BY THE LETTERS

Sometimes in the course of pursuing genealogy something
reminds me of the passage of time.


I recently ran across one instance while looking at the 1920
U.S. Census for part of my McFarland family lines. While the
parents, my granduncle and his wife, were correctly listed as
Michael and Mary McFarland, their children were listed as
McParlands.


This straightaway led to a “huh”? on my part.


So I looked at the actual images. Michael and Mary McFarland
are the last two entries on their sheet. Their children are at
the top of the next page. Both pages were enumerated by the
same person and as I looked at it, I at first could see no reason
why their name had been listed as McParland in the Index.


And then I saw it. It was all Palmer’s fault, the Palmer
Method, that is.


Most students nowadays are taught the Modern Cursive or
the Zaner-Bloser styles of cursive writing, but most of their
19th and 20th century ancestors wrote in the Palmer
handwriting method. The census enumerator wrote
McFarland in the Palmer style.


The picture above is of a capital letter F written yes, badly;
my writing stinks. The top character is Modern Cursive and
the bottom is an example of the Palmer capital F. The
enumerator had made the F a bit too large and the top
crossbar is nearly obscured by the heavily printed top line of
the census form. The middle crossbar has a bit of a small loop
and the effect makes the F look like a P if one doesn’t look
at it carefully. I suspect that happened when the page was
transcribed for the Index.


So once again an example why it is important to check the
variations of spelling when researching a name.


Oh, and it was the description I found online of Palmer as
antiquated that made me aware of how old I am.


I was taught the Palmer method when I went to school.

WHAT I FOUND AT ANCESTRY.COM

I mentioned a few nights ago about a trial membership at Ancestry
During that time I was able to find things I hadn’t seen before,
primarily the World War One Draft Registration Cards for my four
McFarland grand uncles and my grandfathers. I also downloaded
some copies of Federal Censuses. While I found these items and
had the family tree uploaded, I don’t think I can afford to pay the
cost of full membership so regretfully I didn’t subscribe.

I'll continue to make do with the free genealogy sites for now.

Here’s what I learned about the McFarlands:


Tom lists his occupation toolmaker at A. A. Crafts at 125 Summer
St.in Boston. For dependents he lists mother and there's a word in
front of that I can't decipher. His physical description is Medium
height, Slender build, with Brown (or Blonde?) hair and Brown
eyes. At the time he filled out the card he was living at 950 Parker
St. in Boston.


Frank was living with his family at 50 Cotton St. in Medford. He
lists his occupation as "bottiling" at the Moxie Plant at 69 Haverhill
St. in Boston. His eyes were Gray, his hair Dark Brown; his height
and build were given as Medium.

Robert was living with his family at 121 or 126 Paul Gore St. His
occupation was shoemaker at the Thomas J. Plant(?) Shoe Co. at
what looks like the "corner of Centre and Bickford Streets" in
Boston. His height and build are Slender, his eyes Light Brown and
his hair Black.


Mike was living at 946 Parker St in Boston with his wife Mary and
he was a shoe worker but at George A. Keith Company at 288 A St.
in So. Boston. His height was given as Tall, his build Medium, his
hair Dark and I think that it says Brown for the eye color.



Then there are the cards for both my grandfathers.

Floyd Earl West gives his occupation as farming in Upton, Me. His
height is listed as Short, his build Medium, his eyes Blue and his
hair “D. Brown” He claimed an exemption from the draft due to
an injury to his right arm and shoulder; on the disability line he
adds “right arm weak”. But whatever the injury was it healed
because Grandpa West did get drafted a year later and was
inducted(?) on 29 Apr 1918. He reached the rank of Pvt 1st
class in November of 1918 and served as part of Company K, 303
Infantry. He never made it overseas and I think I recall Dad
saying Grandpa had been stuck at Fort Dix N.J. during the
outbreak of the Spanish Influenza. He was honorably discharged
on 12 Mar 1919. So far Grandpa West is the only one out of this
group that I've found to have actually served in the military
during World War I. But the McFarland brothers were all in
their late twenties or older and Grandpa White might have been
exempted due to his occupation.


Finally, my mother’s father, Edward F. White lists his occupation
as “helper” on the “N.Y., N.H., & H. R..R. & Co.” by which I take it
to mean the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. The
business address is given as Union Station in Harftord. He gives
his home address as 41 Philbrick St in Roslindale Ma. and lists as
closest relative his mother “Lena White”. His height is Tall, build
Medium. His eyes were Blue and his hair Dark Brown.

The information on Mom’s father is of interest because frankly,
there’s so damn little we know about him. For example. we’d never
heard mention of his working for the railroad. And this is the first
mention I’ve had of his mother as “Lena”. Up until now, I knew
her as “Pauline”

So much I don’t know!

So much to learn!