It was quite common for John to abbreviated as Jno, Charles as Chas, James as Jas, Thomas
as Thos, William as Wm, et cetera in centuries prior to the 20th. It gradually waned over
the years, but various census enumerators continued to use the abbreviations throught the
years. I use them occasionally.
The problem is not the abbreviations, but the change in cursive writing and modern
transcribers ability to read the older cursive.
Some J's looked like I's or vice versa, so it behooves us to look carefully and
verify the modern transcriber's interpretation. The transcription problem needs to be
kept in mind with the indexes as we find them on the internet. Look at all transcriptions
with suspicion until you make your own review of the "original" writing.
Jim Crownover-
From: VondaD(a)aol.com
Date: 2007/04/20 Fri PM 12:40:04 CDT
To: casey(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Re: [CASEY] Wayne Co, TN Caseys
You are absolutely right that census takers often abbreviated John as Jno
and I had made a note on my copy the 1830 census image (which I had enlarged)
questioning whether the name was Ira (as transcribed by
Ancestry.com) or Jno.
There are 3 other Johns and a Joshua on that same page and the "Js" in all
those names look the same as the first letter of the name transcribed as Ira.
My only question was why did the census taker choose to write out the name
John in 3 cases and abbreviate it in the other? Long ago I stopped trying to
get inside the head of a census taker!!
I am just curious about the 3 Casey children listed in the 1850 Wayne County
census. Perhaps their father died and their mother remarried or perhaps both
parents died. I was hoping maybe someone knew something about the family.
The 1840 Wayne County census shows Wilson Casey with children in the household
whose ages match those of the children shown on the 1850 census. Anyone know
what happened to Wilson after 1840? Has he been found on a census after that
date?
Vonda
In a message dated 4/20/2007 5:49:23 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
dlc(a)casey-genealogy.com writes:
Just for what it's worth, the Jas. H. Casey in the 1840 Wayne Co., TN census
is beyond a doubt my ancestor (I of kit #45068).
Since a lot of this query is about a John Casey, I would recommend folks
look at the actual census images for 1830 where we find a Willis, Wilson,
and IRA Casey, because I've looked at the images and believe Ira _may_
actually be _Jno_ Casey (why is Jno. an abbreviation for John -- in other
words why does John need to be abbreviated?). I could be wrong, and I think
that this has been perpetuated by someone transcribing that census for us
somewhere online as Ira for all this time when it's actually Jno...
And some other BTW's: There are only 2 Caseys in the 1820 Wayne Co., TN
census - bothAbners. James H. Casey's Memoriam states he was born in SC
(Spartanburg) but was in Wayne Co., TN by 1820...of course he would have
only been 7 in 1820 being born in 1813...and only 1 of these Abners had a
male child of that right age... The 1830 census showing a Willis Casey is
interesting as Jas. H. Casey later names one of his sons Willis Casey (b.
1836)...making me think this Willis Casey is either is uncle or perhaps an
older brother (?)...
Well, just tidbits from me at this late insomniac hour...
"We CAN do eet!" -- Rob Schneider in any of a number of Adam Sandler
movies...
DLC
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