05 February 2013

Working as a Mge Cone Dopt Carint Agg

It is always advised to view the original record whenever possible. This transcription of the occupation of Elmer J. Haase from Portland, Oregon, in the 1940 census is the precise reason why. The transcriber took Elmer's occupation to be "Mge Cone Dpot Carint Agg." That's a new one for me, but it is easy to see how the transcriber read the item the way he did.




However, a look at the actual image seems to indicate that Haase is working for a biscuit manufacturer ("Mfg.") as a Manager ("Mgr.") in some department ("Dept."). I'm tempted to say in the "Cone" department.
1940 U. S. Census, Multnomah County, Oregon, City of Portland, ED 37-427, sheet 4A, lines 16 and 17, household of Anna L. Haase; digital image, Ancestry.com, obtained 5 February 2013. This is just part of the Haase entry. 
However, I'm not certain if that second word in the actual occupation is "Cone" or something else. I'm not familiar enough with biscuit manufacturing to know. The column containing "Biscuit Mfg." is the column for the type of industry in which the enumeree works.

Always get to the original document if at all possible.

The digital image being used is not the actual census--it's an image made from a microfilm copy of the original. I've got no reason to doubt that it's a faithful reproduction of the original--that's not an issue.

But I'm curious as to whether that's "Cone" or something else.

And I'm not worried about the neighbor who works as a power machine operator in a bathing suit factory.



4 comments:

  1. I would guess it is CASE rather then CONE.

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  2. Found there is indeed a cone dept in biscuit manufacturing by using a google search of: biscuit manufacturing cone dept

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  3. Just a shot in the dark, as I'm not an expert in biscuit manufacturing, but how about CANE department? As in sugar?

    Great example of transcriptions being questionable at best. Always question, even your own take on the writing.

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  4. Thanks to some responses on Facebook, I learned that he likely was working in the ice cream cone department at a biscuit factory.

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