~ Surprise ~

#52Ancestors


     It is week 6 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge and this week's prompt is "Surprise."
     When I first started genealogy, I did not have a computer and there was no internet so I wrote everything on paper and drew a pedigree chart.  Years later,  I finally had a computer and although I didn't have a subscription to Ancestry.com I did create a username/password and started a tree.  Without a subscription I did not get hints nor could I view many records.  Sometimes there would be weekend specials where records would be free to view such as military records for the military holidays or Irish records for St Patrick's Day.  I didn't have a printer at the time and couldn't attach the record to the tree as a non-subscriber so I wrote down what I found.  One of the records that was available for free was the 1930 federal census.  I typed in my grandmother's name and found only one Eleanor Davis close in age but was listed as 'granddaughter'.  I clicked on the record and although this Eleanor Davis was listed as 12 years old and not the 10 year old I was looking for I knew she was my grandmother because of the other names listed with her.  In 1930, my grandmother, "MaMa', was living with her maternal grandmother, Teresa and her two uncles.  I thought if she was living with her grandmother instead of her mother then it might have been because her younger sister had died three years earlier so maybe her mother had a breakdown... I have no idea.  I also thought if MaMa was listed as a 12 year old in the 1930 census then the census taker's math was wrong or her grandmother simply forgot her age.  I spoke to my mother about this and she remembers her great-grandmother, Teresa as being sharp and certainly not forgetful.
     Fast forward a few years from the day I saw that 1930 census to a day when I was doing laundry and watching the St Patrick's Day parade.  I had decided that I wanted to learn more about my Irish ancestors.  I also wanted to start a blog.  I finally paid for a subscription to Ancestry.com and couldn't wait to dive in and start searching.
     I found my great-grandparents, Samuel and Josephine Davis in the 1920 federal census.  They were living in Manhattan, NY with their 3 year old daughter, Eleanor and infant son, Daniel.
     What???  How is my grandmother listed as a 2 year old in 1920?  That is her year of birth.  I tried ordering her birth certificate from New York City but received a reply stating no record found.  I received the same reply from Albay.  At the time that I ordered these certificates I didn't know if MaMa was born in NYC or upstate in Poughkeepsie where her paternal grandparents lived.  I ordered a copy of the application for a social security card and found her year of birth.
     My maternal grandmother, Eleanor Francis Davis was born 2 June 1917.  Why she changed her year of birth we will never know but it certainly was a surprise when I found out.

                                                                Eleanor Francis Davis