How do you handle children you have no sources for?

Question

I have a profile, Eliza Gill Brown Wilson, that had six children. I base this on the Census records.

Napier Wilson (Nasuer Wilson) 1830

1 Male 5-9

1 Male 30-39

2 Females under 5

2 Females 5-9

1 Female 10-14

1 Female 30-39

Total 8 - two adults

Napier Wilson (Nafier Wilson) 1840

1 Male 15-19

1 Male 40-49

1 Female 15-19

Total 3 - 1 adult

Based on this evidence, this couple had six children; five daughters and one son. The problem is, I only know the names of the son and two of the daughters.

I have researched them and identified their husbands, children, and grandchildren, but I've found nothing on the three nameless daughters.

Do I create profiles for them as Unknown Wilson (female)? Or not list them at all, even though I know they existed?

Is it even safe to assume that they were children of those parents since the early census records only list age ranges and sex and not the familial relationship as later census records do?

Comments

Are they all children? Or workers/servants?

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There's no designation of their status in the Census. Just numbers of females and males.

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So you can't even be sure they weren't enslaved.

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That's not true. Slaves were enumerated separately from free persons. The problem is, you don't know if those free persons were children, relatives, or boarders. It's impossible to know that when all you have is a count of how many free persons are in a home.

Answer 1

This is the way I would approach this. I wouldn't create profiles for the unnamed children. Hopefully, someone will come along later with more information and add them then. In the meantime, you can make a note of these potential additional children in the biographies of the parents.

Answer 2

I tend to put that type of information in the parents' profiles and wait until I have something more solid before creating a new profile for the unnamed person.  I think that there is a greater chance for duplicates if you're adding people without much information.  The people listed in your Wilson household may already have profiles that are just looking for that one piece to connect them to Eliza's profile.

I've found profiles that might be the person I'm looking for but I can't tell because so little has been added about that person on their profile.

Pre-1850 in the U.S. is tough because there're no names on the censuses.  I follow families forward with each census and sometimes find the names that way and can then work backward again with the individual.

Comments

That's what I do. The children and grandchildren prove the parents. Also, death certificates can be useful for verifying parents. But you're right. Pre-1860 the censuses are tough. You have to try to match age/sex counts to evidence you have for the children.