How’s that spelled again?

In the “olden days” the census was taken by enumerators who went door to door.  Questions were asked about individuals in the household.  Unfortunately none of the census records over the decades have indicated who it was that supplied the answers. Some errors occurred when the person giving the answers guessed. 

Another problem with handwritten records is that while some enumerators had lovely handwriting, many had worse penmanship than mine. So when the census records are transcribed into books or online databases, it can be difficult to decipher the data.

For example, if we search in ancestry dot com in the 1915 Iowa State Census, the only LANDAUs found are living in Floyd County.  {More on them in another post.}  However, Henry, Katie and their nine children were enumerated in R 3, Waterloo, Black Hawk County, but the indexer(s) at ancestry dot com transcribed the handwritten records as:

W. H. Landaw - 44 - Farmer - earnings in 1914: $1500 - born in IL - Lutheran - parents both born in Germany

Cristana Landen - 37 - born in Germany - Lutheran - parents both born in Germany

Vera E. Landaw - 18 - b. in IL - 10 years of common school, two years of college

Jerome V. Landaw - 17 - b. in IL - 10 years of common school - earnings in 1914: $250

Everett F. Landen - 15 - b. in IA - 10 years of common school

Clarence A. Landan - 13 - b. in IA - 7 years of common school

Willart A. Landan - 10 - b. in IA - 4 years of common school

John H. Lindem - 8 = b. in IA - cannot decipher # of years in school

Carl O. Landan - 6 -  b. in IA - 1 year of common school

Frank S. Landen - 4 - b. in IA

Mata T. Landaw - 3 months - b. in IA

Also - I’m quite sure the Katie A. Landan - 45 - b. in IL - a nurse - living in Iowa 11 years, is Henry’s sister as mentioned in the previous post.  She was living at 718 Franklin St., Waterloo.  Same address as in 1910.

Many thanks to my sister LuDene for finding the family in the 1915 Iowa State census!

DOCUMENTS:

• 1915 Iowa State Census cards