1850 Federal Census Bond County, Illinois (Introduction Notes) This Census was transcribed by Ron Johnson and proofread by Sharon W McNeeley for the USGenWeb Census Project, http://www.usgwcensus.org/. Copyright 2002 by Ron Johnson ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES PROJECT NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ ************************************************************************ NOTE: For more information on Bond County, Illinois, Please visit the Bond County, ILGenWeb page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilbond/ ************************************************************************ Formatted by Maggie Stewart May 2002 ************************************************************************ There are several comments that need to be made concerning this census and our transcription of it. OUR GOAL To begin with, it should be said that the goal of this transcription is solely to provide the most accurate transcription of the original census data, as it was written by the enumerator. It is not our purpose to "correct" the census, nor is it our purpose to "interpret" the data. Therefore, if a name was mis- spelled by the enumerator, it is mis-spelled here. If a male was recorded as a female, then he is a "female" here, as well. In some cases, a note has been appended to the individual's data. This was not to "correct" the data, but to show that the we did not make a typographical error in the transcription. (After all, there was no law that said a female child could not be named "Samuel", or that a male could not be named "Mary", although it would be very unusual, to say the least.) CENSUS IMAGES USED The original census pages were recorded on microfilm reel number M432-98, issued by the National Archives. The transcriber worked primarily from the "Images On Line" available at Ancestry.com, with occasional reference to a CD of scanned images obtained from Heritage Quest. For some fainter pages, photocopies from microfilm at the library were also consulted. The proofreader also worked primarily from the "Images On Line", with occasional use of a CD of scanned images obtained from Family Tree Maker. PROBLEMS IN READING THE ORIGINAL CENSUS Due to problems with reading the handwriting, or because the ink had been smudged, or many other reasons, occasionally the transcriber and proofreader were unable to determine the exact reading. In these instances, notes were added to the individual's data, indicating alternate readings or why a reading was not possible. Although the enumerator was named as "P Bond, Ass't Marshall" on every page, the handwriting changed drastically several times, indicating more than one person was involved in the actual recording of the data. Some were easier to read than others, but each style of handwriting presented its own difficulties. Some of the more common problems are mentioned here. Common problems occurred in differentiating between similar letters. "O" and "C" are virually identical, as are "S" and "L" in many cases. "J" and "I" were also virtually identical. The enumerator was not consistent in dotting his "i"s, so occasionally there was some question between "e" and "i". The numerals "3" and "5" were often quite similar, especially if the top part had faded out. In some cases, "4" and "11" were quite similar, in others "4" and "6", and yet in others "4" and "9". When the data was illegible, an "*" was used to convey the illegible letter. Hence you may see something like "Johns*n" or "Washb***". In all instances, we have given the best reading we could determine, and if there was a serious question about the reading, that is indicated in the remarks for the affected individual. We would like to stress the importance of resorting to the original census, available on microfilm at many large public libraries and at LDS Family History Centers. Although we strived to be as accurate as possible, if there is any question about the data, please check it against the microfilm. PAGE NUMBERING The original completed census pages were bound together in book form, with two pages facing each other. A number was stamped on the top right hand corner of the right hand page. The next right-hand page received the next number. The result was that every other page was numbered. In this transcription, the instructions from the GenWeb project were to consider the pair of facing pages as a "sheet", with the stamped number on the right-hand side. The first page of the sheet, on the left, was considered the "a" sheet. The second page, on the right, that actually contained the stamped number, was considered the "b" page. This is the system that was used in this transcription, and in the surname index that we created from it. However, this system differs from that used by many, if not most, researchers and indexers. In the other system, the page with the stamped number is considered the "a" page, and the next page was considered the "b" page. Most indexes use this system. (A third, older, system, counted the stamped page by just it's number, and the next page as the "R" side, hence page 390 followed by 390R.) Therefore, if you find a person listed in an index on page 376a, but don't find him on 376a in this transcription, he is probably on 376b. Likewise, someone indexed as being on 385b, may be on 386a here. This transcriber and proofreader deeply regret any confusion this may cause researchers. Very simply, if you check an outside index for a person and can't find him on the same page number here, check the next page. You will probably find him there. In any event, the dwelling and family numbers will be the same no matter what the page number. There was also a second, hand-written number at the top right hand corner of many pages. Although not every page had this number, they were consecutive. I.E.: Page 777, skip, 779, skip, skip, 782. These numbers, whether actually written or skipped, are included in the reference line at the top of each page. DWELLING AND FAMILY NUMBERS The enumerator assigned consecutive dwelling numbers to each house as he visited them. If more than one family lived in a building, each family received its own family number. In Bond County, the enumerator wrote the dwelling and family number in only for the head of household, but those numbers applied to all individuals within that dwelling and family. Therefore, in this transcription, each individual has the appropriate dwelling and family number included with his/her data. It must be noted that the enumerator made some obvious errors when numbering the dwellings and families. This usually occurred when continuing to the next page. On some occasions, he completely skipped a number. One instance of this is that he skips from dwelling/family 68/68 to 70/70, without a 69. In these instances, the transcription uses the numbers exactly as written. The other type of error is when he used duplicate numbers for different families. 117/117, for instance, was used twice. In the transcription, the numbers were used as written but to avoid confusion, the letter "a" was added by the transcriber to the dwelling & family numbers of the second family, to differentiate between the two families. A complete list of these errors follows: 68/68 skips to 70/70. There was no family numbered 69/69 117/117 was used twice. The second is transcribed as 117a/117a 178/178 was used twice. The second is transcribed as 178a/178a 234/235 skips to 236/237. There was no family numbered 235/236 244/245 was used twice. The second is transcribed as 244a/245a 258/259 was used twice. The second is transcribed as 258a/258a. 287/288 skips to 289/290. There was no family numbered 288/289. 296/297 was used twice. The second is transcribed as 296a/297a. 309/310 skips to 311/312. There was no family numbered 310/311. 476/486 skips to 478/488. There was no family numbered 477/487. 542/554 was used twice. The second is transcribed as 542a/554a. 675/691 & 676/691a: Enumerator changed dwelling# but used same family#. 681/696 was used twice. The second is transcribed as 681a/696a. 682/697 was used twice. The second is transcribed as 682a/697a. 699/715 was used twice. The second is transcribed as 699a/715a. 812/829 is followed by 813/829 then 814/831. 813/829 transcr as 813/829a Yet a third apparent error occurred a few times when the enumerator wrote the dwelling and family numbers on the wrong line. When this occurred, he usually placed the numbers on the line just before the head of household, or just after, instead of directly next to the head. This caused some bizarre readings, making the youngest child of one family the "head of household" of the next family, with a different surname. Or the husband would appear to be living with the previous family, while his wife is listed as head of house, with the children. Because the goal of the transcription is to present an accurate transcription of the data, as written by the enumerator, and not a "correction" of the census, we have transcribed exactly as written. A note is made in the remarks for the appropriate individuals who were apparently "mis-numbered" in this fashion. SPELLING OF NAMES We have transcribed the names exactly as written by the enumerator, even if a mis-spelling was obvious. Abbreviations were left in place, and were not "expanded". "Wm" was transcribed as "Wm", not as "William", for example. Occasionally a surname is spelled differently even within the same family. The enumerator usually only wrote the surname once, and then used ditto marks for the rest of the family members. However, if the family carried over to the next page, he wrote the surname again on the first line. And in so doing, occasionally the spelling changed. One example of this is in family number 430, found on pages 389a and 389b. On page 389a line 38, the surname was written as "McReakin", and ditto marks were used for the rest of the page. But when the last child's name was written on the first line of the next page (389b), the surname was spelled "McCracken". In the few instances where this occurred, we have added a remark to the individual data of both persons, indicating the alternate spelling within the same family. The transcription itself carries the spelling exactly as written on the page. Titles such as "Jr." or "Sr." were typed at the end of the first name, not the surname, in accordance with directions of the Census Project. Finally, in the case of twins, the enumerator placed a vertical "squiggle" joining the two lines together, and wrote "twins" crosswise. Rather than type "twin" into the name itself, we placed a note in the remarks for each of the twins. NOTES ABOUT THE VARIOUS COLUMNS OF DATA 1] LINE NO. -- The original census page had 42 lines. Occasionally, a line was left blank. If this happened, a note was made to indicate the blank line. A few times 2 lines of data were written on the same line on the page. In this case, we transcribed as line 17a and 17b, in order to keep the transcribed line numbers the same as printed line numbers. And also occasionally, the enumerator added an extra line or two at the bottom of a page. These appear here as "line 43", etc. 2] DWELLING NO. & FAMILY NO. -- See notes above on numbering of families. 3] LAST NAME & FIRST NAME -- self explanatory. If a name was missing, we inserted "[blank]". If an entire name was illegible, we recorded "[illegible]". If a letter or two was illegible, we used a "*" in its place. There were a few instances where the enumerator wrote "infant not named" or something similar. These we transcribed as written. One thing to note about surnames. As mentioned, the enumerator almost always used ditto marks to indicate the surname, having written it once, and normally only wrote it again if the family carried over to the next page. However, on occasion he wrote out the surname again in the same family on the same page. This seems to indicate that the individual may not have been a member of the immediate family. Because the transcription software uses the full name rather than ditto marks, we indicated these cases in the remarks. 4] AGE -- mostly self-explanatory. For infants under one year, the enumerator usually put the age as "7/12" indicating "7 months". In a few cases, he used "7/365" indicating 7 days. In a few instances, he used "7/30", and we still haven't figured out what that meant. In any event, we transcribed exactly as written. Occasionally, the age was left completely blank. When this occurred, we put "[blank]" in this column, to show that the age was blank and that we didn't just forget to type it in. 5] SEX -- self-explanatory. Occasionally this was left blank or was illegible. In these cases a note was made in the Remarks column. (The transcription software would not allow "[blank]" to be put into the data itself here.) For apparent errors in recording the gender, see above under "Our Goal". One thing to note here is that occasionally the gender was circled by the enumerator. This only seemed to occur in the case of individuals born in another country. But this was not done for every case of foreign-born individuals. 6] COLOR -- in 1850, the enumerator had the choice of W(hite), B(lack), and M(ulatto). In this county, the enumerator invariably left the column blank in the case of white individuals, and only marking those who were Black or Mulatto. We transcribed as written. 7] OCCUPATION -- self-explanatory. The enumerator was only required to list the occupation of all males over the age of 15. He occasionally also listed a female's occupation, especially if she was the head of a household. We have transcribed as written. 8] REAL ESTATE -- the dollar value of real estate owned by the individual. There were some obvious errors, when a child or even an infant was shown as possessing hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of real estate. The real estate probably belonged to the head of houselhold, or to the head of the next household, and was simply written on the wrong line. However, we have transcribed as written. 9] BIRTHPLACE -- there was little rhyme or reason to the way this information was recorded. Sometimes a state name was spelled out, sometimes abbreviated. And the abbreviatons were not consistent. So "Illinois" could be recorded as "Illinois", "Ill", or "Ills". "North Carolina" may show as "North Carolina", "NC", "N Car", "North Car", etc., apparently depending on the mood of the enumerator. A few times it was recorded as "Unknown". And a few times it was left blank. We used "[blank]" to indicate these occurences, to show that we didn't just forget to type it in. In every instance, with one exception, we recorded exactly as written. That exception is in the case of "Ill" or "Ills" as abbreviations for "Illinois". Because some browers are configured to display text in fonts such as Arial, where it is difficult to distinguish between an "l" (lower-case "L") and an upper-case "I", we have typed these abbreviations as "ILL" or "ILLS" to avoid confusion. One thing to note: The enumerator always placed a check mark next to the Birthplace of individuals born in a state other than Illinois 10] MARRIED -- if the individual had been married within the year, this was checked. (Strangely, almost always only the husband was checked. We can only assume that it means he and the wife were married to each other but her line was not checked.) A few times, a numeral such as 2 or 3 was used instead of a check mark. Because of software limitations, the box shows as checked, and a corresponding note was put in the "Remarks" column. 11] ATTENDED SCHOOL -- if the person attended school within the year, this box was checked. 12] READ/WRITE -- this box was checked in the case of an individual who was age 20 or more and could not read and/or write. 13] DEAF -- the enumerator was required to indicate if the individual was blind, deaf, dumb, insane, idiotic, a pauper, or a convict. Software limitations allowed only a checkmark in the box, and a corresponding note placed in the "Remarks" field.