Blogiversary and the Strangest Census Page Ever

Happy 3rd Blogiversary to me!  This has been a slow year for blog posts, but GreatGreats is hanging in there.  I think the other stuff is getting under control and I can back to genealogy pretty soon...

Alhambra CA; ED 19-668, ancestry image # 20 of 42

My anniversary post is about the strangest census page I have ever seen....  The 1940 census is not a big deal to me--I'm pretty solid for all of the 1900s.  Looking for family in 1940 is just a curiosity, but a couple of nights ago, I succumbed and searched for Grandpa Porter.  Quick and easy, he was right where he should have been with Grandma and Uncle Bill: on Westboro Avenue in Alhambra.  But where are mom and Uncle Ray? 

I ran a general search for Ray and Mom.  They came up at the top of my search, nineteen pages after their parents and brother.  According to the index, they are childen of and in the household of Ethel Magnuson, along with 14 other people, all listed as part of Ethel's family.  Hmmm...Ethel's "family" live on different streets and have lots of different surnames!

Alhambra CA; ED 19-668, ancestry image # 39 of 42

Leaving the index and going to the actual image is where I found the strangest census page I have ever seen!  Notice that house numbers, visitation numbers, surnames, ages, and birthplaces are all over the place.

Here's a part of the left margin.  By the many hand-drawn, horizontal lines and the street names for every couple of entries, it's "clear" that for whatever reason, the enumerator used this page to enter names somehow left off of their rightful page.  It is obvious that the enumerator never intended for these entries to be new households.

For Mom & Ray, the visitation numbers on the image 39 match that of their parents' on image 20. But few of the visitation numbers on image 39 are indexed as written.  All entries on images 39 and 40 appear to be additions by the enumerator.  Image 41 is marked that it was done by the "OFFICE."  Image 42 is entirely blank.

Some of the entries on these 42 pages are indexed correctly as residing in Alhambra.  However, many are indexed as residing in San Gabriel.  I can understand how the "San Gabriel" got there, but why is it inconsistently?

I've started annotating/commenting on Ancestry.com's  indexed info on these 3 pages.  It will take quite a while to "fix" all the transcription (and enumeration) errors and to add comments to make it easier for researchers to "reunite" families.

So, yet another example that we must always check the original image and read the whole page!

Great Census Problem Swap

Do you have someone you can't find in the census?  I do!  Wanna swap problems?

Ordinarily I'm very, very good at finding people in the US censuses and I have found many problem listings for other people.  But, I still have a few of my own Census Problems!  I think new perspectives might help, so I'm starting "The Great Census Problem Swap!" 

We can swap problems for a while and see where it takes us all.  I'll give info on one of my problems.  If you care to spend some time on my problem, just post one of YOUR census problems as a comment and I will work on yours!  I promise to give it my best shot!  

Clara Eveline (Davidson) Porter in the 1900 US Census?
In 1900, Clara was probably recently widowed, her father had just died, and her only daughter had been married in the past year. Clara should be 50-52 years old and probably with her 16-year-old son, L. Willis.  How far could she have gotten?  

Clara was born 24 Jun 1848 in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont, daughter of Titus Davison and Hannah Bascom.  Clara appears to have always used the spelling DAVIDSON, while Titus consistently used DAVISON.  She married Celim Homer Porter 22 Mar 1870 in Colchester, Chittenden, Vermont. 

I have Clara in all of the following censuses:

• 1850 & 1860 in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont with her parents
• 1870 in Colchester, Chittenden, Vermont with Celim and his parents
• 1880 in Woods, Chippewa, Minnesota with SA (Celim), and sons George, Frank, and William (who I believe is also called Roy G.).
• 1910 & 1920 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California with son L Willis

But I cannot find her or son L Willis anywhere in the 1900 census.

Daughter Cora May Porter was born 16 December 1881 in Kerkhoven, Swift, Minnesota and son L (Leslie?) Willis Porter was born 28 Mar 1884 in Big Stone, Grant, South Dakota Territory.  However, Willis's birthdate is from a Delayed Birth Certificate filed many years later.  

I believe her husband Celim died 23 March 1898 in Grant, South Dakota, but I only have a family note to that effect.  I do have formal sources for a 1906 probate in Vermont with no mention of a date or place of his death. Clara's father, Titus, died 22 May 1900, in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont. 

Other family in the 1900 census
Son George C. is in St. Anthony precinct, Franklin County, Idaho with his family.  Daughter Cora is in Big Stone Twp, Grant, South Dakota with her new husband.  There is a Frank Porter, 24, single, butcher, living along in Fort Pierre Stanley, South Dakota, but I don't know for sure if this is Clara's son.  There is a Roy G., 23, born Iowa, in the 8th ward, Omaha, Douglas, but I don't know for sure if this is Clara's son.

Two of Clara's three remaining siblings are still in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont for the 1900 census.  The third, Willis A. Davison, is unaccounted for; I think he had left Vermont. 

Possibilities?
At some point, Clara acquired a farm in what is now Bottineau County, North Dakota; the legend is that she won it in a poker game.  There are also family legends that Porterville in California got its name from the family and that son L Willis was a cowboy in Texas before coming to California.  (His first wife was born in Texas.  Their only child was born in 1913 in Los Angeles.)  

Finding Clara or her son L Willis in the 1900 census will probably not give me any earth-shattering new info.  It will just fill in some missing info.

Who is your biggest census problem?  If you care to share, I'll be glad to give it a try!  Have a great day!