Hello GFHC!!
I am an ancestor of CaliSista. The problem is she can't figure out which one. I'm hoping someone here can clue her in so she'll stop obsessing over me and move on to something more productive.
Like my descendant, I value my privacy so I won't be using my real name. See below that cute little squiggly for the details.
As I mentioned above, I won't be using my real name or my descendants real names but I will try and keep everything else the same.
CaliSista's great great grandmother lived out in the country in Mississippi. With her in the 1870 census is Yours Truly. As you know, those lazy census enumerators didn't bother with relationships for that year so you folks have to make assumptions at times. Let's say CaliSista's gg gm was named Carol Pritchard. In the 1870 census, Carol is 23. Above her is me, Tina Pritchard, and I'm listed as 70 years old. Below Carol are Marcia Pritchard aged 3 and Tessa Pritchard aged 2 months (neither of whom are CaliSista's direct ancestor).
So.... Am I Carol's grandmother? Am I Carol's mother who had in vitro WAAAAYYY before its time? Am I some random woman with the same last name with absolutely no relationship to Carol? I bet you're thinking....If good ole Tina made it to 1880, everything should be cleared right up.
PSYCH!!! [that phrase was invented in 1875....look it up]
Between 1870 and 1880, Carol went and got herself a MAN who I'll call Mike Brady since he apparently brought some of his own brood to the marriage. So now in the 1880 census it shows
M. Brady aged 58
C. Brady aged 45 (Carol REALLY aged during that 10 yrs)
M. Brady aged 14 (Marcia)
Greg Brady aged 12
Jan Brady aged 10
Cindy Brady aged 8
Peter Brady aged 6
Bobby Brady aged 4
Unnamed Female aged 2 months; AND drum roll please....
me, Tina Pritchard aged 65?
To top it off, the line on the census that would have indicated my relationship to the head of household is empty.
Some clarifications: Cindy Brady is CaliSista's great grandmother. Mike and Carol tied the knot in 1877. Based on their marriage date and age of children, CaliSista believes Marcia, Cindy, Peter, and Bobby belong to Carol while Greg and Jan belong to Mike. Then again, what does she know?
So NOW, who am I? For those who answered Grandma based on the 1870 census, you're not looking so smart are ya.....
In addition to the 1870 & 1880 Federal Census, I also made appearances in the MS State census (censuses, censi, whatevah) of 1866 and 1880. There were an even lazier batch of enumerators in 1866 because instead of writing down everyone's name and ages, they only wrote head of household and then grouped everyone else by gender/race/decade. So there I am in 1866 listed as between 50 and 60. With me are 2 girls who are both between 10 and 20.
Looks like I'm Grandma again.
But Wait!!!
In the 1880 State census the enumerators decided to be a little creative. Anticipating the whining that would go on 131 years in the future, this time they wrote down the names and ages of everyone and not just head of household. Someone had the great idea of first recording all of the men of the Township in alphabetical order, then going on to the women and finally listing all of the children. Wasn't that helpful? Now there are no confusing family groupings to get in the way. They sorta messed up with the children because they did include a parent/guardian next to each child. I'm sure that was an oversight.
1880 State Census
Male Section
Mike Brady aged 56
Kids Section
Mike is listed as parent/guardian for the following kids who were in the following strange order:
Marcia aged 18
Cindy aged 7
Bobby aged 5
Some new kid, Olivia aged 8
Peter aged 6
Alice aged 2 months
Greg aged 8
Female Section
Carol Brady aged 30; and
Tina Pritchard aged 53!! - WTF?
CaliSista is very very confused. She wonders why Marcia gained 4 years and Greg lost 4 years between the 1880 Federal census and 1880 State census even though they couldn't have been more than a few months apart. Jan seems to have run away or decided her name was too short and demanded to be called Olivia and be 2 years younger. Alice was happy to be called something other than unnamed baby. CaliSista even questions the mother of baby Alice. She thought possibly that Alice belonged to Marcia instead of Carol but there's no way to know. Alice didn't show up in 1900 nor was any marriage record found for her (I guess Alice
really doesn't live here anymore).
Here's the deal. Depending on which census is examined, I was born
1800 (1870 federal census)
between 1806 and 1816 (1866 state census)
1815 (1880 federal census)
1827 (1880 state census)
So GFHCers....
Any ideas that will push CaliSista in the right direction?