trevort55It’s quite possible that “LC” stands for “Language of the country.” Despite the explicit instruction against this term in the enumerator guidelines, it appears frequently in the census. According to instruction 144, Column 20, which addresses the mother tongue of a person, the question “What is your mother tongue or native language?” should be asked of everyone born in a foreign country. The term “mother tongue” refers to the language spoken habitually before arriving in the United States.
Enumerators were instructed not to abbreviate the language name. This question was not applicable to individuals born in the United States or its territories. Instruction 145 emphasizes that the specific name of the mother tongue must be recorded even if it is the same as the language of the country of birth.
For example, if a person was born in England and speaks English, the enumerator should record “English”; similarly, if born in France and speaks French, “French” should be noted. This detail is crucial for distinguishing between individuals from the same country who may speak different native languages.