In the 1850-1870 United States census, relationships to the head of household are not given. Remember that the “children” in the household may be children of both the oldest man and oldest woman, children of just the oldest man, children of just the oldest woman, or neither. What the census indicates is that a group of people were living in the same household.
Try confirm conjectures regarding the family structure using other records.
2 Responses
In 1850 census, I found a male 8 years old. He was not listed when land was partioned. Turns out he was the half brother of household
Thank you for this article…I am not crazy! For over a year I was trying to prove a persons birth, Her census
information was all over the place, a different birth date in 1870 and 1880 had her born in 1859 and 1871
and also showed her parents which later, when a death certificate was discovered, were NOT her parents.
Finally, a Find a Grave patron found her tombstone with the proper birth and death for me. God Bless those volunteers! Meanwhile that application to the DAR had been held up because of conflict between generations. That patriot was rejected.
Now, we are starting over with a new patriot
This article was forwarded to me by a friend..Thanks again