Paul,
Reading the top of the image of this 1860 census page, the column says
"color" and specifies, "white, black, or mulatto."
In most cases, it seems the enumerators left it blank if the answer was
"white."
Anyway, there's a separate column for "Place of birth naming the State,
Territory or Country."
In this particular case, they're all enumerated as "born NC," although
this is one of those cases I don't really trust, because "NC" was
entered in the first slot on the page, and there are ditto marks the
entire length of the page, indicating every single person was born in
NC....and I think possibly they weren't. ;-)
But given all that, I don't really think the "F" in the "color"
column
is for foreign-born, although it certainly *could* be. The surnames
involved are "Dollerhide" and "Evans." They are whole families - looks
like grandparents, parents and children.....ages ranging from 82 to 1.
We're talking 1860 here....just before the outbreak of the Great
Rebellion. So I'm leaning towards this being a designation for a "free"
person, presumably of color - but I'm hoping somebody knows more about
this, cause I honestly don't know.
-Sandy
On Tuesday, December 3, 2002, at 11:18 PM, Paul Buckley wrote:
Sandy,
Not absolutely sure about this but I think the 1860 census legend for
"color" had an "F" for "Foriegn Born"...but the 1870 color
column had
White,
Black, Mulatto, Chinese, and Indian. I swear that our ancestors
deliberately did stuff to confuse us!
Regards,
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: Sandy <teylu(a)earthlink.net>
To: <NCGENWEB-DISCUSS-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 11:30 PM
Subject: [NCGENWEB-DISCUSS] "F" designation 1860 census?
>
> On the 1860 census, under the column for marking race, normally the
> designations are B or M or Mu......
> has anyone else run across the letter "F" in that column, and if so,
> what do you suppose that means? Could it be the designation for
> "Free" .... as in a free black person?
>
> I'm finding this designation in a Forsyth Co NC census - in the Old
> Richmond District.
> There's nothing but the "F" - it doesn't tell if "B" or
"Mu" or
> anything
> else. Just "F."
>
> Thanks for any insight,
> Sandy
>