I just completed indexing a batch in Connecticut.
This is by far the hardest batch I have done. The handwriting was very difficult. There were scribbles, cross-outs, wavy lines. When it first came up on the screen, it let me know that someone else had started it and it wasn't completed and would I complete it. Once I got started I realized why. I'm sure this person did the best they could, but back in the day it was all done by hand and they were at the mercy of individual styles of printing and handwriting. It made me wonder what it would be like to have a census worker going door to door with an ipad or something similar today. Probably not as many mistakes at least as far as penmanship is concerned!
These people were farmers, truck drivers, stenographers, professors. Quite a mix for one area.
No comments:
Post a Comment