Ummm, today I want to be called....

I have never understood the desire to change a name.  My childhood best friends decided we should change our names and they picked out new names.  I couldn't think of something else I wanted to be called and it wasn't because I was so in love with my given name, I just didn't have any desire to change it.  I think I frustrated them.

All of the name changing frustrates me.  My latest example is Thad.  Thad was William on the 1920 census, Thaddeus in 1930, and Houston on the 1940.   Yes, William, Thaddeus and Houston are the same person as I have other documents tying the names to one person, thankfully.  (Except for William...that name never shows up again.  The 'child' is a junior and I've never found the name William associated with the father either.)

So, when I first met Thad in 1920, I thought he was William.  I never dreamed he was a junior. 

Knowing what I know about Thad, it makes me wonder about some of his siblings such as Ellen.  She shows up on the 1915 Kansas census with a birth year of 1888 between brothers Frank and Chester.  Why isn't she listed on the 1900 or 1910 census or the Kansas 1905 census?  Is she the E in Margaret E?  Margaret E was born in 1896.  She is listed on the 1900, 1905, 1910 and 1920 censuses.  Margaret is between brothers Frank and Chester.  Makes sense doesn't it?  Seems like Ellen must be Margaret Ellen with the age off in the census which isn't all that unusual.

Hold on.

Walter is between Frank and Chester, too.  He was born in 1891.  He is on the 1900, 1905, 1910 and 1920 census.  Where was he in 1915?

I made a graphic to help me keep all of this straight.

Better get back to searching.