[List] William Cooley Family, 1870

[michael@newsummer.com]

Hi Dennis,

Good to hear from you.

I think that Sandy and I may have exchanged about this before. I believe
it is the same family and have seen this sort of thing on other occasions.
Elizabeth and Betsy are certainly the same person. I don't know how to
explain Robert. And there is quite a lot a variation in ages. Augusta's
age changes. If it is the same family, and I can't imagine it's not, it
sure lowers my expectations (and faith) in census takers' abilities.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

-Michael

> Hi --
>
> I've been doing a little work in the 1870 census, and I've run across two
> nearly identical families in Haysville, Marion Co., KY:
>
> Page 20B, Enum 20 Jun 1970, O. Ames
> (Ancestry images 0042-0043)
> 36 13 13 Cooly, William    39 M W KY
> 37              Amanda     34 F W KY
> 38              George     15 M W KY
> 39              John       13 M W KY
> 40              Betty      11 F W KY
>   1              Robert      9 M W KY
>   2              Augusta     7 M W KY
>   3              James       3 M W KY
>
> Page 21A, Enum 22 Jul 1870, O. Ames
> (Ancestry image 0043)
> 28 21 21 Cooly, William    38 M W KY
> 29              Amanda     30 F W KY
> 30              George     13 M W KY
> 31              John H     11 M W KY
> 32              Elizabeth   7 F W KY
> 33              William     5 M W KY
> 34              Augusta     4 F W KY
> 35              James       1 M W KY
>
> One (or both) of these should be the family of William (4) Cooley [George
> W. (3), Reuben (2), John (1)] and Amanda Carpenter.  They both match up in
> names and approximate ages of where they should be, except each family is
> missing a different child, between Betty/Elizabeth and Augusta (William
> and
> Robert).  Both were enumerated by the same census taker, O. Ames, about a
> month apart.  The second family is further down on the same page as the
> end
> of the first family.
>
> I checked the Cooley book and the usual online sources, and I haven't
> found
> any other families that are similar.  Looking at the pages before and
> after, the enumeration dates really are a month apart.  The enumerator
> appears to have visited other towns in the interim, and apparently didn't
> notice that he counted the same family twice.
>
> Does anyone have any other explanation for the duplication?
>
> Dennis
>
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