I don't see anything connecting that census entry with Sonny Liston. Liston was born and grew up in St. Francis County, Arkansas. I may have missed it, but I don't see "Liston" on that data sheet. His father was named Tobe and his mother was named Helen. Liston was supposedly the youngest of 25 children. [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Liston[/ame]
Thank you for the post of the census record. This is a great find and very interesting. I have searched through census records tracing my own genealogy and I agree wholeheartedly about the difficulty sometimes encountered in deciphering what has been written. I can see where the "L" for Sonny's middle name could easily be taken to look like the numeral "1". The census taker may have written capital L's like this. The family name Liston in all probability appears at the bottom of the preceding page which is not shown in this post. But it must always be remembered that the information in any census record is only as good as provided by the people and transcribed by the census taker. In earlier times and in poorer areas, the people often had little or no reading and writing skills. Keeping accurate birth records and such were far less important than day-to-day survival. Usually earlier records are more accurate, being closer to the actual birth date, but even these records may not always be 100% accurate. This is probably the earliest record to date pointing to an age for Sonny Liston and as such is a significant find. Thanks again!
Everybody ages different anyway. He was probably one of those Alpha Kids that was big by 13. And the way he lived would add more years.
line 42 which says he is 10. brother Curtis is 11 brother Wesley 2 That is how I would read this document. Thanks for the good research and info, SuzieQ.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2692/liston1.jpg This content is protected If I've set this up right, these links will lead to images of the whole pages from which that cutting is taken. At the bottom of the first page, "Tobbie" Liston is clearly shown as the head of the family, with his wife Helen, followed by his children in descending order of age. The 10-year old's first name does indeed look like Charlis. Since Charlis isn't actually a name, however, I think it's reasonable to assume it was meant to be either Charles or Charlie.
Well, Pinklon isn't actually a name either. Charlis is more likely to be a name. :good "L" is a weird middle name.
It's Charlie L. a young buy is more likely to referred to as Charlie than Charles. I'd take this is as proof of his age anyways.
It's weird old school cursive of which there seem to be many styles. My older relative from the South have a similar style of longhand and it's largely illegible to me.
I'm pretty sure it's Charles L. I write my capital L in a clearer, but similar way. If I'm tired or in a rush, it could look like this. In my opinion, the "e" looks like an "i" because the pen that was used was running out of ink. If you look closely, you can see 2 pale lines starting from the dot of the "i" that would make the letter a "e" if they were darker.
Looks like Charles or Charlie to me. Middle initial L. Pretty conclusive proof in my opinion. Good find. Its provenance is better than a marriage license issued ten years later. Remember, Liston never knew his age and he would likely have been the one giving the information to the clerk who issued the license, that there is enough to cast it in doubt. Whereas his parent would have had a pretty good idea that they had a child ten years earlier and it would have been them that was giving the information to the census taker.
I think it's entirely possible that a family with 25 kids might not remember how old a particular kid was.
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1402/liston3.jpg For the sake of completeness, I thought I'd add in the 1930 census showing the same family. There's Tobin and Helen, and all their children down to little 6 month old Curtis but, of course, no Charlie.