Jo Anne said: <<I don't know how much of the census" records are correct. Info seems to change from census to census...The census records have many mistakes by way of transcription. The latest, `1940 census, shows my parents listed as "Mills"....Sheesh!>>
The census records are really only primary evidence for residence only. Any other info gleaned from them is secondary evidence. Census takers had to be able to write. They didn't have to spell correctly. And in Hawaii you have the special problem of many cultures coming together. So if the census taker was born in China and was sent to a Portuguese household, you can imagine 2 different accents trying to communicate in English. At any rate, whoever was home would answer the census taker's question. And if that meant the 10 year old, the 10 year old answered. The 1940 census had the census takers put an X by the name of the person who answered the questions. None of the other censuses did that. If you do a lot of census work, you can sometimes tell who answered the questions by following the family through the census years. The transcribed indices are a whole different problem. Human error can be introduced, especially with someone transcribing who is not familiar with Portuguese names. At Ancestry, you can submit a correction. I was told Ancestry outsourced the indexing to China, Sri Lanka, India, or high school students. I don't know which story is true, if any. I do know that their training of paleography is subpar. I've seen Turner transcribed incorrectly! And that's a real easy name! Jo Anne continued: <<I have info from the 1900 Hawaiian census that shows a Manuel Mello, B/D 1868 in Portugal immigrated to HI in 1887! married to Mary in 1889 - now do I take that as gospel? ... Dates seem to float up and down. Geez when they interviewed these people don't they know their own birthdate? Why do they keep changing, if, in fact, they are the same people?>> The only thing you can take as gospel is a primary source. A primary source is something that was issued at the time of the event. A birth certificate is a primary source for a birth. A death certificate is a primary source for the death. You can take the birth date off of the death certificate, but that fact is a secondary source. Secondary sources are something that was issued AFTER the time of the event. Most of our ancestors were illiterate. They did not celebrate birthdays like we do now with a cake and whatnot. They weren't asked for their b irthdate like we are when we fill out credit applications, banking forms, Dept of Motor Vehicle stuff, employment applications, etc. And some of our ancestors used their baptism date as their birth date instead. When I started doing genealogy 21 years ago, I initially signed up for a basic genealogy class at my local adult school. One of the things we were taught was: 1) Who said it? 2) When did they say it? 3) How did they know? Take a look at this 1880 census (if you have a subscription to Ancestry): goo.gl/9jNb7 If you are researching the John Bedford family (lines 9-15) in the 1880 census, you will know the answer to question 2 above. It was stated in 1880. But if you know that the husband and wife are about 15 years apart in age, and their kids are William, ELIZABETH, Annie, LOLA, and Joseph, you will be completely baffled that the census shows the husband and wife as only 5 years apart and that their kids are William, MARY, Annie, LOUISA, and Joseph. And the kids' ages are way off. Scroll way over to the right. The answer to question number 1 is there. I lucked out on that! (for those without a subscription to Ancestry, it says "Obtained from a neighbor. Could learn no more." And then you look at all their neighbors (for those who can't view it, many are from Portugal, China, Russia, and Canada). I therefore have my answer to question 3: They neighbors really didn't know. They took their best guess. You'll have to collect every piece of paper you can find on your ancestors. Hawaii is tougher because you are dealing with a U.S. territory and a kingdom. So things are a little different with Hawaiian research. And if you can't find stuff on the husband, chase the wife around. And ALL their kids. Not just your ancestor. The information you need may be on a different kids' record. Hope this answers a couple of your questions. Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to azores@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores?hl=en.
