Corsicana Daily Sun, Corsicana, Texas
February 23, 2008
The value of the animals slaughtered in 1860

By Bill Young

This is the last category listed on the 1860 agricultural census and it is a 
strange category due to the fact each farmer was required to value what 
animals he slaughtered regardless of whether his family consumed the meat or
he sold it to others. My wife Bobbie Jean said she thought she had read 
somewhere about the fact farmers were still taxed for the animals they 
slaughtered and how upset the farmers were in having to declare this.

The overall dollar factor on the 1860 census for animals slaughtered is a 
fairly sizable sum of $58,558. I went back and checked my article pertaining 
to the value of animals slaughtered on the 1850 census but for some reason I 
left out the total amount so I cannot make a comparison between the two 
censuses. However, I did write about the number of people in 1850 who 
reported they had slaughtered animals and they were only 11 people out of the
total of 186 farmers who failed to report any value. When the 1860 census was
done, the number of people reporting slaughtered animals was 366 out of a 
grand total of 512. This means about 71 percent of the farmers slaughtered 
some of their animals. Obviously this is another good indicator of the fact 
the population was starting to diversify from almost an entire farmer 
population to a mixed number of residents who performed other necessary tasks
such as merchants, lawyers, doctors and blacksmiths. The county was growing 
significantly as more and more settlers moved into the area.

Dollar wise, several individuals slaughtered a number of animals. At the top
of the list was one of the Ingram brothers, Anderson, with a total dollar 
value of $2,270. Next on the list was J.B. Sessions whose farm was north of 
present day Rice, with a dollar value of an even $2,000 followed by Augustus 
Barry with $1,500. The next highest person on the list was William M. Love 
with a dollar value of $1,200 for his slaughtered animals. These four men are 
the only farmers who made the list with $1,000 or more.

The other three Ingram brothers were next on the list. Washington Ingram with
$921 followed by one of his brothers, Hugh, with $800 and finally Richard 
with $754. With all of the land the Ingrams owned together and the huge 
number of slaves, they were capable of raising a lot of animals or crops.
William Owens who resided in the Pursley area was next on the list with $735 
followed by two men tied at $710 each. They were Joseph Burleson, another 
plantation owner from the Birdston area, and Thomas Bennett, a nearby 
neighbor of the Burleson family who had land in the Winkler area, part in
Navarro County and the rest in Freestone County. Robert McCarter from the
Eureka area was next on the list with $700 followed by three people tied at 
$650 each. They were William Davidson also from the Eureka area, J.L. 
McConico, who also owned land southeast of Eureka and more land closer to 
Winkler on the south side of Richland Creek, and the third individual was
E.H. Root. Closely behind these three was Henry Jones who claimed to have 
slaughtered $630 worth of animals and James T. Persons with $610.

Next on the list was Robert Hodge from Chatfield who told the census taker he
had slaughtered $580 followed by Ethan Melton from Dresden with $575 and 
Britton Dawson and Jeremiah Cobb with $530. The sum of $500 must have been
appealing to several of the farmers for the value of their slaughtered 
animals because seven farmers reported this sum. They were J.W. Abbey, John
Hunter, Dr. George Washington Hill, F.M. Martin, Joseph Clayton, James 
Wilson and M.H. Bird. Mr. Bird is another person who resided in the Eureka 
area. Jacob M. Eliot was next with $450 followed by Ira Taylor with an odd
number of $417. Two men, A.C. McMillan and L. D. Powell, were tied at an
even $400. Two more were tied at $360 each. They were James Page and
Alexander Younger. Michael Welch from Dresden and Asa Chambers from Pisgah 
Ridge were tied at $350 each followed by John Gallemore from Rural Shade with
$330 and Jesse Roberts with $325.

Joseph L. Lawrence, whose land is partially under Lake Navarro Mills and the
remainder is on the south side of the lake, claimed to have slaughtered $320 
worth of animals followed by Mat Finch, William Westbrook, William A.
Lockhart and Robert Gregory with $300 each. Alexander Dunn and Thomas R. 
Kellum were next with $275 followed closely by W.J. Dabney with $270. Warren
Sidwell was next with $265 followed by two people tied at $260 each. They 
were Thomas O. Jones and R.A. Younger. Six individuals were tied at $250 
each. They were William H. Stone, John Stroder, Hugh M. Blankenship, Ed Peck,
T.W. Meador and Washington Clary. W.B. Crawford was the only farmer whose
value was placed at $240 while two men were tied at $235 each. They were 
Andrew J. Meazell from the Curry area and Jacob Hartzell from Dresden. John 
K. Young, one of my distant relatives, was next at $230 followed by three men 
tied at $225. They were J.E. Smith, Henry Fullerton and E. Drane.

Two more were tied at $220. They were J.D. Baker and John Loughridge. Martin
C. McCall, Zachariah Westbrook and A.M. Biars from the “ridge” were tied at
$210 each. Eight individuals were tied at an even $200 each. They were John
W. Townsend, James Tilford Caddell, J.C. Burrows, L. Burrow, J.G. Wray, John
A. Hays, David Cockrell and James C. Key. Next week we will take a look at 
some of the farmers who did not claim much value for their slaughtered 
animals.

Next week: The last of the 1860 agricultural census