Census Records-Beware The Name Game

One of the biggest resources available that you will use in your research is census records. They can be valuable in tracing not only your direct ancestor, but also extended family. For rookie genealogists out there- most of the 1890 census records were destroyed by fire and/or water in 1921. Some still do exist but are sparse.

Census records are not without flaws, however. One of the biggest cautions of census records is names. Names are notoriously incorrect on census records. In a time when social security was not yet established (pre-1935) and records were not meticulously maintained, people would often flip flop on the spelling of their names- first and last- without anyone caring.

Let’s take a look at reasons for the frustrating name game:

Phonetics: Schools taught using phonetics in the 1880’s. People learned to spell the way they heard the words pronounced. The first dictionary was not published until 1828.
Literacy: Only 65% of the population in the U.S could read in 1790. If people could not read and were giving the enumerator the names of people in their household, they probably could not help them out by spelling the names or places of birth.
One person for all: If an enumerator came to the door and only one person was there, that person would give information on everyone in that household. Relying on one person for the information of many would lead to common mistakes.
Accents: The enumerators would write what they heard and with accents of the many immigrants, mistakes would again be rampant.
Blending in: Often immigrants would purposely change the spelling of their last name to blend into the area in which they lived or to sound more American/English.
Numbers mattered most: The enumerators did not have genealogy in mind when they went door to door taking a census. The most important item was counting the population, not getting the names correct.

Considering the many ways in which names are seriously flawed on census records, it is easy to see why census records can be useful but with proper research and common sense.

Think outside the box

When looking at names on census records remember to think outside the box. What does that mean? Simply put- consider historical context, similarities and everyday lives of your ancestors. There was a period of time when ‘Polly’ was a nickname for ‘Mary’. That may not seem obvious to us in 2019 but in a point in history this may have been normal practice.

Similarities may include variations on names. A prime example is my 3rd great grandmother. I have seen her name as Carissa, Theresa, Teresa, Tracey and Tereza. Looking at these names you can see the similarity between all of them. When entering her information into my database I used the name she seemed to be referred by the most, Teresa. See the examples below of the different uses of her name (Yes, all records reflect the the same person).

My 3rd great grandmother’s name on the 1880 census as Carrissa

My 3rd great grandmother’s name on her marriage certificate as ‘Teresa’

My 3rd great grandmother’s obituary listed as ‘Tracey’

If one relative answered the questions of the enumerator and they only ever called their father by their middle name then that is most likely what they stated and not the formal first name of the father. Rigidity in your research can be your downfall. When it comes to census records, rigidity was certainly something they did not adhere to.

Another example of considering the historical context is a consideration for your family wanting to fit into America. I have a lot of Polish roots on my mother’s side of the family. For the most part they kept their full Polish last names. However, I do have one line in which the name was changed.

My 3rd great grandmother’s maiden name was Bohacz. She was born in Poland in 1826. She married her husband, Joseph Spychalski, and they immigrated to the United States. I always wondered why they came to small train stop town in rural Indiana. Believing that they had family there first, I looked for Bohacz in the area and could not find much at first. I then found marriage records for the church in this tiny town. There I found a record for a Frank Bohacz. However, that was all I could find. I decided to search the census records within that township and the surrounding townships. I finally found a possible match that corresponded with the church marriage record. The interesting part? He changed his name to Frank Bohart. Shortly after coming here he changed his name to be more American or perhaps, so that others could pronounce it.

Frank’s death certificate where her uses ‘Bohart’ instead of ‘Bohacz’ it also says ‘Bohart’ on his headstone

This church record lists Frank’s daughter getting married and has him and his daughter with the ‘Bohacz’ last name

Census records are one of the best resources out there if you think outside the box and realize that there is a gray area when dealing with censuses. It was a tedious job and very time consuming job for enumerators in an age without computers. Human error was bound to happen…and quite often.

Think like an immigrant, think like an illiterate, think like an exhausted enumerator.