Life History

Notes

• I have found several genealogies that appear to copy each other with no documentation except the 1880 census, that report Elizabeth Liddie L Green as a child of John Thomas and Mary Rebecca.  There is a discrepancy between the 1870 and 1880 censuses.
  
  But in the 1870 census, two separate children are reported under the two names Lyda, age 3 and Elizabeth, age 3 months old.  The name Lyda also appears in other variations such as Lydia and Lydda.
  
  Interestingly, these genealogies also report Elizabeth Liddie L Green's birth date as  11 Mar 1868, in Blount County, Alabama.  This is between the ages reported for Lyda and Elizabeth in the 1870 census.  Elizabeth is reported in 1870 as only 3 months old.  It does not seem likely that her parents would have reported a 2-year-old as 3 months old.  And Lyda is reported as 3 years old, which would make her born in 1867 or even possibly 1866.
  
  Additionally, Lyda is reported as born in Georgia and Elizabeth in Alabama.  So it definitely appears this is referring to two different children.So the name as well as the reported birth date and the place is all puzzling in these undocumented genealogies.
  
  However, another possibility does occur.  It may be that the enumerator was confused by names.  The 1880 census reports a child name Liddie L Green who is age 10.  this age would match the child reported in 1870 as Elizabeth.  This is no doubt why these genealogies, which reference only the 1880 census, report the conflated name Elizabeth Liddie L Green.
  
  But that brings up another problem.  Who was the child reported as Lyda at age 3 in 1870.  Where did this age come from?  So a conundrum remains.  I note that the 1880 census reports that Liddie L was born in Georgia, which matches the similar record for Lyda in 1870.  the only remaining discrepancy is the age here.  Ages are often wrong, and sometimes wildly wrong after age 8-10.  It is likely that this Liddie L is more than 10 years old, and the round figure 10 was used.  We see that people in this era were not focused on numbers and ages and dates as absolute matters of truth in the modern analytical database sense.
  
  It is likely Elizabeth died before the 1870 census.  The 1900 census reports that Mary had 10 children and only 9 are living.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Blount County, Alabama, 26 August, Township 12, PO Blountsville, page 1, Hse/Fam #1
  Green, John 26 M W Farmer $100 Real Estate $300 Personal GA
  Green, Mary 28 F W Keeps House born GA Cannot read or write
  Green, Frances 4 F W born Georgia
  Green, Lyda 3 F W born Georgia
  Green, Elizabeth 3mos F W born Alabama

Sources

• 1. 1870 Federal Census, Blount County, Alabama
  • 26 August, Township 12, PO Blountsville, page 1, Hse/Fam #1