How well do you know your neighbors and how well do they know you?
Most genealogists have a love-hate relationship with census records. They can be full of important and brick-breaking information about our family's past. However, I've also learned that census information can be equally as frustrating. As more decades passed, the US Federal Census added more data elements which has been a genealogist's dream. Of course, with more information comes a greater chance for mistakes. The most common reasons a census can misinform you are things like spelling mistakes, different names (like nicknames or middle names,) inconsistent ages on different censuses, and of course missing family members altogether.
So who is to blame for these mistakes? As it turns out, it may not be our family members fault or the census-taker.
In a Dec 2012 article "When the Census Taker Gets it Wrong", the author describes how neighbors can play a critical role in documenting your ancestors on the 1940 US Federal Census. Batson writes, "The 1940 Census has a feature that other censuses don’t have. It states who gave the information to the census taker. From the instructions of previous censuses, it stated that when a family wasn’t at home, a neighbor could give information about them. When incorrect names, ages, and places of birth were listed, it was also my first assumption that maybe a neighbor gave the information."
Just imagine the conversation between your ancestor and their neighbor…
Ancestor: Did we miss anything while we were gone on vacation?
Neighbor: Yes! The census taker stopped by and asked me for some information on your family since you were gone. I told him all about you and your family and how you have three wonderful children Susan, Deborah, and OH NO!!! I forgot to tell them about Bobby.
Ancestor: Are you kidding me?!?! He is our first born and he plays with your son every day after school for crying out loud!!!
Neighbor: Sorry about that. I'll make it up to you in 10 years.
It is well documented that our neighbors can be instrumental in piecing the puzzle together of our family trees. In fact, many genealogists believe that researching the neighbors of your ancestors in census records usually helps in corroborating facts and even sometimes leads to new information. In my personal family research, I have been able to confirm my families whereabouts using census information and specifically the neighbor's info. Since immigrant families tend to stick together in an area, it is easy to locate several siblings and other family relatives for a surname by simply scrolling through a few pages before and after your ancestors census information. You never know what kind of important and meaningful information you can learn along the way.
For one family I researched, knowing the neighbors of their grandparents meant everything to them because their grandparents were neighbors to each other. There was not much known about their grandparents and how they met and usually it is difficult to determine this through a census. In this case though one could make a hypothesis based on what was presented on a 1915 New York State Census. I was heads down investigating the paternal surname in this census to try and learn about this immigrant family in New York. Imagine my surprise as I scrolled down the page to find their grandmother living in the same building as neighbors. These two teenagers didn’t need to look far for love and eventually moved out almost two years later to get married and start a family. This was a neighborhood love story told in black and white and I was proud to be a part of it.
Reference:
When the Census Taker Gets it Wrong
Danielle Batson - Dec 2012
