Making a Case that the George and Lelia F. Johnson Family 1900 Census in Omaha, NE is the George W. and Leila I. Johnson Family Later of Hyannis, NE. 3.5.2017

It would seem from the available information, that the Census taker might have not been paying particularly close attention, and additionally the transcriber of the Ancestry copy of the records, may have misunderstood a few items (this is a quite common). To be fair, some of the same errors seem to have been made at familysearch.org.

The first issue is that George Johnson is always listed with a “W” in ALL of the other census records, but that isn’t really a big deal. It just makes the document look a little bit less of a match.

Next, Lelia is listed as having the middle initial “F” instead of “I;” however, the type of cursive character made by the census taker is somewhere between the F and I and could easily be either. I think the transcriber just decided it was an F because of the horizontal line that is at the midpoint of the vertical staff. That said, the other usual F flourishes are missing. I think this character is just the quirky way this individual writes an “I”.

The George in the 1900 census is listed as a year different in age than the 1910 George.  Than can be explained. This is most likely an artifact of the time of year the census was taken. In 1900 ,the Census was conducted on June 1st and in 1910 it was done on April 15th. Depending on when George’s birthday is, this could account for the seemingly year worth of difference. I do not have the death certificate for George yet, so I can’t confirm his birthdate. In what looks to be a typo or a misunderstanding in the 1900 Census, George’s birthday is listed as July 1866, but most everything else I have seen shows the year to 1867 (including his gravestone). So this could again be a sign of an sloppy census taker.

The next problem is the eldest child for the 1900 Census is “Josephine.” and the eldest in 1910 is “Lelia J.,” so there is seeming discrepancy there; however, that is explained by the fact that it looks like George and Lelia’s eldest daughter was Lelia Josephine Johnson, and from what her memorial at Findagrave suggests, she went by “Josephine” during her life. Her gravestone seems to confirm that. The age for “Josephine,” and “Lelia” on the 1900 and 1910 census records agree. So this could be a case of her parents reported her name depending on what they or she was using at the time of the census.

The next child in both census records is Merwyn, and while the ages are slightly off (1 year difference), that can again be easily explained depending on what time of year his birthday was relative to when the census was taken. It is really a matter of a fraction of a year and not a whole year of difference in any case.

George Jr. is listed as 2 years old on the 1900 Census and 11 on the 1910, but there seems to be a good explanation for the discrepancy. While the 1900 Census lists George Jr. as being born in 1898 and that would potentially make him 2 in 1900. It could be that our imprecise census taker put the wrong year down and then calculated the result. Again 1898 and 1899 are close, and the time shift represented here, is the same ratio as the time shifts of every other person listed. additionally, note the “X” before the “2” in this record. That usually denotes the person is a fraction of 1, so in this case 2 months, which wouldn’t be the case if he was 1 or 2.

Even the marriage of George and Lelia for the 1900 Census is listed as 1892, which is again 1 year different. I think that the census taker was in a hurry and just put the information down as quickly as possible and considered it “close enough.”

The Merwyn in both cases is listed as having been born in California and that is a good indicator that this is the same family. Both sets of George’s and Lelia’s show their own birthplaces and that of their parents to be the same. For George it lists his mother as having come from Kentucky for both records. For his father, the 1900 is “don’t know” and the 1910 is “Kentucky.” Either he learned something in the intervening years or the census taker was taking liberties again (of course the 1910 taker could have done the same).

George Johnson Jr’s obituary confirms that he was born in Omaha and that the family moved to Western Nebraska when he was 9, so that helps authenticate the difference in location between the 1900 and 1910 Census records for the family.

To be fair, even George Jr.’s obituary lists his incorrect date of birth as 1889, but it also correctly states that he was 31. Since he died in 1930, the math makes more sense that he was 31 and not 41. Some records seem to confuse the George W of 1899 with another George from 1889. Even the funeral card says he was 41. Sigh! I have his WWI Draft Card signed by his own hand and it lists his birthdate at 3/2/1899. So do a number of other family records.

Finally, the George in 1900 and 1910 are both listed as carpenters.

Lelia was born and raised in Bellingham, so it would make sense that she would be living in Omaha since it is next door.

So I am very confident these two families are the one and the same. None of the errors are egregious enough to be a deal breaker, and some of the discrepancies are easily explained. I will say that I believe the information listed on the 1910 Census more because it lines up with the 1920, 1930, and 1940 counterparts and with other documents like the Johnson 50th Anniversary card which lists the marriage as being 1891-1941 as the 50 year mark.  So, while there are MANY George Johnson’s out there, the preponderance of evidence shows that these two families are indeed one and the same.