Re: Who was Corp. John COVERT "Co H 113 Ill Inf" bur, Old Macomb Cemetery?
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In reply to:
Re: Who was Corp. John COVERT "Co H 113 Ill Inf" bur, Old Macomb Cemetery?
Sue Brown 2/03/11
Hi Sue - Thank you for responding.I am a cousin but more distant than this John.Mine came from Clark Co., IN in 1860 and were in Coles and Moultrie Co., IL by 1870. We had a Pvt. John H. Covert born 1836 IN. died 1863 1863 Memphis TN. Did you ever think about how to get a birth date from age?The US census is as of a specified date; from 1790 through 1820 the date is a day in the first week of August of the census year; from 1830 through the 1900 censuses, June 1; 15 April for 1910; 1 Jan for 1920; 1 Apr for 1930. Thus most of the time it was 1 June but it did change. The enumeration date is the date that the enumerator, the census taker, filled out a specific page. That was the day the enumerator talked to people and got names, ages, and places. 1850 and after census records have the age of the person at the time the census was taken. To get the birth year some just take the census year and subtract the age. The census enumerators were instructed to ask for the age, not at the first of the year and not in June.The top of the census page has the actual enumeration date, say 13 Aug 1850.“If” the census taker asked the correct question, "if" the responder understood the question , "if" the responder had the knowledge, "if" the taker understood, and "if" the taker correctly wrote the correct age of the recorded person, the census has the correct age. Say John Smith age 12. Thus John Smith was born between 14 Aug 1837 and 13 Aug 1838. Most genealogical programs cannot handle this date spread so 1837/8 should be recorded. Not 1838 or abt 1838. The notes should have "13 Aug 1850 census has age 12 thus born between 14 Aug 1837 and 13 Aug 1838". The age from several census records can narrow down the spread to closer to the actual birth data. This is surprisingly accurate especially if you can figure out which years to ignore.Thanks [email protected]