1860 Census Entries for part of Clayton Township, Adams County, Illinois

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First Name:	Last Name:	Location:

1860 Census
Adams County, Illinois
Clayton Township, page 884
4 different ways to spell Behrens on the same census page

This census page contains 7 households. 4 of them are related to me. Some search suggestions are on the bottom of the page. Indexes (such as the 1860 census index are a tool, not a guarantee). If you are related to the Behrens family on this page, please let me know because I am too.

Actual Census Image	What I think it says:
	I think this is the family of L. H. Smith. I'm not related to this family ;-)
	Weert Franzen is the head of household, but that's not what it would look like to the untrained eye. I'm not certain about the remaining individuals in this entry as I am not related to this family. This family appears in the Ancestry.com 1860 census index under the last name Franson. This is a reasonable rendering and one that would be caught under a soundex based search for Franzen.
Barnes	This entry is for Gerd, Trientje and Claus Behrens. I know it looks like his first name is Garrett, and I know some Ostfriesens used Garrett as a first name, but no other record known lists him as anything other than Gerd. This entry appears in the index as: Gerrett Barnes Twnga Barnes Claus Barnes A reasonable rendering given the enumeration. A soundex search for "Behrens" would have located this entry. Gerd and Trientje are my great-great-great-great-great-grandparents.
	I think this is Henry Kapeman, the local Lutheran Pastor. I'm not certain of the other members in this household as I'm not related to this family either. This family appears in the Ancestry.com 1860 census index under the surname Hapeman. Henry's occupation is listed as: Would you read that as Lutheran Clergyman?
Barams	This is Herman Behrens. Also in the household are his wife Anke (nee Lichtsinn) and (probably) Gerd, Folke, Trientje, and Herman. This family is indexed with the last name Barams. This is a reasonable rendering of the enumeration and one that would be located with a soundex search. The names were read as: Herman Anhee Gerck Folke Truitee Harman Herman is a brother to my ancestor, Ulfert Behrens. Anke is a sister to my ancestor Frederick Lichtsinn Behrens.
Barse	This is supposed to be Ekke Behrens. Ekke Behrens is a brother to my ancestor, Ulfert Behrens. His name appears in the Ancesry.com 1860 census index as Ekke Burse. This is not Soundex equivalent to Behrens. The others in the household appear in the index as: Edward Henry Catherine John Jennie Gerehe Weat Mot Actually I would have read the entry on line 36 as Gesche.
Barrus	This is Ulfert Behrens and his wife Recke (Fredericka), nee Lichtsinn. They are my great-great-great-great-grandparents. Their two entries complete the census page. These names appear in the Ancestry.com 1860 census index as Wootfred and Recke Barrus. This is not Soundex equivalent to Behrens.
	The first set of entries on the next census page completes the family from the previous page. The surname on this entry is in the Ancestry.com index as Barnes. I'm not certain I think that's what it looks like, but fortunately Barnes and the actual surname of Behrens are Soundex equivalent. The first names of the children on this page appear in the index as: Frartia Harman Garrett Harm Tolke Claus Ekke Frartia--actually Trientje--is my 3rd great-grandmother.

Suggestions:

Keep a list of all reasonable variants for the last name being researched. There are several good ways to obtain variant spellings, including thinking of:

How the name was actually pronounced by the person.
The native language of the census taker--or likely native language.
Handwriting issues--including what letters can easily be confused.

Determine which of these variants are soundex equivalent and which ones are not. We've listed a few on the chart below. Use this chart when performing soundex-based searches. In this example, if soundex searches are being used, Behrens and Barnes do not need to both be searched for.

Name	Soundex code
Behrens, Barnes, Burns	B652
Burse	B620

Remember to determine as best you can where your person should have been living at the time of the census. It may be necessary to manually view the pages for the township or county where your person likely lived. The name could have been rendered on the census page in such a way that finding it in the online index is exceedingly difficult. Remember, some rural townhips will only have 20 or so census pages. A manual search may be faster than hours spent using the index.

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