Your comment (below) reminded me...and made me think to ask folks
here...if anyone knows about the physical height notations on the Ellis
Island immigrant ship manifest records?  Specifically, how were these
hts calculated?  
I was wondering if a wall chart - like one sees on the inside of doors
at convenience stores like 7-11 (to be able to quickly judge the ht of a
criminal leaving the premises) - were used?  Or, if the individuals told
their ht? Or...??  Was there perhaps a conversion problem?  
I noticed that many of my male Basque relatives - who came over to
America as adults - are noted as being 'only' 5' 7" - 5' 9" tall...yet
they were taller than that (5'10 to 6').  At least I know my grandfather
was, and my mom says her uncles were around the same ht.  So...how did
they all get noted as being much shorter???

Any ideas, knowledge, insight, speculation, etc.?   

Carol Serr
San Diego

>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
>Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 3:59 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: important genealogical database comes online
>
>...  The Civil War entries are providing 
>some service information like personal physical description, 
>