Translating the Census

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on August 10, 2009 at 5:09pm

Here is a first query, which will also serve as an example of the type of query we expect here.

pongry. The writing is hard to read; the squiggle between the g and y could be an r, u, or n. This is an occupation listed in the 1910 census for Morganfield, Kentucky. The Trade is listed as "builder." In 1900 and in 1930 this man is listed as a blacksmith. He is also listed as a blacksmith in the History of Union County. We are guessing that he is doing some sort of metal work for a builder in 1910. I have looked in two dictionaries and have found no match for an occupation beginning with "pong."

Does anyone have any idea what this could be?

Sue

Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on August 10, 2009 at 5:59pm

Hi Sue-

Without looking at it- I'm wondering if the 'p' could be an 'f'' and if the g could be a d, maybe he worked in a foundry? sometimes the letters get squished and hard to read esp in the small space available for the occupation to be wriiten in. If you'd like to post the name of the person on the census in 1910, I'd be happy to take a look at it.

Kate

Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on August 10, 2009 at 6:33pm

Yes, variation in handwriting is one of the reasons I decided to start this discussion. My husband and I each read the entry the way I posted it, but we have no certainty that we are correct. Any help would be appreciated.

His name is William F. Aton; his address is Morgan St. in Morganfield (no house number); the house in order visited is 9, as is the family (indicated by a checkmark). His line number is 56. The top of the specific census page is label Sheet 5A, stamped with number 36, and with a handwritten number which appears to be 5151; Supervisor's District No. 2, Enumeration District No. 114.

I am giving the actual census data, as the roll and page number seem to differ according to the copy of the census you have access to.

Sue

Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on August 10, 2009 at 7:42pm

Hi-
Its definitely a tough one, it looks like the have the occupation title second instead of first. And it almost looks like the first letter could be a B or an R? I agree the last three letters look like "g-y" but I'm not sure what it could be. I looked at a few pages around him just to see if there were similar 'builders' but I haven't come across anything similar yet-

Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on August 10, 2009 at 8:19pm

Thanks for your help. I never thought about a reversal of entries — even though I have noticed that this has happened in other census reports! We may never solve this — OR we may luck out when reading some general history or something.

In the meantime, I hope that this discussion will attract others who are having similar problems with entries in the census (or elsewhere, I guess?) I posted this in a group about the census, but other handwritten records may pose similar problems.

Sue

Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on August 11, 2009 at 8:08pm

I think that posting the image would be great — I, myself will not be able to do this, because I am completely inept at the image part of computing, but if others know how please do add the image (and if there is an easy way to instruct the inept, we would welcome that also).

Sue

Permalink Reply by Jo Arnspiger on August 11, 2009 at 11:24pm

I went to the census in Ancestry and my first impression of this word or occupation was Buggy Builder. It is not spelled correctly but that was just the first thing that came into my mind. I cropped the image out of the whole census page and am going to try to attach it to my message. First time I have done this on GenealogyWise so we'll see if it works.

Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on August 12, 2009 at 3:45am

Jo,
I didn't see an image attached to your post — could you try again?

Sue