Need help on Census Mystery

Question

I am questioning two census I believe may be the same person, James Evans (Evans-15922) and his father, Esau Evans (Evans-15923)

I know the family was in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania in 1850.

Census 1 shows Esau - 56 yo - blacksmith, his wife Sarah, and James 12 yo in Cass township, Schuylkill county. This census was taken Aug 29, 1850. Cass township surrounds part of Minersville, PA. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DYL4-JCS?mode=g&i=66&cc=1401638

Census 2 shows Evan (might be Esau) - 50 yo - blacksmith, his wife Sarah, James 12, Mary 27, Elizabeth 22, Salina 20 in Minersville. This census was taken Aug 15, 1850. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DZP9-8XQ?mode=g&i=27&cc=1401638

1. Could this be the same family and could they have moved from town to outside of town between Aug 15 and Aug 29 and the girls stay in town? I can't find a later census in support of this theory.

2. Is there an Evan and an Esau, could they be brothers? Could they both have a 12 year old son named James, or could James have been visiting his uncle when the census was taken - making Salina, Mary, Elizabeth his cousins, not sisters?

3. Is it possible they lived in a place (as I live in a place where several census takers come each census year) that is so close to the Minersville line in Cass Township that it could be considered either and was counted twice? Were the girls just not at home on Aug 29? I looked at surrounding households and this does not appear to be the case; however, if the property is perhaps on the line, the census takers could be moving in opposite directions?

Also - we have what we thought was our Esau and James in Wales in 1841 before they boarded the ship to USA. Esay (form of Esau) 40, James 2, with Sarah, Margaret, Mary, Elizabeth and Salina in Crickhowell, Breconshire, Wales.

I'm very confused - any help in figuring this out greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I would say with some certainty that the family in Wales is the family in census 2. It is very possible for families to be enumerated twice, I am less certain that they represent the same person, but certain enough that I would continue with it as my working theory until something pointed elsewhere.

Answer 2

I think it's entirely likely that this family was counted twice. I have a family in Pennsylvania for whom I reached that same conclusion regarding the 1870 census. John L. Long and Amanda (Sultzbach) Long and family were recorded in both the borough of Millersburg and the township of Wiconisco, both in Dauphin County. Wiconisco Township isn't the township from which Millersburg was created, but it's close by. I surmise that either (1) the family moved between the dates of the enumerators' visits to the two places or (2) one of the entries was based on interview with a neighbor who didn't realize that the family had moved. (In the situation I describe, the two households consisted of the same people -- your situation is a bit more complicated because of the three "girls" who appear in only one of the entries.)

FWIW, I think that the handwritten name on your Minersville census record is best interpreted as "Evau" (the last letter is ambiguous, but to my eye it looks slightly more like an u than an n). Since the record includes the whole list of people from the ship's record (a wonderful record to have!), you are fully entitled to assume that it was a mistaken entry for Esau.

Answer 3

I had the opportunity to speak with my father today and he, too believes that the family was counted twice because he said the property was, indeed, across the boundary that would have divided the line between Minersville and Cass Township.

Thank you so much for your help! I was afraid all of my research to date on this family was wrong, but I feel much more confident with some more opinions. I do believe the Minersville census may say Esau or Evau and not Evan as typed.

Thank you again!!

michele