Census Index: NC, SC, 1870
FORMAT OF THE INDEX
-------------------
For many years census indexes have been designed to show just a name,
locality, county, and a page number. While this information has been very
useful, it has still fallen short of providing the information that would be
the most helpful to researchers.
After long consultations with leading genealogists, historians, and
librarians, the following format was decided on and will be
consistent in all our 1870 census indexes:
Name
Age
Sex
Color or Race
Birthplace
Locality
County
Series
Roll
Page Number
The addition of Age, Sex, Color, and Birthplace provides anyone doing
research with the detailed information they need to uniquely identify an
individual. It becomes readily apparent when doing research on common
surnames like Smith, Jones, Miller, or Brown that knowing the age, sex, and
color of the person listed is very helpful. With the additional information
provided in these indexes much unnecessary searching will be eliminated.
The index is alphabetized according to the following format.
Surname
Given Name
Middle Name (or initial, if any)
Occupation or Title
Age
All entries that cannot be alphabetized, for whatever reason, are placed
at the start of the index.
Census Index: NC, SC, 1870
GENERAL INDEXING RULES
----------------------
When this indexing project was undertaken, the following rules were
established for extracting names.
Names Extracted
---------------
Only Heads - of - Household are normally extracted. The exceptions
are:
1. Someone residing within the home who has a different surname,
regardless of age.
2. Any male 50 years of age or older.
3. Any female 70 years of age or older.
4. Any color or race change (where the surname stays the same).
In this case only the first person 20 years of age or older
is listed.
5. All individuals living in an orphanage.
Abbreviations on the Microfilm
------------------------------
When abbreviations appear in the entries on the microfilm they are
spelled as is. Since it is not always possible to tell exactly what an
abbreviation stands for, they are normally not spelled out. For example:
Jas Brown
would be entered as
BROWN, Jas
One major exception to this rule occurs when the surname has been
abbreviated. The name is extracted once, "as is," and then a second time
"spelled out," if a highly probable name can be derived from the
abbreviation. For example, if the census taker listed the name as:
Thadeus Wmwell
It is extracted once as it is shown and then it is spelled out in a
second (double) entry, because it is unlikely that anyone would search for
this individual under the above spelling. Example:
WILLIAMWELL, Thadeus
Census Index: NC, SC, 1870
Compound Names
--------------
There is no space entered between compound names in the index. For
example, if the names are listed on the record as follows:
Michael Van Johnson
Joseph Van De Vere
Jill St. John
Jean Van Horne
The indexed entries look like this:
VANJOHNSON, Michael
VANDEVERE, Joseph
STJOHN, Jill
VANHORNE, Jean
Special Punctuation Marks
-------------------------
Apostrophes and hyphens are the only special punctuation marks used, and
they are only used when the entry looks like a mistake without them. This
includes names such as:
DSILVA, Roberto
DHEMECOURT, Jules
DMORNAY, Rebecca
Without the apostrophes the names look like mistakes. When the
apostrophes are added it becomes clear that the "D" is a contraction for
"De." Thus the names are listed as:
D'SILVA, Roberto
D'HEMECOURT, Jules
D'MORNAY, Rebecca
Note, that apostrophes are not used in Irish and similar names since
they will appear to be correct without the punctuation mark.
OBRIEN, Robert
OMULLIGAN, John
OMALLORY, Brian
OHERLIHEY, William
When a surname has been hyphenated it is entered, as is, with the
hyphen. Example:
SMITH-BARNEY, Juliet
Census Index: NC, SC, 1870
Illegible Names - The Question Mark (?)
If part of the name is illegible due to a smeared, torn, or ink blotted
page; question marks are used to show this. Example:
B??TRAN, Robert*
Z???RISON, Ron V
Questions marks, however, are not used for difficult
interpretations and never more than three question marks are used per entry.
Although the number of question marks has been designed to "roughly" show the
number of letters perceived to be missing, after three, the value of adding
additional question marks is dubious at best. Example:
W?????S, Robt
If more than three letters are smeared, torn, or ink blotted, only
three questions marks are used. Therefore, if it appears that this entry
could be the person being sought, a check of the original microfilm is
recommended.
IN ALL CASES, IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT THE PERSON EXTRACTING
THE INFORMATION HAS BEEN TRAINED TO DO WHAT WOULD BE DEEMED THE MOST HELPFUL.
"But that's the way he wrote it!" - The Plus Sign (+)
Occasionally, entries have been encountered that were plainly written
and spelled but appear to be errors. In these cases, a plus sign (+) has
been entered after the entry to show that while it looks like an error, it is
spelled as the census taker listed it. The plus sign has been used sparingly
and only for "really strange" looking names. Example:
ZBREWSKI, Stanislaus+
SQAKAWSKI, William+