18 April 2013

He Was Not In Montebello in 1855

Sometimes one has to get past the  Ancestry.com "hints" and "suggestions." 

While working on a Daniel Crow, I came across a reference indicating that in 1855 he lived in Montebello Township in Hancock County, Illinois. This seemed a little strange to me as Daniel, a native of Pennsylvania, had appeared to be following his mother's relatives into Coshocton County, Ohio, and into Hancock County, Illinois. The family never lived in Montebello Township, and I wondered while Daniel was there.


 It turns out he was not.

For whatever reason, 
Ancestry.com indicated Daniel Crow was enumerated in Montebello Township. A look at the actual 1855 Illinois State Census indicated he was actually enumerated in Walker Township, not Montebello.

Based upon the relatives he was following, this made much more sense. 

Lesson: 


Never import from Ancestry.com without first checking to make certain the transcription is accurate. Sometimes the errors are inconsequential and other times they are not.


Citation reminder: We are a strong believer in citing genealogical source material in the spirit of Evidence ExplainedHowever, we choose not to include properly formatted citations in these blog posts. There's always enough information in the post to create a citation and full citations are included in my how-to newsletter Casefile Clues.