Is genealogy just a compilation of facts? Plain data entry? No. If we read between the lines and put two and two together, sometimes we can gain insight into the personalities of our ancestors. And today I'm darn proud of them.
Family member name: John O. Pearson
Relation: My 3rd great uncle
Huh?: My dad's dad's mom's dad's brother
John O. Pearson was entered into auxiliary census records. They are called the Schedules of Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes. Apparently, they weren't so concerned about political correctness in 1880. Schedule Type: Idiots. Horrible! Of course we know that word's usage has completely changed in the last one hundred years. But it still hurt my finger tips to even type it in and it hurts my eyes to read it.
When I looked back at the "regular" US Census, this is what I saw.
What do we learn?
1. John O. Pearson was 25 years old, was living as a "Boarder", was single, not employed, and "idiotic". (Cringe!)
2. He was living with his older brother Moses and his family. This is heartwarming, for a few reasons.
- Their parents had died within the past 3 years. From other documents, we learn that his mother was 47 when he was born.
- His brother could have sent him to some kind of asylum when his parents died, but instead took him in to his own family.
- It appears that Moses and family lived in the same home as Moses and John's parents, thus John continued to live in his childhood home, by the way his cousins lived next door.
Here is John's picture.
What do we learn?
1. He is no doubt mentally challenged.
2. The family cared enough about him to provide him with nice clothes
3. The family loved him enough to spend money and travel to have his picture professionally taken.
Last year when visiting John's hometown of Cumberland, Maine, I learned a couple more things after visiting his grave.
1. His headstone was the same size and in the same area as his parents and siblings.
2. No other family member has an epitaph except him. It reads "He hath done what he could".
3. He was well-loved.
