Thread: US Census Forms

After digging around in my family tree for several months, I found/suspected that some people weren't telling the truth about their ages or place of birth. I think there were people who were born in other countries, but claim they were born in the US. This I actually understand. They came to the "new country" and wanted to fit in as Americans. The British could get away with it since our founding fathers parents and grandparents were British (at least most of them). Some of our founding fathers probably had some sort of a British accent. But someone with a thick German or Italian, wouldn't be able to pull it off. Another thing on the US census forms that never ceases to amaze me, is the ages of women. The US census is taken every 10 years. It seems that a man ages 10 years in 10 years, but some (more than some) women only age 4 years. A man could be 20 in 1850, whereas his wife is 18. In 1860, he is now 30, but his wife claims that she is 24. In 1870, the man is now 40, but his wife 32. He started out 2 years older than his wife, and now he is 8 years older. Somewhere down the line, he'll get to be old enough to be her father. This was just a fictional example of the problems that I have encountered.

I can just see it. Census taker: How old is your husband Mrs. Jones? Woman: 57 years old. Census taker: And how old are you Mrs. Jones? Ah, er, fifty, er forty, uh, thirty eight!