The fallacy of patronymics

Yes, I've missed a couple Saturday posts, this was mostly due to serving as the model contest chairman for the National Model Railroad Association's Midwest Region at the recent Badgerland Express region convention.  The delay is also due to some last minute findings on the surname that I was going to post about next.  I'm still digesting the information that I've found for it and will post it at a later date, but in the meantime, I've made another observation that is important to remember when researching family history.

Domestic partners in 1930

Okay, so I'm doing a little more indexing tonight before bed, and I come across this interesting gem.  In the 1930 U.S. census for La Crosse County, Wisconsin, there was the Molstead household.  Take a close look at the two highlighted lines...

In this case, the head of household was Myrtle Molstead, a 23-year-old single woman.  She lived with her 21-year-old sister Ella and a 25-year-old single woman named Amanda Belkey who is listed as the partner of the head of household.  Families like this might not have been discussed freely in the 1930s, but here is one documented case where it occurred.

A hundred years ago today....

So after a crazy busy December (which is why I haven't updated in the last few weeks), I'm doing a little bit of indexing while I finish my glass of Sweet Rebecca wine after a quiet celebration at home of the new year today.  Yeah, I'm a nerd, but what genealogist isn't a bit of a nerd?  Anyway, I'm indexing marriage records from Washington, D.C., and I come across this one...

On 1 January 1911, Guiseppe Carradi and Anna Cavalieri were married by Nicholas Yaselli at St. Aloysius Church in Washington, D.C.  As far as I know, this couple is not related to anyone that I've found in my family, but I thought it was a nice coincidence with indexing today that I get a record from exactly 100 years ago.

What was her name?

Okay, so I'm going through the steps as a volunteer indexer for FamilySearch.  I've heard of some rather interesting names in my own research, but the name that I spotted today has got to be my favorite so far.  Here's a partial extract of the relevant page from the 1930 U.S. census; take a look at the name that is highlighted:

Am I reading this right?  Does that really say this woman's name was Easter Ham?  It may be a misspelling of  Esther, but it made for a chuckle as I went through the page and transcribed exactly what I saw today.