Where in the World Was Aunt Betty?

While tidying up some loose ends on a recent project, I came across a notation I had made earlier on a census analysis worksheet for the family of a man named Carl who lived in Illinois. My census analysis followed the family through the 1920 and 1930 U.S. censuses, when Carl was married to Marjorie and they had two children. It was the entry for the 1940 U.S. Census that seemed odd to me, but not totally out of the ordinary.

The 1940 U.S. Census for their town in Illinois indicated that Carl now was married to an Elizabeth. The problem was that the family was certain that Carl never was married to anyone other than Marjorie.

I checked out Carl’s 1942 World War II Draft Registration record where he listed Marjorie as a person who would always know where he was – fairly strong evidence that Carl had not remarried an Elizabeth before 1940. No other records helped resolve this conflict.

Fortunately, I knew one of Carl’s granddaughters, who grew up down the street from Carl and Marjorie’s home. I showed her the 1940 census record listing Elizabeth as the wife of her grandfather. She was certain her grandfather had married only once – she knew the death dates of Carl and Marjorie and had attended their funerals. 

So who was Elizabeth?

Without any hesitation, she said, “Oh, that would be Aunt Betty.” Aunt Betty – the nickname for her Aunt Elizabeth – traveled by train from her home in Connecticut to visit her brother Carl and his family in Illinois every year. When the census enumerator came, Marjorie “was probably out in the field tending the beets,” and through some miscommunication Elizabeth was mistaken for Carl's wife.

I then searched for Elizabeth in the 1940 census  where she lived in Connecticut with her husband – and there she was, in Connecticut. Could the same woman be in two place in one census?

The Connecticut census listing was enumerated on 10 April 1940, wheras the Illinois family was enumerated on 20 April 1940 – a ten-day difference. The famous Twentieth Century Limited train ran between New York City (a brief train ride from her home in Connecticut) and Chicago overnight in 16 hours, arriving daily at 9 a.m. at Chicago’s LaSalle Street station. Elizabeth could have made the trip in less than three days.

Proven? No. But resolved to our satisfaction? Yup.

(This post was powered by dark chocolate M&M Peanuts, which sure can be difficult to find.)