Notes for Montgomery County, Illinois, 1870 transcription Researchers should be alert to the following issues noted during the transcription process. 1. Foreign-born parents In large sections of the census, the Enumerator has made use of the "Father foreign born" column to place tic marks, apparently as part of his process of counting off the entries. One or two small marks appear for every entry, which sometimes complicates the question of whether the person's father was foreign-born or not. In most cases, the Enumerator used a larger and heavier stroke to indicate the father was in fact foreign born. A smaller and lighter stroke was generally used for the checking-off procedure. Still, there are some entries where the Enumerator's intentions were not clear; in these cases, I have placed a Remark to alert the Researcher that the entry may need examination. Where questions remain about foreign birth, the research should consult the original documents. In such case, I would urge you to review a few pages to get a feel for how the Enumerator marked his form. This issue first appeared part way through Litchfield City Ward 1, beginning on Page 178B, and continued thru Wards 2 and 3. It appeared again in most, but not all, of the numbered Township/Range designations. 2. Failure to cross "T" It was clear, from the examples of common names, that the Enumerator had a habit of neglecting to cross his 'T' with some frequency. While this was not usually thought to be a problem with common First names, there are instances where Surnames seemed nonsensical unless one considers that perhaps a 'T' wasn't crossed. In cases where I felt there could be alternatives to the Surnames, the matter was noted in Remarks. As an example, the Surname "Hosleller" appears. This might possibly be "Hostetler" or "Hostetter." 3. Sequencing errors There are many instances of the Dwelling and Family numbers being scratched out and over-written, sometimes for pages at a time, and quite frequently the numerical sequence of one or both is skipped. Sometimes the number sequence skips two numbers instead of one, and sometimes it skips by several. In at least one instance the sequence backs up. Where these oddities in numbering occur, a Remark is made. While the simple matter of skipping a sequence number may not be important, the Remark will authenticate the Transcription. There are other instances where the number sequence changes within an apparent Family unit; the Researcher may want to examine the record more closely to determine exactly which names belong in a Family group. Normally, "strays" such as Domestic Servants and Farm Laborers appear at the end of a Family group. At times, a new Dwelling and Family number is entered on the line for the "stray" entry of the Family above. Thus a new Family group seems to begin with a Laborer, followed by a Surname group, as if the "stray" was the head of the household. These instances are noted in Remarks. 4. Other issues with "strays" I felt that sometimes the "stray" at the end of a Family group was not related to the family, and the Enumerator may have been over-zealous in using the ditto mark. There was an instance where a Domestic Servant born in Prussia worked for an Illinois-born family of Anglican name; a ditto indicated she had the same Surname, which I am certain was a mistake. There are probably others. I urge the Research to keep this in mind. des/jpf