And just to add to Carolyn's very vivid and realistic tale of census taking in the old days, I've found several instances - all in NC, but I'm sure it happened elsewhere - where one household was counted twice in a particular county and census year, and in each case without identical enumeration of the family (these were all pre-1850). It took a lot of time and effort to figure those out... Lou Poole -----Original Message----- From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carolyn M. Getting Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 1:27 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] Census takers of old With this year being a census year, the census takers of old come to mind. They went over hill and dale to get their information. Some of the incorrect years of birth I've run into, I've come up with at least one scenario of how they could have happened as well as incorrect names and family members being left out. You're a census taker and you've had a long day. You need to complete a certain area of the countryside and that last family lives up a tall hill across a valley from where you are. You ask their nearest neighbor whom you've just finished getting information from, about the family. Yes, they know the family well. They names are, such & such, he owns his own land and is a farmer. They have X number of kids. All the time the census taker is writing down this info so he doesn't have to go up the hill. The census taker asks the name of the kids and their ages and writes down that information. He get the ages of the parents and where they were all born. <snip> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html