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Monday, October 24, 2011

Who Is That Kid?

What is the name of the child on the line with the red dot in this 1920 census record from Hancock County, Illinois? The whole census page can be viewed below for those who would like to see more handwriting.

23 comments:

  1. Who taught this guy to write anyway? Gosh.

    Well my guess is Justis H.

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  2. Looks like Curtis ? Habben
    The initial looks very similar to the "H" in Habben but that is just a guess

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  3. I agree with Anonymous: Curtis H.

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  4. Curtis would make more sense, but what I SEE is
    "Iswatler" which makes no sense at all!

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  5. Austin or Justin Jr?

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  6. Custer or Curtis and then "Geo" I think?

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  7. Curtis. See how the census worker makes his "C" eight lines up with "Christine?" And the "rti" is underneath the "y" from Ruby. But the "s" at the end of Curtis is just like the "s" at the end of Lewis six lines up.

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  8. Justin H.
    If it's Curtis, then that's the strangest "C" I've ever seen.

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  9. Go to the 1930 census for the area and search his parents, you will see a clear Curtis....

    Happy Hunting...

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  10. Curtis is what is listed in the 1930 census and other records verify the name.

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  11. I see Curtis...There are other "C" names on the full sheet, if you accept the first letter is "C" the "urtis" is easy to see.

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  12. Looks like his first name could be "Luther"

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  13. I can't magnify the whole page to make a comparison. At first thought Walter but after others said Curtis--looks like it to me too.

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  14. Just wondering.....Isn't it cheating to look at later censuses or other records? If I were a transcriber for this page I would have many difficulties with the writing and I don't kniow that I would be able to search later records.

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  15. The intent of transcriber is that those making guesses or interpretations would use the image(s) provided to render a quick reading of the name, much the way an indexer would.

    The genealogist if this were their own family, hopefully would use other records in an attempt to read the entry "correctly."

    The problem is that I'm not sitting over people's shoulders as they submit answers and even if there's no discussion in their post of "other sources" it is always possible they referred to them and didn't mention it.

    One option might be to provide fewer details on where the record is located. I'm thinking about that.

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