Source Document - U.S. Census 1900 - Napa, CA - McLaughlin

Pulling source documents off Ancestry.com has proven itself to be quite challenging for me recently.  The only format option offered to save the document is JPEG 2000.  My husband has indicated that JPEG 2000 is a bit problematic.  I have not asked him further why that is the case.

He showed me another way to pull the documents off Ancestry.com, however, but it does take a two step process for me to then post it onto my blog.  With that in mind, I do plan to continue to post source documents but they will come slower in my posts because of the time frame of the download and upload process.  Technology is grand but has its limitations, and a few tricks.

My following posts are two U.S. Census from 1900 Napa, CA for my McLaughlin's.  Why are there two?  Well, let's take a look.  I continue with my comentary below the pictures.

When I review both of these U.S. Census for Napa, CA for 1900, I can't help but notice that they appear to be my McLaughlin's in each.  So were my McLaughlin's counted twice in this census?  It seems likely.  The first document above has information gathered on June 15, 1900.  The second document has information gathered on June 8, 1900. 

The first document is transcribed as being from the Salvador Area of Napa which was mainly farmland back in the day.  All of the family members are listed including my great-grandmother, Mary E., who is indicated as being a school teacher which she was.  Several of the children are indicated as being born in Nevada. 

The second document is missing Thomas McLaughlin (my great great grandfather) and has the family living in town at 670 Main Street.  The reason why I believe that this is my McLaughlin family is because again several of the children were born in Nevada.  When you review the occupations of Ellen (head of household) it indicates diary.  My great-grandmother, Mary E. is listed as a school teacher.  Her year of birth is off but that was not unsual for a census taker to be off on that detail a bit.  I have found it was not that unusual for families to have a house in town while still maintaining a farm outside of town.  The Flanagan's of Napa did this for a while too. 

So it would appear that my McLaughlin's were counted twice.   Both census results appear to reflect the same family save Thomas McLaughlin in the second one.  Gotta love the U.S. Census, don't you?