Question for geneologists

[missypie]

My daughter has to do a project where she researches someone from our family tree from the census records...had to be able to find them in the US from the 1900, 1910 and 1920 online census records. (Kids whose families are more recent immigrants can pick an unrelated person.)

We have full geneologies for lots of our relatives, but she chose the guy married to the woman she was named after (great-great grandparents). We've looked in family records and found one on-line geneology of his family, but no one knows where he was born or what his parents names were. His year of birth is known from his tombstone.

We know he was born somewhere in Holland - probably Nord Holland -in 1865. By 1885 he was married in Cook County, Il. We know his wife's parent's names, and their parents names...

What do you think the most common reason is that his parentage is unknown? My guess is that he came to the US without parents, or perhaps even siblings (since there is no record of them either). My own great grandfather came to the US from Germany as a teen with his brother and the rest of his family stayed behind. That is my guess about the Dutch guy...that he came here alone and there were no records of his parents because they were never here.

Any better guesses?

[Geoff_M]

If he came over as a young adult, I'd say your guess is likely correct. If you know where and when he died, you might be able to find the names of his parents from his death certificate. I've had luck filling in the names of missing parents on "troublesome" relative by looking at such records. Marriage license applications also can provide the names of parents, but some forms asked for the information and some didn't back then.

[missypie]

It's interesting because the person who did the geneology that is online had the marriage license. So we have place and date of marriage, her parents but not his.

My daughter hasn't been able to find anything from the 1880 census records...he would have been 15 years old and likely to be living with his family if they were in the US.

Do you have any idea how teens away from their parents were counted, if at all? If they were living in their employer's storeroom or in someone's barn as a farm hand, or even in a boarding house, would anyone have bothered to have counted them?

[Geoff_M]

I have a relative that was born in Virginia in 1831 and appears to have moved West to Ohio before the Civil War. In 1850 I found him living with another family in Clinton Co., Ohio. Basically, for Census purposes, anyone living at a given residence is counted as being part of the same household... related or not. On that form for my relative, the Census taker wasn't too specific on the occupations listed and just listed something for the head of household ("Farmer" in this case). However, I've often seen such persons as my kin listed as "Laborer", "Farm hand", "Boarder", or "Servant".

[Linda in sunny SC]

I have hit a couple of deads ends in my genealogical research as well. Unfortunately, many of the 1880 census records were destroyed in a fire and there were no backups.

[Geoff_M]

Originally Posted by Linda in sunny SC

I have hit a couple of deads ends in my genealogical research as well. Unfortunately, many of the 1880 census records were destroyed in a fire and there were no backups.

I believe you're thinking about the 1890 Census. Most of it was destroyed by a fire at the US Commerce Department offices in 1921 and Congress ordered the remaining records destroyed in 1933.

[NotUrsula]

Normally I'd say that was the reason if we were talking about an adult immigrant, but if he was born in 1865 and married in 1885, he was probably still a minor at the time of his marriage, and thus also a minor at the time of his immigration.

I haven't formally studied that period in US immigration law, but the US traditionally doesn't knowingly accept immigrant minors who come in unaccompanied by adults. I think a lot would depend on when he came in: before 1875 the door was pretty much wide-open, but after that it got a bit more difficult.

If I had to guess, I would think that there was a fair likelihood that he might have been an orphan. If he grew up in an institution he might not have known who his parents were. Or ...

Like my DH' grandfather, he might have lied about who they were at the time of his immigration. Gpa was illegitimate, and was afraid that he wouldn't be let into the US if it was known (this was about 40 years after your guy, btw.) He essentially came along with another family on the boat and pretended to be their son, fake last name and all. He was afraid until his dying day of being deported for having lied about that, so we didn't find out about all this (including his real name) until after his death a few years ago at age 102.

You might have luck with a passenger manifest, but you've got a lot of years to cover there, and if he did come in with parents you might find him listed on the manifest as something like "son, age 8." Normally the pursers put at least a first name on the list for kids, but not always. You could try this book, if you can find a copy in a local library: Dutch immigrants in U.S. ship passenger manifests, 1820-1880 : an alphabetical listing by household heads and independent persons. (To find it in a local library, go to www.worldcat.org and plug in the title along with your zip code.)

[missypie]

Fascinating!

[DutchsMommy]

I read the thread title 'gynecologists' and then could not understand when you were going to get to the 'girly bits' question LOL.....time to ease of the DISing I think!!!!

[missypie]

Originally Posted by DutchsMommy

I read the thread title 'gynecologists' and then could not understand when you were going to get to the 'girly bits' question LOL.....time to ease of the DISing I think!!!!

LOL. I should certainly hope there are no gynecologists on this board in the middle of the day...Can't you just see it? The woman is in the room on the table in her little gown, waiting, waiting, while the doctor is on the DIS!

[sue1013]

The 1900 census has the year of immigration listed. From that you may be able to find him on a passenger ship list.

[missypie]

Originally Posted by sue1013

The 1900 census has the year of immigration listed. From that you may be able to find him on a passenger ship list.

Ooh..good to know!

[Linda in sunny SC]

Originally Posted by Geoff_M

I believe you're thinking about the 1890 Census. Most of it was destroyed by a fire at the US Commerce Department offices in 1921 and Congress ordered the remaining records destroyed in 1933.

Sorry, I got the year wrong. Yes you are right. That was the year I needed for my Great-grandfather and I haven't been able to find any other records for him.

[daisax]

He essentially came along with another family on the boat and pretended to be their son, fake last name and all. He was afraid until his dying day of being deported for having lied about that, so we didn't find out about all this (including his real name) until after his death a few years ago at age 102.

Very interesting... we have the ship's manifest of when my great great grandmother and her kids came over (great great grandfather had already come over a couple of years before). There's an extra child there that we never knew about -- we figured he was some cousin or something that they brought over with them and then turned over to the appropriate relative on this side. However, you do raise the possibility that they just let some random kid use their name to get him on the boat. (Well, maybe not a random kid, but a kid who wasn't necessarily a relative)

[missypie]

Weird things happened with kids. My dad's aunt couldn't have kids, her sister (my grandma) had more than she needed, so she gave my uncle Bob to her sister (the second oldest son). They raised him.

In my mom's family, her mom had a "foster sister." She ceratainly wasn't part of any kind of legal foster program...maybe an orphan that they took in, maybe a neighbor child, or (more interesting to speculate), perhaps the father's illegitimate child.