Introduction


 In 1850, the President of the United States was Zachary Taylor, the Vice President was Millard
 Filmore.  A first class postage stamp could be purchased for 5 cents, a New York Theater
 ticket for 55 cents.  Wheat was selling at $1.08 per bushel and corn for 58 cents per bushel.
 An overseas passage fare could be purchased for $55.00.  "Camptown Races" was the most popular
 song.
 
  "The Dexter Settlement" as Ionia was first known, was settled in the early 1830's.  By 1840
  the County had been divided into six townships with nine post offices, and a white population
  of approximately 2,500.  In the late 1840's and early 1850's the fur trade was replaced with
  the lumbering trade.  Lumber saw mills were found all along the Grand and Flat Rivers.  There
  was actually more money made from Michigan White Pine than there was in the California Gold
  Rush!
 
The 1850 Federal Census for Ionia County Michigan was taken during the months of August and
September of 1850.  Imagine if you will, traversing the county on horse back or by carriage to
visit each and every household in the county. One must believe that the job of taking this
census must have been a very tedious one.  This census includes 7,597 individuals from 859
families, living in 836 dwellings.   The Ionia County census was enumerated by two young men
from the county.   William W. Bogue was one of the individuals that enumerated this census.
Mr. Bogue is found in this census as living in the city of Portland.  He was a 23 year old
Merchant from New York.  J. M. Babcock, the other enumerator for this census, is found living
in the township of Berlin as a 30 year old farmer from New York.  While Mr. Bogue had much
better penmanship than Mr. Babcock did, an unknown individual recopied portions of the work
done by Mr. Babcock in order to separate Montcalm County from Ionia County.  Thus, there were
at least 3 different distinct handwriting styles to decipher in this record.

One may assume that most of the information given on the census returns is accurate.  However,
the census takers were not the best spellers and many had very poor penmanship.  Census takers
were supposed to go door-to-door, so you will find neighbors listed sequentially on the
returns.  Occasionally, when a family was not home, the information was obtained from a
neighbor.  Thus, you may find some inaccuracies in the returns.  In addition, studies have
shown that men nearly always aged more than the 10 years between census.  Were they attempting
to get beyond the age of eligibility for military service?  Women on the other hand, rarely
aged the ten years!  The 1850 census was the first federal census to list each and every
person residing in the household.  Until this time, the census returns were statistical in
nature and listed only the number of individuals that fit into the categories required by the
census.
 
Many thanks to the following individuals that assisted me by proof reading this transcription:
Pat Billings, Hope Farris, Kathy Laux, Sandra Page, Marie Sweet, Lori Fox, Kay Diers and
Elizabeth Stockman.

Good luck in your family research.  I hope that you find this transcription to be helpful.

Beth Erskine Wills Beth's Genealogy Research and Consulting 91 Flowers Court Ionia, Michigan
48846

Email:  bwills@ionia-mi.net Web page:  http://www.ionia-mi.net/~bwills