52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 5 -- In the Census

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You've heard the modern expression, "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet?" Well, don't believe everything you read in the census, either.

One of my ongoing genealogy projects is researching my husband's Seago family, who are just full of mysteries. Seeing discrepancies in census data makes me wonder about the root cause: Was the family distrustful of giving out information to the government? Did they really not remember birthdates of children, or how old they were? What role did illiteracy play in the information given, or in the census worker's ability to accurately capture information?


 "I nicked the census man."

Regardless of the cause, I have enjoyed seeing how the basic facts of people's lives change in census data compared to other documents.

Let's take my husband's great-grandmother, Theodocia Catherine Seago, as an example. Information from a family Bible says that Theodocia was born 25 Nov 1867. Even from the first census she appears on as a child, her age is potentially wrong. And the math -- along with her marital status -- just gets more interesting as time goes on.

Document Date Age Notes
1870 U.S. Federal Census June 1870 3 --
1880 U.S. Federal Census 4 June 1880 13 Single
1900 U.S. Federal Census 26 June 1900 26 (Jan 1874) Widowed "Mother of 1; 1 now living"
Native American Applications for Enrollment in Five Civilized Tribes 23 Oct 1901 32 Single; never married
1910 U.S. Federal Census 19 April 1910 40 Widowed "Mother of 2; 1 now living"
1920 U.S. Federal Census 50
1930 U.S. Federal Census 11 April 1930 61 Age at first marriage: 17

The dates I can attribute to her son, Haston, don't clear up anything either. The 1900 census lists Haston's age (birthdate) as 7 (b. May 1893). So far, so good. But in the Five Civilized Tribes deposition given by Theodocia in 1901, she gives Haston's age as 12. ("They grow up so fast...") The 1910 census lists his age as 20; that's 13+ years from the previous census. In the 1920 census, he's 30 (some consistency). But on Haston's WWI and WWII draft registration cards, he gives his birth year as 1889.

At this point, I don't expect to ever know precise birthdates or ages, but I keep on chasing them.

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