I have been given some information from a helpful person who wrote down her findings. My ancestors surnames are Kallis and Selinger. In the 1860 census there is a household of: Ann Wylamoc 19 F Bohemia Katharine 1 f Ill Frank Kafles (not Kallis) 34 m potter Bohemia Elizabeth 25 Bohemia Joseph 8 m Il Henry 6/12 m Il living in Grundy County, Ill I know they were in the US just before or after the 1850 census. Many of their oldest children were born in Morris Ill. Morris is in Grundy Co. Joseph is the oldest, altough he would have been 3 during the 1860 census not 8. Henry is next, being 6 months. The helpful person was reading from the original copy, I assume :? , there was also a Kaples on www.ancestry.com from Grundy Co. no Kafles. Could something have gotten misread or miswrote? Could this have been their actual name? Why change it to something not even phonetically correct? In the 1870 census there is Frank and Elizabeth Kallis in Grundy Co. , no Ann or Katherine. The 7 children that would have been around in 1870 are listed. Frank and Elizabeth are listed as being born in Bohemia. The kids are all listed as being born in Ill. In 1880 there is a Kallis family in Will Co. Wilmington, Ill. Joseph is the head of the household. His parents are listed as Elizabeth and Frank Kallis, born in Austria, living w/ him. The 10 brothers and sisters listed as living w/ him are the same as my g grandmas mother and aunts and uncles. There was also an Ellen Selezer gmother widowed age 78. As far as I knew Elizabeth's mother was Lena Selinger. I also assumed that she died in Bohemia. Now I went onto www.familysearch.org to see if I could find Mary Kallis, the oldest daughter who was married in 1885. I did find a Mary Kallis in Will Co. Wilmington, Ill. This Mary Kallis was listed as a servant, born in Prussia. Her age was the same as my g grandmas aunt. Her parents were born in Prussia. At first I thought it was a differnt Mary Kallis, but I clicked on to see the household where she lived. The head of the household was Andrew Market, same age as Frank Kallis, give or take. I have a funeral card for Andrew Market, similar age as Frank Kallis. Is this a coincidence or did someone make a mistake? Could she have said she was Prussian on purpose? Why? It looks like Mr. Market had a large farm 2 servants, 5 laborers, and a brewer? His employees seem to be from all over, Bavaria, Bohemia and Wurtemberg ( I can't remember how it was spelled, sorry ). He was Bavarian, his wife Prussian, 2 daughters Ill. So, it doesn't seem like she needed to lie on ethnicity to get a job. There is also a records archives website for Ill. I wanted to see if I could find marriage info for my gg grandparents Henry and Elizabeth Kallis Nelson. I played around w/ dif spellings to see what was up w/ why I couldn't find them. The closest I got was Henry H. Nielsen and Lizzie Kallas, 4/21/1890. My gg grandparents first child was born in 1892. The lady who found the census info for the Kallis' also found 1900 census info for Henry and Elizabeth Nelson married 10 yrs, children Emma, Eddie, Charles and Clarence, the same names of my g grandmas older siblings. Henry came to the states in 1880 from Denmark. This is true, to the best of my knowledge. Elizabeth was born in Germany, arriving in 1881 (where's the emiticon for scratching head in confusion :? ) Could this be a coincidence that another Henry and Elizabeth Nelson in Wilmington, Ill had the same names of kids that my gg grandparents had in 1900? Did the person taking info write down Germany by mistake for Elizabeth? Did Elizabeth say that on purpose? Why? Now for another strange story. Elizabeth's sis Emma was a cook in Braidwood, Ill. 1900 census her name is spelled Kalas, born in ILL, parents born in Germany. 1910 Callas, Il, parents born in Germany. 1920 Callas, born NS :?: , parents born in US. 1930 Calla, Il, parents Germany. Oddly enough, there was also a John Kallas who married Marie Kaiser on the same exact day and county as Henry H. Nielsen and Lizzie Kallas. My gg grandma didn't have a brother named John. The only 2 brothers who married were 15 and 13 in 1890. Maybe she had a cousin here that later generations didn't know about? Or records people just assumed that if his last name was spelled k-a-l-l-a-s so was hers? I know that we're only supposed to post 1 question per post, but I didn't know how else to word this. I know that no one could answer me about my specific ancestors, but I am looking for input to tell the difference between coincidence and misinformation about same people. By 4 Now
The census is not the best place for correct information, unfortunately. I think at best it can shore up information you already have. Michael John Neill, among others, has written lots of articles about this problem, which can be found in the archives at ancestry.com. The Census Taker Cometh is the best one about this particular issue I think. Married to an Alien should help you out with Elizabeth (Kallas) Nelson. I also like The Last Name Game, which mentions problems with writing names down correctly in the first place, and problems reading them correctly later. I'm guessing in the case of Mary Kallis that she spoke German and whoever talked to the enumerator didn't know where she had been born and just assumed Germany/Prussia. It seems to happen a lot. I've seen some of my ancestors born in 3 different states, depending on the census.
Great articles, Ceit! Just an additional comment, specific to gypzy's case: It was very common in the late 1800's for Danish surnames, ending -sen, to be changed to -son upon arrival in the U.S.; a "Nielsen" to "Nelson" change is a little more of a stretch, but is still could very possibly be the result of either Americanization, mispelling, and/or misunderstanding.
Not really, at least in my family. My mother told me that her great aunt, a "Nelson" d-in-l, told her that most likely Henry was a Nielsen. Allegedly he changed the name because of mail screw-ups.
I agree! Thank you . The Married to an Alien article seems a bit sexist, not on the part of the author, but on the part of the U.S. government. The census taker cometh was cute, about the little girl and her family info throught the decades. Aside from enternmaint, this does give me some insight :idea: . If I wasn't a Christian I would have a notion to do genealagy by ouija board :lol: !
Hee hee! A genealogical seance, there's an idea! :mrgreen: Too bad the ouija board is even less dependable than the census... The situation discussed in the marriage article was very sexist, but that was the status quo at the time. You know, I find history very interesting, even history that doesn't have anything to do directly with me or my ancestors, but the more I learn, the happier I am that I'm living now.
