From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Wed Feb 22 17:18:40 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k1N0Iejb020237; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 17:18:40 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k1N0IdgB017465 for ; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 17:18:39 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k1MLnJFI008010 for ; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:49:19 -0500 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k1MLnJxb008009 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:49:19 -0500 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.27.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id k1ML5bFI007886 for ; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:05:37 -0500 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k1MNYkWq018232 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:34:46 -0700 X-Envelope-From: hornbeck@s-hornbeck.com Wed Feb 22 16:34:46 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k1MNYkjb018223 for ; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:34:46 -0700 Received: from smtp100.mail.sc5.yahoo.com (smtp100.mail.sc5.yahoo.com [216.136.174.138]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with SMTP id k1MNYiXh028477 for ; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:34:44 -0700 Received: (qmail 97028 invoked from network); 22 Feb 2006 23:34:44 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO shirley-.s-hornbeck.com) (shirleyhornbeck@sbcglobal.net@69.106.120.124 with login) by smtp100.mail.sc5.yahoo.com with SMTP; 22 Feb 2006 23:34:43 -0000 Message-Id: <6.2.3.4.2.20060222153224.0441d6a0@pop.mail.yahoo.com> X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 6.2.3.4 Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:33:14 -0800 To: ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com From: Shirley Hornbeck Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] This and That Census Tips SOME TIPS WHEN USING CENSUS RECORDS: Just because two families are next to each other on the census page doesn't mean they lived near each other. More often than not those listed next to each other are neighbors but no guaranties. The assumption is that the census taker visited every household in his assigned district in a systematic manner. Not only will getting their names help you sort out land records but you'll find that they witnessed each other legal documents and that they married each other. District boundaries had to be drawn somewhere. There are always going to be relatively close households that wound up in different districts and were enumerated by different people on different days. Just because two families are at opposite ends of the census doesn't mean they were NOT neighbors. If the census taker started out on a county, beginning with his neighbor on the south, and went all over the county until he ended up back at his house with his neighbor on the east, the first and last census entries could be neighbors and were certainly living close together even if they weren't officially next door to each other. The "neighbor" problem is twofold. First, you don't know what path the census taker followed. Second, and even worse, it's impossible to draw out a path through a town for a census taker to follow that puts everybody on that path next to each of their neighbors on the census. Try it if you don't believe it. In trying it, you will gain some additional insight into the "neighbor problem" on census returns. It's a problem even in a small town with only four blocks. There are some assumptions, however, that seem relatively safe. If you find two families you know were related and they were listed next to each other on the census, then they probably were neighbors. This assumption is warranted only because it seems improbable that two specific related families living across town from each other would end up next to each other on the census by chance. It could happen but it's not likely. If you find two families listed next to each other in different censuses (for instance, 1840 and 1850), then they probably were neighbors. The reasoning is obvious. More tips at my This and That web page, see my signature for url. Shirley Hornbeck - THIS & THAT GENEALOGY TIPS: