APG-L Archives

Archiver > APG > 2004-01 > 1073845474


From: "Mills" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Baptismal Date vs. Birth Date, New Orleans, LA
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 12:33:49 -0600
References: <20040110194044.22799.qmail@web13421.mail.yahoo.com> <001101c3d7f9$d7268400$5564ba18@ncroots>


Nancy asked:
> I'm still wondering though if there is some cultural thing in Louisiana
that accounts for this. . . . but this family has much older Spanish and
French influence

Nancy, the short answer is no. I'm swamped right now and don't have time for
an adequate answer on Louisiana's Spanish and French naming customs, but the
situations you describe cannot be attributed to that. Occasionally, in every
society, something quirky happens of the nature that Gladys just described.
But quirks of that type need supporting testimony that they actually
happened, which Gladys obviously has because she's talking about aunts she
knows.

What appear more likely in your situations are plain errors caused by such
things as (a) information being given by a child, a neighbor, or other third
party without adequate knowledge; (b) dates being provided by somebody who
has no memory for dates [hey, we all know guys who can't remember the
birthdates of all their kids -- or their own anniversaries <g>]; (c)
families who simply didn't keep a record of dates, usually because one or
more parents did not read or write; (d) census takers writing the name as
they "heard it"; (e) sheer carelessness on the part of the enumerator, or
(f) census takers being of a different ethnicity from the household under
enumeration.

As for sisters deciding on their own to "swap names," if they were baptized
Catholics, this was not an option.

Elizabeth

======
Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
Author, *Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian*
Editor/Author, *Professional Genealogy: A Manual for
Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians*



This thread: