[Genealib] birthplace "via"

[Wilson, Donald L]

There are 6 Thomas Johnsons in Morgan County in 1850 -- But you have to
use "Exact Matches Only" on Ancestry to find them.  Two have the first
name spelled "Thos", which doesn't come to the top of a "fuzzy" search.
"Thos Johnson is shown as born abt 1761 in Via.

Yes, "Via" was used by that enumerator instead of "Va" (Virginia).

Incidentally, the three men whose birthplaces are indexed as "Iowa" were
probably not born in Iowa at all.  "Ia" was commonly used as an
abbreviation for Indiana in the mid-19th century.  It was adopted early
(before Iowa became a state).  From a cursory examination of the 1850
census of Iowa it appears that when an abbreviation was used for that
state, "Io" was the preferred form.

Donald L. Wilson, Virginiana Librarian,
Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center
  for Genealogy and Local History (RELIC),
Prince William Public Library System,
Bull Run Regional Library,
8051 Ashton Avenue, Manassas, VA  20110-2892
703-792-4540   www.pwcgov.org/library/relic


-----Original Message-----
From: genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
[mailto:genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu] On Behalf Of Kathy
Rippel
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 8:40 PM
To: Librarians Serving Genealogists
Subject: Re: [Genealib] birthplace "via"

Using Ancestry, I find four Thomas Johnson. It appears one is born in
Ohio, one in North Carolina, and two in Iowa (Ia). It could be a matter
of interpretation of the abbreviations, but I don't see a "via".

Kathy

At 06:35 PM 4/21/2008, Laurie Wilcox wrote:

>Hello,
>
>Does anyone know what "via" in birthplace means on the 1850 census?
>
>Thomas Johnson of Morgan county IN has this listed. After some 
>searching on ancestry there is a large number of others throughout the 
>country with this listed as their birthplace.
>
>Thank You
>
>
>Laurie Wilcox
>Local History Associate
>Oral History Specialist
>Boone County Public Library
>1786 Burlington Pike
>Burlington, KY 41005
>lwilcox at bcpl.org
>859-342-2665 ext: 8134
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>genealib mailing list
>genealib at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
>http://mailman.acomp.usf.edu/mailman/listinfo/genealib

Kathy Rippel
Dept. Head/Consultant--Resource Sharing and Access ; Pathfinder Central
(Manager) Central Kansas Library System
1409 Williams
Great Bend, KS 67530

(620-792-4865) phone
(800-362-2642) toll-free, KS
(620-792-5495) fax

kdr at ckls.org
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