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Thursday, March 17, 2011

A little help...

My amazing friend Kate found Mr. Charles F. O'Neil in the 1910 Census.


Question 16 asks whether the person is naturalized or alien. Charles O'Neil is the only person with anything listed in this column and even though it looks like "Na" and that stands for "not applicable," I'm going to assume that, in this case, it means that he's a naturalized citizen.

Nearly everyone else listed on the page was born in Florida. Charles O'Neil was not. Unfortunately, I can't read the name of the place that he was born. I only wish that he had specified a year of immigration. And that I could read the census-taker's handwriting.

Now, it looks to me that the first letter in the name of the place that Charles was born is an F.

F-R...

France?

Or is that an I-R...

Ireland doesn't really seem likely because there is no loopy /l/ as the handwriting suggests there would be. It looks so much more like France which doesn't even make sense with a name like O'Neil.

And then there's the little note beside each entry (for the place of birth of Charles, his father, and his mother) that's just a little too faint to make out.

Let me know if you have any luck deciphering this...

11 comments:

  1. That says "France." And I believe it says "French" above it as well.

    I'm a census nerd... this post just made my day. :)

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  2. (Oh, and I believe the parents' birth places are both "France" as well.)

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  3. "Na" stands for naturalized on this census, I believe. At least in Texas where my Czech ancestors came from :)

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  4. Comme c'est intéressant!

    I was thinking it said France, but then what would an O'Neal (O'Neil) be doing in France? It just sounds so...so...Irish...

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  5. In my village in Brittany, I know a few people whose ancestors were Irish (a looooooooong time ago)...

    They emigrated for economical reasons and became farmers and fishermen there because life was much easier in Brittany.
    Brittany looks a lot like Ireland.

    Your ancestor may have gone there (Ireland and Brittany were not this far away by boat) and then emigrate from France.

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  6. I think that may be why no one has "found" his roots: they were looking in the UK. Now YOU can look in France!

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  7. So, Nancy--Grandma is excited that you are looking into this! And FYI, Mary Laura went by Laura, and her daughter was named Mary Gladys but always went by Gladys. (And then she named her daughter Gladys Evon, and you know that SHE doesn't ever go by Gladys!)

    And Blanche Peacock was Grandma's Aunt Blanche...so definitely the right family. The son younger than Blanche was called A.D.; Grandma never knew his name. I can't read it on the census.

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  8. I tried to post some info about Grandpa O'Neal but guess it didn't work...if you like to know more about him email me at tdug7715@yahoo.com. Thanks,
    Uncle Tom

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  9. Hi I’m doing some ancestry work for my family. On my mother’s side I’ve hit a dead end at Charles William Nell....the man with many names and an interesting history. I come from his Pensacola family, he’s my 2nd great grandfather.

    If anybody has any information to share about him and his history I would love to get any information I can! Thank you! My email is hannahwunder@gmail.com!

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