Genealogy Goof-Ups

A Little Family Research Humor

Anyone doing genealogy research knows there is humor to be found in official records. Some pretty comical results can come in the form of misspellings, mishearing information, the whims of an enumerator, or in remarks.

First off, I do want to say I am wholeheartedly grateful to the census enumerators. The work of being an enumerator in days gone would have been a difficult job. Toting bulky sheafs of large sheets of paper with narrow lines to be completed, they had to walk or travel by various modes of transportation and in all sorts of weather.

Depending on which decade it was, the enumerator could be faced with people who were wary of being asked personal questions or land owners who didn’t want anyone on their property. Some gave vague or incorrect answers to avoid giving information they thought might be used against them, and some became outright confrontational. This could be further complicated by the fact that many enumerators in the 20th century were women.

Alaskan Enumerators c. 1940 - Wikimedia Commons

Enumerators had a lot to deal with, but even so, they had a job to do. Names can be hard to find through database searches, especially when the name was written down ‘the way it sounded' to the enumerator. But then, it can lead to some funny moments.

Then there are those enumerators who were having a less than stellar day and decided, ‘I’m only going to write the first initial of every single person and I don’t care if the given names of all the members of a family do start with ‘J!’ Those of you with a family line with 163 Janes, Johns, and Jameses know what I mean. Nothing like having a family name of Smith with an incognito column of 12 Js beneath it.

One example not from my own family is found in an 1880 census entry from Orion, Wisconsin that has been floating around on social media for years. The informant for the Cudney family was asked the occupation of 15-year-old Catherine. The family member replied “does as she pleases.” I appreciate the honesty. Catherine, you go girl.

1880 census - Orion, Wisconsin

I came across a census entry in my family line where the occupation of the Head of the Household was listed as “drinks too much.” This was someone in my extended family tree and for the life of me I can’t remember exactly who it was.

A frustrating error was finding the 1859 birth register for my 2x Great Grandfather, Henry Brown, and discovering he is the only one of fifty-six entries on the page for whom they left out the date. Ughhh, that’s what the record was for. And no, the entries were not in chronological or alphabetical or any other discernible order, so I couldn’t even confirm the month with that.

Name spellings vary over time, but there are some errors closer in time that create a long-lasting result, as in the case of my maiden name. Boatright was originally spelled with a ‘w’ before the ‘r.’ My paternal grandfather’s name is spelled Boatwright on my father’s birth certificate. However, whoever finished up the certificate, (it is written in a different hand), omitted the ‘w.’ Thus, beginning with my father, the name is spelled Boatright. And another bit of info this birth certificate provided is that my father was a twin. The twin was born deceased. It was the first I’d heard of it. My Grandmother was the Master Secret Keeper of the Universe in her day, but that is for another time.

I don’t know what kind of day the person was having who filled out my maternal grandfather’s death certificate in 1979 but when it came to his mother’s maiden name, the accuracy train went off the tracks. Her maiden name was Schlageter. Granted, this is an Old World German name but this is a community that was settled by Germans and it wouldn’t have been all that unusual there. The recorder wrote something I can only attempt to pronounce as Slllaechlag. Glad I have other documentation.

Henceforth, I will be more diligent about documenting these goof-ups and mistakes when I find them. I can always use a good laugh.