The Mystery of Charlotte Ann Miller

The Mystery of Charlotte Ann Miller

I have had conflicting information about the children of Mary Ann Levy and Jacob T.C. Miller. To make matters worse, I have not been able to find the source of some of the information I now have in my database. One of the problems is that most of the girls have Ann in their name and other names also frequently appear: Ann Rebecca, Susan Ann Elizabeth, Columbia V. Ann, Ann Eliza, Virginia Ann Rebecca, etc.

I’m having trouble with one daughter in particular, Charlotte Ann Miller. I have Charlotte's date of birth as January 13, 1850, yet she does not appear in the 1850 census taken 6 months later. What does appear in the 1850 census, in the Mortality Schedule (everyone who died in the previous 12 months prior to June 1, 1850), is Charlotte Miller, age 12.

The names in the Mortality Schedule in the book "Bridge in Time" (see below) follow the same order as their families appear in the general census (in fact the authors rearranged the records so they follow the general schedule). Charlotte Miller was the fourth name in the Middletown Election District Mortality Schedule. Charlotte Miller followed Jacob Lorentz and was in turn followed by Jaanna Swearingen.

The first name in the Mortality schedule was Ann C. Sharer, age 5 months. The first Sharer in the General Schedule is George and Maria Sharer, ages 25 and 21 respectively so it's likely Ann C. was their daughter. Ann C. was followed by Jacob Lorentz, 29. The first Lorentz family in the General Schedule appears after the Sharers. It is the family of Jacob Lorentz, 62, and his children whose ages range from 32 to 11. It's likely the deceased Jacob Lorentz was a son of this Jacob Lorentz. The third name in the Mortality Schedule is Charlotte Miller. We find two Miller families in the General Schedule before we find a Swearingen family (Jaanna Swearingen being the next name in the Mortality Schedule). The first Miller family is our Jacob T.C. and Mary A. Miller, ages 49 and 44 respectively. Their children range in age from 20 to 2. Charlotte, at age 12, fits into this family. The second Miller family is Leonard and Charlotte Miller, ages 67 and 61. Living with them is John W. Miller, age 25. John is probably their son. Charlotte's age doesn't fit this family very well. She is too young to be their daughter; however she does share the same name as the wife.

The families of the next names in the Mortality Schedule, Jaanna Swearingen, Mary Lorentz, and Upton Lorentz, can be easily identified, leaving just these two Miller families as the family of Charlotte. I'm strongly inclined to believe Charlotte was the daughter of Jacob T.C. and Mary A. Miller, partly due to the fact that I'm told they had a daughter named Charlotte.

However, in 1850, the Jacob T.C. Millers already had a daughter who was 12 years old, Susan Ann Elizabeth Miller. Its possible Charlotte and Susan were twins. I have found no other incidence of twinning in their families, but it’s still possible. However, it's more likely that Charlotte was born January 1850 as my records show and that the age in the Mortality Schedule is a mistake.

Children who are under a year old have their ages recorded in the census as a fraction of a year. A five month old child would have their age recorded as 5/12. If Charlotte was born in January and died before the census was taken in June, her age should have been recorded as an x/12 depending on when she died. Its possible wither the enumerator made a mistake and only recorded the 12, or the authors erred when they transcribed the records from the microfilm copy they worked from (the original Mortality Schedule for the state of Maryland was given to the Maryland State Library who microfilmed them).

(The complete 1850 census records for Frederick County can be found in a superb book "A Bridge in Time," by Mary Fitzhugh Hitselberger and John Philip Dern. I have found it to be quite accurate given the scope of work required to compile it in 1978, before personal computers were available).

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