Here's the original census sheet entry:
One could easily convince oneself that this is actually "David Risser" with a fancy "D" and not "Javier" if it weren't for other clear instances of J's on the page:
Jacob | Jacob | Jacob | June and his own initial |
---|---|---|---|
As there is a John S. Gilmore living in this town, it seems likely that he is the census taker and that the signature is this "J. S. Gilmore". Compare these J's with Gilmore's D's, including the name David:
David | Dorothy | Day Laborer |
---|---|---|
Combining one of Gilmore's J's with the "avid" from his "David", I get something that looks an awful lot like what he actually wrote:
J + avid | actual | David |
---|---|---|
1860, Lee Co, Iowa | 1870, Lee Co, Iowa | 1880, Otoe Co., NE | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Javid Risser | 34 | M | Bavaria | Risser, David | 44 | M | Bavaria | Risser, David | M | 54 | Germany | |
Christina | 31 | F | Bavaria | Christina | 41 | F | Bavaria | Christina | F | 51 | wife | Germany |
Wilhelmia | 4 | F | Iowa | Wilmina | 14 | F | Iowa | |||||
Elizabeth | 1 | F | Iowa | Eliza | 11 | F | Iowa | Eliza | F | 21 | dau | Iowa |
Louis | 9 | M | Iowa | Louis | M | 19 | dau* | Iowa | ||||
William | 7 | M | Iowa | William | M | 17 | son | Iowa | ||||
Helina | 4 | F | Iowa | Hellena | F | 14 | son* | Iowa | ||||
Adelia | F | 7 | dau | NE |
And so we find that David and Javid have remarkably similar families. I therefore feel justified in concluding that Javier = Javid = David Risser.
JimB.