Larry,
How intriguing - the only thing I can offer you is that our ancestors DID
travel back & forth over great distances far more often than we think - I'm
constantly amazed by the back & forth journeys in the 1850s and 1860s
between Iowa & VA, Ohio & VA, Indiana & VA, etc.
Regarding the census, I've had the exact same thing happen, almost
identical to what you describe! Margaret Ann Guinn is shown at age 16 with
her parents in the 1850 Augusta co census, she marries William Clayton
Wandless there in 1855, and then they all move to Wood Co VA. In the 1860
census, she is still shown as Margaret Guinn, age 26, with her parents, and
Wm is nowhere to be found. (She is at the end of the entry, listed after
all her younger siblings, so out of order, like visitors and unrelated folk
were listed.) In 1870 & 1880 Wm & Margaret appear together in Wood co under
the Wandless name. This has long baffled me and I would love to hear from
anybody why it might happen. I thought maybe he was off adventuring and she
was staying with her parents, but usually they were pretty good about
giving a married daughter's married surname. But the 1860 census is weird
in lots of ways - more errors than others, and LOTS of people got missed.
Here's another one, equally baffling: Mary Caroline Wanless appears with
her parents at age 19 in Pocahontas co in 1870. On 15 June 1880, she
married Charles Morrison in that county, and they lived there their entire
lives & died there, but I cannot find them on the 1880 census AND Mary's
parents have a Mary C., age 13, living with them, who appears nowhere else!
My best guess is that, on the census day (1 June, although this house was
actually enumerated on 21 June), Mary C., age 29, was indeed living with
her parents, and somebody reported her age as 30, which was misheard by the
censustaker to be 13.
I also have found several cases where an adult single daughter is listed
both with her parents, where she lives, and also at the home she works in
as a servant.
Hoping to hear other theories,
Holly
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html
|
