[PW] 1880 handwriting conundrum

[swguardian-wombat at yahoo.com]

The first thing is to consider that the US census, although a useful 
tool, is highly riddled with error and illegible handwriting. Information 
from such is at best, suspect, and must be proven by more realiable contemporary sources. 

Now as for the writing, the small clip provided does not allow for a 
thorough forensic examination, so I went to the full page and studied 
that, as well as some of the other pages completed by this enumerator. 
The Schutt family is on page 40 of 80 enumeration sheets for their area. 

The name on the census is "Latte." Although the enumerator tends to 
sometimes write his "S" in a manner that resembles an "L," a forensic  examination shows that there are differeces, abet, minutes ones, but  never-the-less, differences. The first letter is an "L."

On the US census, the forename "Latte" is found among people of both 
eastern and western European ancestry. it is almost exclusively as a 
female forename, but a few males also carry it. 

Wendy Miller <miller at portland.lib.me.us> wrote: The name on line 12 looks like Latte to me.  It seems that the census recorder was pretty consistent about dottings *i's* so the last letter is an *e* and there's another example of a double *t* in Schutt, with one line crossing the two *t's*.  But, one tricky thing is that this recorder's *S's* look remarkably like the first letter in the line 12 name, with a little difference in the lower loop's shape.

I'd love to know your final solution.

Wendy Miller
________________________________________
From: project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org [project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of AllenAmet at aol.com [AllenAmet at aol.com]
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 4:17 PM
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: [PW] 1880 handwriting conundrum

Hi,

  Todd and I have been working on an 1880 US Census, from Ohio. There  are
two parents (Schutt, A. L. and wife A.P.), and six children living with  them.

  We are having some difficulty (to put it mildly) in reading the  first name
of the 9-year-old boy. The other names appear to be Harry  (Henry?),  Mamie,
xxxxx,  Aloes L.,  Frankie,  and  Joseph.

  The birth parents were Czech/Bohemian and had come to the US in the  1860s.
The step-father listed here (A. L. Schutt) was from Alsace  (France).  All
the children,however, were born here (in the US), probably  in Cleveland.

 In later years, this problematic son may have been called  "Albert" or
"Leo."  But what is that strange word for him on line  12?  I would give you our
best guess, but don't want to affect anyone's  judgment ahead of time.

  The 1880 Census photo (excerpt) is now stored at (watch  the possible wrap):

_http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm182/allenamet/?action=view&current=1880CensusReading.jpg_
(http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm182/allenamet/?action=view&current=1880CensusReading.jpg)

    but if it's more convenient, I can also send  it as a 200 dpi attachment
(jpg) to anyone who wants to try their hand at 19th  century handwriting
decipherment.  But who will decide if a solution  is correctly reached?

TIA.

Allen




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