15 June 2012

Did Grandma Approximate Her Place of Birth?

Some immigrants, when providing birth or origin information in their new country, may have provided a town "close" to where the were actually from or were born. Some might have thought that no one had ever heard of their actual place of birth and instead gave a nearby larger town--perhaps the local seat of government or town where most business was conducted.

3 comments:

  1. And we do the same thing today - we say we are from the nearest large town or city. Good thing to keep in mind.

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  2. People still do that today. While on a vacation, the hotel clerk noted my residence (which happened to be the state capital). He remarked that he had known a man in the army from that town, gave his name, and some comments concerning his wife. Small world! I knew these folks as they came from my childhood home, 40 miles away from my current residence.

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  3. Many times folks used the Census Post Office. Especially if there were no marked roads nor street addresses... farming communities used the general store or post offices for their mail.

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