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ArchivesRe: Alternate origin for Darlene
in reply to a message by Shaymin
What are the 1791, 1799, and 1804 records from the USA where you think you have found "Darlene"?
In the census records available on ancestry.com, there are several supposed early instances of "Darlene" in the index that turn out to be something else when I examine the handwriting in the original records. The earliest sure instance of Darlene in the census seems to be Darlene Stevens of Bureau County, Illinois. Even she is somewhat problematical -- she is "Darlene" in the 1880 census, "Darleen" in the 1870 census, but "Caroline" in the 1860 census when she's two years old.
Handwriting in old records is often hard to interpret and I'm afraid people often assimilate what they see to names they are familiar with instead of what the name really was. Two of the oldest instances of Darlene in the index of the US census turned out to be African-American women listed as "Darkus" when I examined the original records, which comes from the census taker writing down phonetically the pronunciation of Dorcas that he heard.
In the census records available on ancestry.com, there are several supposed early instances of "Darlene" in the index that turn out to be something else when I examine the handwriting in the original records. The earliest sure instance of Darlene in the census seems to be Darlene Stevens of Bureau County, Illinois. Even she is somewhat problematical -- she is "Darlene" in the 1880 census, "Darleen" in the 1870 census, but "Caroline" in the 1860 census when she's two years old.
Handwriting in old records is often hard to interpret and I'm afraid people often assimilate what they see to names they are familiar with instead of what the name really was. Two of the oldest instances of Darlene in the index of the US census turned out to be African-American women listed as "Darkus" when I examined the original records, which comes from the census taker writing down phonetically the pronunciation of Dorcas that he heard.
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