment because of being at work. Easy for a "helpful" person to give the wrong spelling, give wrong place of birth, give wrong age or list someone who has left on a trip (and was counted where they went on the trip).

And then on top of misinformation from the person talking to the Census taker, the people hired to write the information down often made mistakes in spelling or had such execrable handwriting that it's difficult to figure out what they put down!

 

[Jamieva]

Thanks everyone. I was 99% sure it was him in both but it helps to have some reassurance that this did happen from time to time.

 

[sko2014]

Thanks everyone. I was 99% sure it was him in both but it helps to have some reassurance that this did happen from time to time.

One of my Civil War relatives was recorded twice in the 1870 census. It is interesting that he was still known by the alias name used when he enlisted (underage) in the Cavalry. On the first enumeration, he and his new bride were living with her parents. On the second listing, about a month later, they had moved to a home of their own. His wife had a fairly unique name, which makes research much easier.

 

[DixieRifles]

Anyone have a relative that showed up in the same census twice as living in 2 different places? Like they might have moved during the census year so they happened to get counted in both places? That appears to be the situation with my CW ancestor GG grandfather. So weird.

Yes. I was searching for an officer named H. C. Holt. I searched 3 or 4 states using Fold3---nothing. Then months later, I found his name in one of those states because Fold3 had transcribed "Holt" as "Halt". Such a simple name and one missed letter caused me a headache.
Anyway, I finally found him listed in his Father's household with the occupation as "Student Navy". Later, I found him again in the Maryland census in the town of Annapolis. His occupation was listed as "Midshipman" in the US Naval Academy. It was easy to go the USNA archives website and download his records from 1859 - 1861. I wrote the USNA and they pulled his records that identified his hometown and father's name that matched the name in the other state's census. So he was in two locations in the Census.