written 2018 FEB 26
On the 1900 Census, Mary Filan reported 6 children, 5 living.

On the 1910 Census, she reported 6 children, 6 living.

I have identified 7 children from her marriage: Frank, Veronica, John, Edward, Alex John, Leo Alex, and Luly. I have seen birth records for all but John F, and he has other support, including mention on Edwards corrected record in which the birth order of the three prior children to Edward is specified.

Several problems arise - all involvng the last two children (born after 1900).

  1. How to resolve the 6/5 report in 1900 and the 6/6 report in 1910 with the actual births found - and NOT found.
  2. Which of the two born after 1900 ended up being called Louis in all the records?
  3. What happened to the other child?

Who Died?

I process a lot of genealogy data on any given day, and I probably have not given enough attention to this issue until today. There are several complicating factors, such as two children named John (initially), the reports in 1900 and 1910 on numbers of children, and the confusion regarding "Louis". It is not uncommon for a report to omit dead children - I see it often. So the 6/6 on 1910 could just be focus on the living 6. However, the only report of a dead child was in 1900, and I can account for all 5 living children in 1900. Having one of the two children born after 1900 die does not explain either report, unless there were 2 dead children and correct reports would have been 6/5 and 8/6.

Who Became Louis?

I will withhold one key piece of data to build suspense, but here are the rest of the things we know about the two children born after 1900:
  1. In 1905 the 6th child is called Leo and is 3 years old (consistent with a FEB 1902 birth).
  2. In 1910 the youngest child is called Louis and is 8 years old (also consistent with a 1902 birth).
  3. After 1910, there is only Louis and age is consistently consistent with a 1902 birth.
  4. Both Luly and Leo Alex were born on FEB 07 according to their birth records - Luly in 1902 and Leo in 1901.
  5. On SS and Find-a-Grave death reports, the birthday of Louis is given as 1902FEB07.
It seems clear to me that after 1910 there was only one child and that child became Louis. If there was a second child, that child died very young (before the 1905 census).

TaDa!

Now let me introduce a clue I just noticed today. Look at the book and page numbers where the birth records are recorded in Milwaukee:
  • 108-205: Frank 1888 OCT 25
  • 143-99: Veronica 1891 JAN 06
  • 228-77: Addy (later Edward) 1895 NOV 16
  • 292-001: John (later Alex) 1899 JUL 28
  • 334-427: Luly 1902 FEB 07
  • 691-435: Leo Alex 1901 FEB 07

My Theory

I think that their was only one child born to Mary Filan after 1900, and that was Luly on 07 FEB 1902. I do not know who reported the birth, but it was not Joseph, for he had died in NOV 1901. I think Mary went back to change the name to Leo and it was recorded as a new birth and not a change. (She got the year wrong, so they would not find the prior record, and birth recording was not yet mandatory, so it was not unusual to have a delayed report of a birth.)

I will revisit the records on my next trip to Milwaukee to look for evidence that might support or refute this theory.

I will also look for another birth/death between Edward (1895) and John/Alex (1899). If there was another birth I think that is the likely time frame. All the births are almost mechanistically 2.5 years apart except for the 3.5 year gap between Edward and John/Alex.

Found 2018 APR 26

John F had a twin - Joseph - who apparently died before 1900 census.