Hope y'all are having a good holiday season.
Continuing with the discussion of the strange notations in the "color"
column of the 1860 census. I noticed on second look that the "F" for free
indeed corresponded to the bottom of the page tally...and not just in
Forsyth.
Now, I've run across another anomaly in the same column in the 1850 Gaston
county census that I hope y'all can help me with. Seems that there are a
number of dashes in the color column that I can't relate to anything, much
less the bottom of the page tally's.
I stumbled into this one because of trying to locate the ancestry of a woman
alternately listed as "black" and "mulatto" in later census records
and
eventually as "white" since she married "white".
Have any of you seen the "-" notation in the "color" column?
Regards,
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: Ron & Kathy <rkeason(a)comcast.net>
To: Paul Buckley <PaulDBuckley(a)worldnet.att.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 8:25 PM
Subject: Re: [NCGENWEB-DISCUSS] "F" designation 1860 census?
Hi Paul,
I have consulted with my counterpart,
Connie Burkett, and we are in agreement
that we are of the belief that it does in fact
denote the classification of "Free", as in
Negroes. This is a first that we have run
into this in any of the census transcriptions
but a closer look at the totals at the bottom
of the Forsyth census, "No. of colored males"
and "No. of colored females", does add up to
the number of "F's" shown in the census.
Could you please reply this to the list for Sandy.
Thanks,
Ron Eason
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Buckley" <PaulDBuckley(a)worldnet.att.net>
To: <NCGENWEB-DISCUSS-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 12:18 AM
Subject: Re: [NCGENWEB-DISCUSS] "F" designation 1860 census?
> 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
> >
>
>
>