52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 34

Non-population is this week’s writing prompt, which is probably confusing if you are not involved in genealogy. Most people in the United States are aware of census records, in which the federal government attempts to locate all the people living in this country at a given point in time. Less familiar are the non-population schedules, which were used to identify and quantify resources and needs. Agriculture, mortality, and social statistics schedules were taken in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. Manufacturing/industrial schedules were taken in 1820, 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. And the delinquent, defective, and dependent schedule was a supplemental schedule taken only in 1880. These schedules are helpful to genealogists not only because some of them contain names not found on any other records, but also because they add additional information about our ancestors and the communities in which they lived.

Agricultural Schedules recorded statistics on farms, plantations and market gardens, listing the names of owners, agents and managers. The type of statistics recorded included the total acreage of land, the value of the farm, machinery and livestock, amount of staples (wool, cotton, grain, etc.) produced, and the value of animals slaughtered, etc.

Mortality Schedules included anyone who died in the year prior to the record being taken. In addition to the name, also listed were the age, sex, marital status, state or country of birth, month of death, occupation, cause of death, and the length of the final illness.

Social Statistics Schedules contained information about cemeteries listed within the city boundaries, trade societies, churches, and a list of schools, colleges, libraries, and newspapers, among other things.

Manufacturing/Industrial Schedules identified any manufacturing, mining, fishing, mercantile, and trading businesses which had an annual gross product of $500 or more.

On the 1880 census, if a person was noted as blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, insane, or maimed, crippled, bedridden, or otherwise disabled, or was enumerated in a prison, orphanage or poorhouse, a supplemental schedule called the Dependent, Defective and Delinquent Classes was included. The schedule included different forms to enumerate the following classes of individuals:

blind
deaf and dumb
idiotic
insane
homeless children (in institutions)
inhabitants in prison
pauper and indigent inhabitants (in institutions)

To date I have only located a non-population schedule for one of my ancestors - Samuel Moorhead. To be honest, I really hadn’t taken any time to study the schedule until this writing prompt came along. Samuel is my paternal 4th great-grandfather, and he was born about 1799 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. This county is located east of Pittsburgh. At some point before 1826, Samuel moved from Pennsylvania to Cincinnati, where he married Elizabeth Carnes. Together they had seven children.

1855 Cincinnati map

The Industrial Schedule for the 8th Ward of Cincinnati was taken 1 June 1850. It showed that Samuel Moorhead had a business making bricks, with a capital investment in real and personal estate of $300. Samuel listed that he used wood and clay in the process of making the bricks, placing a value of $450 on the wood and $125 on the clay. He had 5 employees making bricks by hand and horse power. His average monthly cost for labor was $135. Annually they made 500,000 bricks, which were valued at $2,000. In the 8th Ward alone there were 41 brick makers shown on the schedule!

In the 1850 census, which was enumerated on 23 July 1850, Samuel and Elizabeth were living in the 8th Ward of Cincinnati with their children Josiah, John, Samuel, Elizabeth, Angeline, William, and Oliver. Samuel was employed as a brick maker, as were sons John and Samuel. That accounts for 3 of the 5 employees Samuel listed on the Industrial Schedule.

The 1860 census shows the family living in the 16th Ward in Cincinnati, with the two youngest children still at home. Though he was in his 60s, Samuel was still employed but now he worked as a moulder (someone who makes moulds for casting). The value of his real estate was listed as $800. By the 1870 census, Samuel was a widow as Elizabeth had died 6 August 1866. He was living with his daughter Angeline and her family in 1870 on a farm in Union Township, which is located in Highland County, Ohio about 70 miles northeast of Cincinnati. When he died on 30 January 1879, his body was brought back to Cincinnati for burial in Spring Grove Cemetery next to his wife.

While the normal census records would have let me know that my 4th great-grandfather was a brick maker, without the non-population schedule of 1850 I would have had no idea that he had ever owned a brick making company. Hopefully I will come across more of these schedules so that I can gain a better understanding of my ancestor’s lives.

Family History Writing Challenge Day 7

In looking at whether or not George Hightower, Jr. could possibly be the father of Thompson, it helps to establish where George was living in relationship to Thompson. First, here is some background on George. He was born 31 March 1770 in Amelia County, Virginia to George Hightower, Sr. and Susannah (Thorn) Hightower. The Hightower and Thorn families are well-documented as they are both early settlers in what would later become the State of Virginia. These families came from England and settled in an area that was not yet the United States.

There are records for a Joshua Hightower in North Farnham Parish, in the late 1600s. North Farnham Parish was located in the general area of what would become Richmond in 1737. The Parish records date back to 1663, and it is in those records that the Hightower, Thorn and other related families are listed.

George Hightower, Sr. and his wife Susannah sold their land in Amelia County in 1771, and in 1776 purchased 715 acres of land adjacent to Hightower relatives in Lunenburg County. By 1787 they sold this property and moved to Campbell County, Virginia. Susannah died there in 1797.

It was in Campbell County that George Hightower, Jr. married Frances Ann Hall on 3 February 1796. Their daughter Mary Polly b. 1797 and son Austin b. 1799 were born in this location. Mary Polly’s marriage record lists George Hightower as her father. Austin is buried in the same pioneer cemetery in Ursa, Illinois as George and Frances, so he is most likely their son.

By 1800 both George Sr. and George Jr. are listed in the tax records in Jessamine County, Kentucky. Jessamine County was formed in 1799 from Fayette County, one of the three original counties founded by Virginia on 30 June 1780. (The other two were Jefferson and Lincoln.) The State of Kentucky separated from Virginia in 1792. It is possible that the men did not move but it was simply that their county name was changed.

By the 1810 census, George Jr. was in Campbell County, Kentucky. This record indicates there were 3 males under the age of 10, 4 females under the age of 10, and 1 female aged 10 thru 15 in addition to the adult male and female in the house. Mary Polly would have been about 13 in 1810, and Austin would have been about 11. Who are the other children?

The 1820 census shows George Hightower, Jr. in Covington, Campbell County, Kentucky. It also lists 2 males under age 10, 3 males ages 10-15, 1 male 45 and over, 1 female under 10, 3 females 10-15, 1 female 16-25 and 1 female 45 and over. It is possible that their daughter Mary Polly and her children were living with them. She was married in 1815 and since her first husband died young, she could be the 1 female 16-25 who appears here. Austin did not marry until 1823, so you would think that he would show up as a male 16-25.

By 1830 George and Frances were living in Adams County, Illinois. The census for that year indicates a male 15-19, a female 15-19, and a female 20-29 in addition to George and Frances. It would be very interesting to know what brought them to the small community of Ursa. Their daughter Mary Polly and her second husband did not move to Ursa until about 1850, and their son Austin moved there with his family around 1840.

Many Hightower family trees online list these additional children with George and Frances as the parents: Rolla b. 1802 in Kentucky, Richard b. 1812 in Kentucky, Archibald b. 1814 in Kentucky, and of course Thompson b. 1815 in Kentucky. I have found no proof of parentage on any of these boys. I do know, however, that they all lived in Campbell County (which became Kenton County).

Any of the older teens or young adults on the George Hightower, Jr.’s census records could be boarders, servants or laborers, of course. Since these early census records that do not list names of people in the household, they are of somewhat limited use.

But what the records do indicate is that George and Frances Hightower were living in Campbell County at the time of Thompson’s birth around 1815. Thompson could be one of the males under the age of 10 in their 1820 census, and he could be the 15-19 year old male in their 1830 census from Adams County, Illinois.

But is he?