On ship manifest when they mark occupations, or child or wife...why?

Question:Would a 12 year old girl be marked none?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Would a 12 year old girl be marked none?

On many manifests "child" relates to the individual being the child of the immediately preceding adult/s on the list. If she travelled without her parents, she would not be the child of anyone on the list, so simply be listed as having no occupation.

Probably wasn't employed at that age.

If all of the other 12-year olds on the manifest were marked "Child", and this particular one was maked "None", there is a chance the one you are looking at is a mistake; either she is 14/16/18 and the 4/6/8 looks like a "2", or she is 22 and the "1" looks like a "2", or the ship's clerk had written "None" too often and did it for her by mistake, or something else.

You'll probably never know. There are exact and accurate answers over in "Mathematics". We don't always have them here in Genealogy. Look at the other entries (anyone from 10 - 14 would do to compare, if there aren't many 12s) and take your best guess based on the evidence.