It Was Not Mance After All

In "Is That Grandma or the Baby" we looked briefly at a census entry whose last entry was either for a 72 year old or a baby--depending upon how one read the numbers. My initial take on it is that the last entry is for a 1/12 month old. It may be another number in the numerator of the fraction, but the end result is that it looks to me like the last entry in that 1850 census enumeration is an infant under the age of 1--not a 72 year old.

However,  Ancestry.com' interprets lines 2-6 of that second entry as having the last name of "Mance." The household in 1850 has the following "Mance"

• David--aged 19
• Ann "Mance"--aged 17
• Mary--aged 13
• George--aged 11
• Emily--aged 6 or 4
• Amanda--under 1 year

 My guess--looking at the 1860 enumeration as shown below--is that "Mance" is "Marie/Maria" and is Ann'a middle name.

 Year: 1860; Census Place: District 9, Allegany, Maryland; Roll: M653_456; District 9, page 331, family/household 2374; digital image  Ancestry.com', 11 January 2013.

Don't ever take someone's analysis as the truth. Look and draw conclusions yourself.

Is That Grandma or the Baby?

This 1850 census entry from Allegany County, Maryland, is split over two census pages. The enumeration for the household headed by John Fletcher indicates the dwelling number is 2620 and the family number is 2658.

1850 U. S. Census, Allegany County, Maryland, district 9, page 375 (upper left), John Fletcher household, dwelling 2620, family 2658 [continued on next page]; digital image at  Ancestry.com. 

The enumerator apparently corrected the dwelling and household numbers for the household members who appear on the subsequent page, writing them over as 2620 and 2658 to indicate they should appear as being in the household headed by John Fletcher and that they were not their own separate household.

I'm not certain about the relationship among the various members of this household. That's not the point of this post--but it is a concern. However, that's not my immediate question.

How old is the Amanda who is listed last in the household? Ancestry.com transcribed the age as 72. I'm thinking that the age is the fractional part of a year with 12 written as the denominator.

For those who understandably need the full image, click on the image below to pull up the full page few of this census record.

Here is  Ancestry.com's database transcription of this entry:

Always look at the image. I'm thinking that's not Grandma. It's the baby.