I have received the following email from Lori Ammerman clarifying what
exactly the Brand book is and some errors found on the 1850 Jennings
census (Lori is the one who gave me the 1850 info to put on the page).
Terry
From Lori (I had asked if the Brand book was for horses):
Yes. But it's not just for horses, it was for any livestock,
there is
even at least one goose brand registered. During the early
settlement
times, livestock were not confined to pens or by fences much.
And at
times they would stray even when they were penned. And then
there was the
need to identify should they be stolen. So the farmer
registered his
"brand" which consisted of a special way the animal's ear was
notched/clipped/cropped or in the goose's case the way the
webbing on the
feet were marked. You didn't have to be a real estate owner to
register
your brand, so for some who were renters, this might be the
only way to
put your family in the area during this early settlement time.
Not every
county calls this their brand book. I've seen a couple that are
listed as
"Estray" books.
I have a disc to leave at the library that will correct the
Columbia
Township 1850 census information. I have no idea how the mix up
occurred.
It looks like when I sorted the names that it didn't keep the
name with
its other information. It appears that the other townships are
OK, but
Columbia is really messed up. I went back and took my first
copy and
checked it against the microfilm. My original work was correct,
somehow
the sorting was botched. So this second try should be good.
Please add my
apology for the mix up in the first attempt.