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From: Gladys Friedman Paulin <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Baptismal Date vs. Birth Date, New Orleans, LA
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 10:37:24 -0500
References: <20040110194044.22799.qmail@web13421.mail.yahoo.com> <001101c3d7f9$d7268400$5564ba18@ncroots>
In-Reply-To: <001101c3d7f9$d7268400$5564ba18@ncroots>


They may merely have switched birth dates rather than changed names.
One of my aunts (married in) was the oldest child in her family and by
tradition would be married first. A young man was calling who she did not
care for at all but her younger sister was gaga over. So they switched birth
dates and the younger became the older and married the man she wanted.

Gladys
Gladys Friedman Paulin, CGRS
Winter Springs, FL
--------------------------------
CGRS, Certified Genealogical Records Specialist, is a Service Mark of the
Board for Certification of Genealogists and used under license by Board-
certified persons who meet program standards and periodic rigorous
evaluations.




Quoting Nancy Coleman <>:

> Thanks Ray, I though (after working for two days on this and going blind)
> that I was going crazy. Not only have not many dates matched up (month-wise)
> but I, today, discovered one sister pair who seem to have traded names as
> teenagers. Their civil birth records are completely opposite from all other
> records of them as adults. Pauline did not like her name so she changes it
> to her sisters, who is Josephine. Josephine doesn't like her name so she
> changes it to Pauline. Everything else, ironically, matches up. Including
> New Orleans death records, marriage records, censuses (ages and order for
> many decades including those with their spouses; both died very old so it
> meant chasing them down through about 7 or 8 censuses each) and the SSDI.
> I've run across these teenage name changes quite often (Mary, Polly, Delia,
> Adelia, Bedelia, Maria, etc.) but this complete switch between siblings was a
> new one for me! It kept me going for hours... Ironically, those were two of
> the ones that DID agree with their civil birth records in the very end (death
> record or SSDI). Two that agreed out of dozens but they still sent me for a
> loop!
>
> I'm still wondering though if there is some cultural thing in Louisiana that
> accounts for this. We all know the Irish were not big on details like
> birthdays but this family has much older Spanish and French influence as well
> and intermarried with other old New Orleans families of various ethnicities.
> I can understand the Irish part, but I was under the impression that the
> French and Spanish (cultural) influence in those parts was very good with
> record keeping going way back. Is this a misguided impression?
> Best regards. Nancy.
> Nancy Coleman
>
> http://www.genealogyPro.com/ncoleman.html
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ray Beere Johnson II
> To:
> Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004 2:40 PM
> Subject: Re: [APG] Baptismal Date vs. Birth Date, New Orleans, LA
>
>
> Nancy;
> I had to deal with a family like this; my
> wife's. Read on for details.
> > Hope to get some clear advice... This may be
> > an obvious and stupid question, but here goes.
>
> Neither obvious nor stupid from where I stand; I
> still don't have any explanation for the way one
> particular family behaved. There were a few
> similarities to your family.
>
> > with censuses, I have found a pattern of
> > discrepancies. I have civil birth records with
> > one date of birth and then further records
> > (1900 census for instance) where the year may
> > be the same (or not) but the month is
> > completely different. The family(ies) involved
> > are Catholic and of a mix of Irish, Spanish,
> > and French heritage.
> >
> > I can understand the year being off, that's not
> > unusual if they lied about their age. I find
> > that all the time in NYC records. But, why
> > would they change the month of birth? Was it
>
> The family I was concerned with was
> Catholic, and was French-Canadian, Irish, and
> Native American. From at least 1880 through the
> 1920s, few records for this family agreed on
> anything! I have never personally worked on
> another family like it. I personally checked the
> original birth records, and noted the dates
> given. These were NOT the same dates the family
> celebrated as their birthdays, according to the
> one family member still living. He was dying of
> cancer, and not able to provide an explanation of
> why this was so. The dates listed by the Social
> Security Administration for births of ALL
> deceased members of this family did not match the
> dates in the original birth records. I don't
> think the dates matched those of baptism in the
> Catholic Church either, although I didn't check
> this out thoroughly so cannot say for certain.
> What I did note in this family was a disregard
> for details, and a lack of concern with official
> records. First names were "loose" also (Beatrice
> was called "Bernice", Frances was called
> "Francine", etc.). I assumed they just didn't
> care about the details, but can't prove that
> assumption, obviously.
> I can readily understand why the problem
> drives you crazy. I still cannot locate the death
> of one family member with a common name, as I
> have no idea what date of birth to look under in
> the SSDI; someday I will have to check out each
> of about a hundred and fifty possible matches...
> Ray
>
>
> =====
> Ray Beere Johnson II - Genealogist
> 279 East Central Street, Suite 259
> P. O. Box 95
> Franklin, Massachusetts 02038
>
>
> FAX: 508-541-6788
>
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