One of the biggest challenges of using the 1830 US Census to find people in the Madawaska Settlement is the spelling of the names. Since many of the people were not literate, the census taker often had to guess at the spelling; this was just as true of English names as it was of French.
Another complication is that the pronunciation of French in northern Aroostook county (as well as in neighboring parts of Québec and New Brunswick) has its own specificities; thus, Sirois is pronounced roughly like Searway, rather than the Parisian French Searwah. So imagine an English-speaker hearing a French name, in the accent not of Paris but of Madawaska, and trying to figure out how to write it. That's what we're seeing in the 1830 census. Needless to say, many of the names are very difficult to recognize.
Another thing to keep in mind is that in 1830 there was no single, standardized way to spell many names, so even if people could read and write they may have spelled their name differently from others with the same name. This explains much of the variation and the difference between today's spelling and that used in 1830 (Michaud vs. Misheau is one example).
This is only a guide to deciphering the names. For those names for which I have definite information, I have included the correct spellings of the names in the "Remarks" section on the census transcription pages. This page is meant to be a guide, that is, to suggest possible ways that some common names were spelled; and to suggest possible correct spellings for some of the more common names found in the census to help point you in a direction for further research. Before you assume that the equivalents given here are correct for a specific individual, you should find other evidence for that spelling of his/her name.
If you have any other examples, or know specific names in the census, please . Thanks.
I have included English names if the identity of the individual seems likely based on earlier and later censuses and surveys
Please note: This is only a guide. You should always check other sources to confirm the actual spelling of names.
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1830 census version ---> "real names" Albear = Albert, Hébert Bell = Lebel Bopray = Beaupré Bullia = Beaulieu, Boulier Bushee = Boucher Catin, Caten = Keaton Cere = Cyr Chissee = Chassé Fary = Farrell Gorney = Gagné Gurno = Corneau/Gorneau Loveway = Lavoie Macra = McRae Markee = Marquis McParson = McPhearson Misheau = Michaud Missude = Michaud Mora = Morin or Moreau Neddow = Nadeau Orient = Ayotte Parron = Parant Pecure = Picard Pelkey = Pelletier Peltier = Pelletier Remo = Raymond Rongute = Ringuette Seroy = Sirois Sophisan, Sopisow = Sansfaçon Terrio = Thériault Torday = Tardif Tye = Tighe Use =? Hughes White = LeBlanc Wollet = Ouellet Yon = Dionne |
"Real names" ---> 1830 Census version Albert = Albear Ayotte = Orient Beaulieu = Bullia Beaupré = Bopray Boucher = Bushee Boulier = Bullia Chassé = Chissee Corneau, Corno = Gurno Cyr = Cere Dionne = Yon Farrell = Fary Gagné = Gorney Gorneau = Gurno Hébert = Albear Hughes = Use Keaton = Catin, Caten Lavoie = Loveway LeBlanc = White Marquis = Markee McPhearson = McParson McRae = Macra Michaud = Missude, Misude, Misheau Nadeau = Neddow Ouellet = Wollet Parant = Parron Pelletier = Pelkey, Pulkey, Peltier Picard = Picard Raymond = Remo Ringuette = Rongute Sansfaçon = Sophisan, Sopisow Sirois = Seroy Tardif = Torday Thériault = Terio Tighe = Tye |
1830 version --> "real name"
Alexr. = abbreviation for Alexandre
Bartis = Baptiste
Bellana = Bénoni
Benjn. = abbreviation for Benjamin
Clemo = Clement
Elway = Eloi
Feamer = Phirmain
Grigware = Gregoire
Jeremiah, Jereh. = Germain
John = Jean
Loeis, Loei = Louis
Lara = Laurent
Lawrence = Laurent, Hilarion
Michell = Michel, Michael
Peter = Pierre
Reoff = Raphael
Vassal = Vincent
Wid. = abbreviation for "Widow"
Last revised 15 Jun 2018
©2004-2018 C. Gagnon