Corsicana Daily Sun, Corsicana, Texas
November 3, 2007
Other corn producers on the 1860 agricultural census

By Bill Young

I recently have been reading an archeological report which was written by 
archeologists associated with Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa. This report 
deals with the archeology in the area where the Superconducting Super
Collider was going to be built. It is a huge publication numbering nearly 
1,000 pages and only dealt with the preliminary survey and testing of 
archeology sites in and around the oblong ring where the collider was
planned. The archeology survey was originally started by archeologists 
connected with the Archeological Research Program at Southern Methodist 
University but when Dr. J.M. Adovasio with Mercyhurst College in Pennsylvania 
took over the Archeological Research Program at SMU, all projects underway 
and not completed were switched over to the Mercyhurst College. Shortly 
afterward the contract archeology program at SMU was discontinued which 
effectively put SMU out of the business of bidding and working on contract
archeology such as lakes, pip lines, etc. SMU still has a anthropology 
department and archeology is still being taught at the university but all of 
the professors at SMU are working on projects usually funded through grants. 
A lot, but not all of the professors, are working on projects in other 
countries.

In the archeological report on the super collider, the archeologists did a 
lot of informal interviews with people who had lived in the Ellis County area
for many years. Some were descendants of part of the original settlers who 
migrated to Ellis County in the 1850s. In one paragraph I found where someone 
stated the price of wheat in the middle 1850s was $1 per bushel and the price
of corn was $1.50 per bushel. I don’t know if this price was the same here in
Navarro County, but I would assume it was either the same or very near to the
Ellis County market. By using the figure of $1.50 per bushel for corn and 
multiplying this amount by the number of bushels of corn I listed last week 
in the Rural Shade area in 1860, a total of 22,711 bushels, the overall 
dollar amount is slightly over $36,000. To me this represents a lot of money
produced by one single crop. Then if we take the total amount of corn listed
on the 1860 census which was 170,713 bushels, the dollar amount for that 
year’s production is $256,070 which is slightly over one-quarter of a million
dollars. In anybody’s book, corn was a very valuable product produced by our
local farmers.

Some of the other corn producers listed on the 1860 agricultural census were
Alexander Younger who lived near Silver City with 5,500 bushels and Henry
Jones of Corbet with 4,000 bushels. Next on the list is Thomas R. Kellum of
Kelm with 3,000 bushels followed by nine people who told the census taker 
they had produced 2,000 bushels each. These men were Augustus Barry, Samuel 
Parmley, James T. Persons of Wadeville, J. W. Abbey, Robert Hodge of 
Chatfield, Mat Finch, and F.M. Martin, also from Wadeville, James Dunn from 
the Eureka area and Joseph Burleson who had a plantation in the Birdston 
area. Only one individual, William Davidson, who lived northeast of Eureka, 
stated he had produced 1,800 bushels of corn.

Four people were tied at 1,500 bushels each. They were L.C. Lockart, William
A. Lockhart (note the different spelling of the last name of these two men,
I do not know if they were related), Elijah Jeffers from the Brown’s Valley 
area, and J.L. McConico who was the neighbor of James Dunn. Next on the list
by was James C. Jones, who produced 1,400 bushels. Mr. Jones lived next door
to the north of James Dunn while Mr. McConico lived to the south. Both Jones
and McConico acquired some of their land from James Dunn when they moved into 
the Eureka area. Three other individuals were tied at 1,200 bushels each. 
They were B.F. Carroll from the area south of Blooming Grove, Solomon B. Van
Hook and David W. Sherell. Next on the list were eight individuals tied at 
an even 1,000 bushels of corn. Richard Rushing from the southern end of 
Pisgah Ridge, James Page, C.W. Richardson from the western side of Corsicana,
Joseph Clayton, F.B. Hunt, Michael Welch and Ethan Melton, both from the 
Dresden (Melton) area, and another Lockart by the name of Charles J.C. 
Lockart.

William Richie, who lived north of the present day town of Dawson, was the 
only farmer who stated he had grown 900 bushels, but there were nine people 
who said they had produced 800 bushels each. W.B. Stokes, Sam Hamilton, B.D.
McKie and Zachariah Westbrook were the first four followed by Dr. George
Washington Hill from Spring Hill, William H. Garner, a neighbor of Dr. Hill,
Jesse Green from the Blooming Grove area, Thomas Smith from the Grape Creek 
area and P.F. Winn.

I used 700 bushels as the cut-off point for the producers of Indian Corn. 
However, this list could go on and on as Indian Corn was a tremendously 
popular crop, by far the number one crop grown in 1860. Cotton was starting 
to show gains but it still was in its infancy compared to corn. I listed
eight individuals who stated they had produced 700 bushels each. Rebecca
Clark, the first woman on the corn produced list, Samuel Wright, Britton
Dawson, R.H. Matthews, W.F. Craig, Silas Baker, J.R. Patton and Jesse 
Beasley. One thing which has become readily apparent is the fact a number of 
these farmers’ names keep appearing somewhere near the top of many of the 
categories. Obviously they were successful as farmers and I would assume they
worked exceptionally hard to produce valuable commodities year after year.