Census Problems - The Search for Jacob VInson

Okay, so here's my first problem in my search for Jacob Vinson:

In Canada there is a census that has what appears to be our family: Jacob Vincon and his "Mrs." and a list of kids whose names coincide with the commonly believed list of kids in our family.


Most people take one look at that and say, "Hot dang! We found our family in Canada!" 

Well... not so fast.

The problem is, how do I know if that really is the right list of kids in our Jacob's family?  If I had grown up hearing Great talk about her Aunts Harriet and Mary, and Uncles Richard, John, Japheth, Jacob and Joseph, then I'd say the list was good, but that's not how it happened.  I got that list from other genealogists on Ancestry, which means that the odds are good that they got those names FROM that same Canadian census.

Which is why they coincide perfectly.

You can't use a source to prove itself.

We can compare it to another census here in the U.S., and if we do, we get an iffy result: The Jacob and Mary Vincient in the 1870 census in St. Clair County MI are different ages and have different kids.

Ah, but these kids are younger, and they fill out the rest of the list of names that the common wisdom on ancestry say are in the family!  Except, yeah, those other people on Ancestry probably got that information from this other census.

To make it worse: both these documents could still be right and refer to our family, but they also could be two completely different families, neither of which are direct ancestors of ours.

Furthermore, when the censuses were taken, the family may have lied to the census taker, or the "informant" who gave the info may not have known anything, and they just made up the answers.

Why would the family lie?

Well, one of the legends I found from a second/third cousin who is also descended from Jacob, is that he or his father had accompanied the Prince of Wales in a canoe when the prince visited an Indian village during a tour of Canada in 1860.  DNA indicates that it is entirely possible that Jacob or his father were Native. (After tracing a lot of our family back, the Native DNA has to come from  him, his wife, or from Peter LaGuire's unnamed mother. Those are the only choices left. Furthermore, more descendants of the Vincent line have Native DNA than of the LaGuire line. So... Jacob or his wife, Mary Tebo are likely it.)

Given the prejudice against Native people, and against the French, in Canada and northern U.S. at the time, it is easy to see why the family might have been passing for white, and passing for English.  And if they were trying to stay under the radar, it's even possible that they didn't intentionally lie, but the person who was answering the census (who could be a neighbor, or servant, or landlord) just didn't know. So they said, "Yeah, they're from Upper Canada, yeah, they're Church of England."

Or it could be another family entirely. Or this is our family and the legend is completely wrong.

So how do we sort it out?  How do we verify the names of OUR Jacob Vinson's family.

One place to start is the death certificates (and obituaries) of his children. Frank Vinson/Vincent-- our great great grandfather -- was the informant on Jacob's death certificate. And though he left out a lot of information about his father's background, he was specific about his mother's name, and his father's age.

So we find other death certificates and start comparing.  So far Richard, and Jacob Jr. are consistent.  And there was a John Vinson who witnessed Frank's marriage, so even though he could have been a cousin, it's a good indication that they were associated.

But death certificates have their own interesting issues.  More about that Next Time.

Making a Genealogy Plan - Finding Jacob Vinson

Just got back from a genealogy conference.  It was great, but I now have a cramp in my upper back from four days of sitting in conference stacking chairs.

I learned a LOT, though I have to admit, the best stuff I learned were things I already kinda knew.  That's because I attended a lot of sessions about professional genealogy and methodology and standards and all that.  If you've been doing this much at all, you already have a grasp of judging evidence and digging for back up evidence, etc.  But this conference put a lot of that info together for me.

In particular, when you have over 3000 people in your tree, and you have LOTS of interesting puzzles, and enticing research prospects, you really need to stop winging it and start using professional methods. 

And one of the first things you do is set a specific purpose for a project, and make a plan.

So here it is; my plan for one of my research brick walls: Jacob Vinson, who was Great's grandfather. I have not been able to find ANY record that I can tie firmly to his family in Canada. Even the records on this side of Lake Huron are fairly inconsistent. So...

Jacob Vinson Research Plan

Purpose Statement: To find when Jacob Vinson emigrated to U.S. and where in Canada he came from.

Questions that should help lead to this information:

*What currently assumed family relationships can be proven?
*When is the earliest we can find him in America in records?
*There are four or more variations on the surname in the records: Vincent, Vinson, Vincum, Vincon. Who uses which surname, and when? (Also, who says the family is English, and who says French?)
*What was his religion?
*Was he Metis? or Micmaw? (Or was his father or mother?)
*Did he (or a relative) really accompany the Prince of Wales to a native village during the prince's visit to Canada in 1860?

(More questions to be added later, as new info raises them.)

Next Actions:

1. Begin with the first three questions: Compile the records. Cross check. Look for holes. Check for when various surnames appear.

2. Look for other people from Canada who live near the Vinson family who may have emigrated with them, or from the same place.

3. Play with some of the new resources I've learned about to see if Jacob or family and neighbors show up in them.

If these don't lead in an obvious direction, the next action after these will be looking for those neighbors and relatives in Canada.

NEXT TIME, I'm going to talk about the problems with the census data I've found -- on both sides of Lake Huron. (Then maybe some fun with death certificates!)