Genealogy Roadshow - A Rare Error

Post date: Feb 8, 2015 12:08:29 AM

The Genealogy Roadshow - New Orleans: Board of Trade (season 2, episode 4) which aired 3 February 2015, contained a segment that focused on the ANTEE family of New Orleans.

During this segment, Genealogist Kenyatta Berry said:

“Now let’s take a look at the 1940 census here. Elvira, your mother, is living with her children, OK. So that’s Donald, Ronald, and Theone. But in this household, Joseph is not listed.

“Now we took a look at the 1940 city directory. [Kenyatta shows the views an excerpt from the 1940 New Orleans City Directory] We find Joseph in a household with a woman named Irene, who is a maid, and he is a chauffeur. So, in 1940, your grandparents, definitely not living in the same household. OK?”

Taking a look at the image of the portion of the 1940 city directory that Kenyatta displayed, we see Joseph ANTEE, a chauffeur (ostensibly the husband of Elvira and the father of the person’s who’s genealogy they she was exploring) and a woman by the name of Irene ANTEE, a maid. Unfortunately, if you actually reads what Kenyatta displays, you will notice that, unlike what Kenyatta stated, they are living at two very different addresses, and therefore, not in the same household.

Furthermore, the 1940 US Census shows Joseph ANTEE (enumerated as “ANTE” - line 43; the third row from the top) living as a lodger. Irene is nowhere to be found. I am personally unsure why Kenyatta didn’t show the 1940 census, rather than the city directory. In short, there is no evidence to suggest that Joseph ANTEE had been living with anyone by the name of Irene in 1940. It is important that I point out that this is an unusual error in an otherwise exceptionally well done program that successfully and interestingly melds elements of world history with family histories.

I would like to think that it was the program’s editors and not the genealogist who had made the mistake, however, we clearly hear Kenyatta say: “the 1940 city directory”, leaving little doubt where the mistake was made.

It is mistakes like this that can lead to incorrect information contained in a genealogy.