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From: Kathy Cortez <>
Subject: Re: [APG] mid 1850's naturalization
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 12:22:39 -0700
References: <552516.42473.qm@web36101.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <552516.42473.qm@web36101.mail.mud.yahoo.com>


I can cite several examples of people lying on the census. In Utah
from at least 1857 with the pending arrival of Johnston's army until
statehood there was a general mistrust of the federal government, if
I can make a sweeping generalization, and consequently a mistrust of
any of it's representatives, such as a census taker. Now in the first
instance the census taker was actually a relation to the family in
question, so I am not sure why the first names of every person in the
family were changed. They each had the same first letter as their
"real" name. The birth years and occupations were right on for the
family and the town where they lived was tiny (10-15 families). After
an exhaustive search in the 1860 U. S. Census for Summit County, Utah
(six pages) I concluded this had to be the right family. Also the
family with their altered names does not appear in later censuses
with those names. I encountered the same thing with a polygamous
family, so at least in Utah people did lie to the census taker.

I have two examples in my own family of immigrants with no trace of
an accent within a few years of arrival in the U. S. I once asked my
grandmother about her father's accent. He was a miner from Cornwall,
arrived in 1894 (age 29). She replied that he had no trace of an
accent and he told her he was so eager to "become American" that he
lost his accent as quickly as he could. My husband's grandfather who
arrived from the Azores in 1920 (age 15) also had no trace of an
accent. All of his relatives, who have been here since 1977 at the
latest, have heavy accents. He also changed his name from Luiz
Martins to Louis Martin shortly after arrival. The first man worked
with a Cornish mining crew nearly all his life and the second worked
on farms owned by other Portuguese. Both men continued to associate
with their countrymen.

I also have an example in England, where the parish/town of birth is
given from 1851 on. The father of the family, a widower, consistently
gives Alkham, Kent as his birthplace in every census, 1851-1891. The
baptism records for Alkham are complete and his baptism is not there,
nor are there any other children of the same surname. There is
however a likely candidate baptized and married about ten miles away
who disappears from that parish shortly after marriage and appears in
Alkham baptism records as the father of four children. It could be
that since Alkham became his place of settlement, all important in
England at the time, he simply identified with the place. Or he was
left out of the baptisms or baptized and married a girl in his
mother's home parish and returned home to Alkham. Or he just gave his
children's birthplace as his own. The surname is distinct enough that
I have narrowed the search to three candidates in the country I am in
the process of eliminating each one now.

As an aside, I recently found that a couple who were out of the
country were enumerated. John and Louisa Halt (towards the bottom of
the page) were "Visiting in Germany" according to what is written
under the occupation category. Imagine how many neighbors gave
information for those who were away.
<http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?
htx=View&r=an&dbid=7602&iid=OHT623_1302-0458&fn=John&ln=Halt&st=r&ssrc=&
pid=41031893>

Kathy Hinckley's book on the federal census is a great resource and
full of these kinds of examples.

Kathy Cortez
APG Member
Saratoga Springs, Utah

On Mar 3, 2008, at 8:57 AM, Katherine Flynn wrote:

> Dear Janis,
>
> Your opening question already has several assumptions built into
> it. The foremost being that the persons in question were
> personally queried by the enumerator! The next assumption is that
> the enumerator wrote down correctly what he heard.
>
> Of course, we all know that there is no way to tell exactly what
> happened on these census visits. So I believe it is a stretch to
> say these people purposely lied. The census would have no bearing
> on their jobs or views in the community. His Irish ancestry would
> be dead apparent. And, to speculate here a bit, if he was indeed
> born and raised in Ireland I am sure he had a brogue that would
> give him away in a second. :)
>
> In many of my lines where I have migrating families WITHIN the
> USA it is not unusual to see three different states listed as the
> place of birth over the years! So when I saw your list I sighed
> and said to myself, "So typical!"
>
> Sincerely,
> Kathy Flynn
>
> Janis Gilmore <> wrote:
> Would there have been a reason to lie about having been born
> outside the
> U.S.?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> .
>
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