LEWIS COUNTY, TN 1860 FEDERAL CENSUS http://ftp.us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/xtn/lewis/1860/ ==================================================================== TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: ==================================================================== Prepared by Donald Robbins Transcription aid by Betty Hawley Checked by D. K. Robbins February 4, 2008 Census Sheet's Format -------------------------------------------------------------------- Census Sheet Header Information -------------------------------------------------------------------- Each Census Sheet consists of 40 lines. The Header information contains a place for the Date of entry, Post Office, The County Name (Montgomery) and the name of the recorder of the information. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Census Sheet Detail information -------------------------------------------------------------------- Column 1 - Dwelling - houses numbered in the order of visitation Column 2 - Families, numbered in the order of visitation Column 3 - The name of every person whose usual place of abode on the first day of June, 1860 was in this family Column 4 - Age Column 5 - Sex Column 6 - Color, White, Black or Mulatto or Indian Column 7 - Profession, Occupation or Trade of each person, male and female, over 15 years of age Column 8 - Value of Real Estate Column 9 - Value of Personal Estate Column 10 - Place of Birth, Naming the State, Territory, or Country Column 11 - Married within the year Column 12 - Attended School within the year Column 13 - Person over 20 who could not read or write Column 14 - Whether deaf & dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper or convict In the interest of getting the information transcribed to an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, some adjustments were made in the format of the transcription. A new line was created, which contains the Page Number and Line Number of the Image file that the information was transcribed from. The Surname is in Caps, along with the date of the census page, the census district, the Post Office, and the information from Column 1 and Column 2. The information from Columns 11, 12, 13 was encoded following the Column 10 information, Place of Birth. The encoding is: M, for married within the year, S, for attending school within the year, and I, for illiterate for a check in Column 13 for persons over 20 who could not read or write. The information from Column 14 is added, as is, to the person's line. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The information from the microfilm for the 1860 Census for Lewis County consists of 53 pages. There were 356 Family Units in Lewis County ==================================== COUNTS ==================================== Number of White Males 1033 Number of White Females 1028 Number of Black Males 1 Number of Black Females 2 Number of Students 186 Number of Illiterates 64 Number of Married 10 in the last year ==================================== ENUMERATOR ==================================== The enumerator was Samuel A. Whiteside P001-31 ==================================== NOTES from the Transcribers ==================================== This is the smallest county we have done. It was a pleasure because of the very legible handwriting of the transcriber. There was a centarian listed: Anna Sims at 104 years. She is listed at P028-40 ==================================== ABBREVIATIONS: ==================================== If an occupation was dual, and one of the occupations was a Farmer, an asterisk was added. Clergy CP stands for Cumberland Presbyterian JP is Justice of the Peace ==================================== PLACES OF BIRTH ==================================== Tennessee 1881 North Carolina 153 South Carolina 26 Kentucky 11 Virginia 11 Pennsylvania 3 Georgia 3 Mississippi 1 Illinois 1 Canada 1 Ireland 1 ==================================== OCCUPATIONS ==================================== Alphabetically Black Smith 5 Brick Layer 2 clerk 3 Carpenter 3 Chair Maker 1 Clergy Bapt 1 Clergy CP 3 Clergy CP* 1 Clergy Meth 3 Cnty Crt Ckrk 1 Constable 1 Constable* 4 Cooper 1 County Clerk 1 Farmer idiot 1 Farmer 306 Grocer 2 Gun Smith 1 JP & Miller 2 JP * 1 JP* 6 Laborer 98 Machinist* 1 Manufacturer 6 Merchant 1 Mill Wright 1 Miller 4 Physician 1 Registrar 1 student 5 Sawyer 1 Seamstress 3 Sheriff 1 Shoe Maker & JP 1 Shoe Maker 5 Stone Mason 1 Tanner 1 Tar Maker 1 Teacher 2 Waggon Maker 5 ==================================== OCCUPATIONS ==================================== by frequency Farmer 306 Laborer 98 JP* 7 Manufacturer 6 Black Smith 5 student 5 Waggon Maker 5 Constable* 4 Shoe Maker 5 Miller 4 clerk 3 Carpenter 3 Clergy CP 3 Clergy Meth 3 Seamstress 3 Brick Layer 2 Grocer 2 JP & Miller 2 Teacher 2 Chair Maker 1 Clergy Bapt 1 Clergy CP* 1 Cnty Crt Ckrk 1 Constable 1 Cooper 1 County Clerk 1 Farmer idiot 1 Gun Smith 1 Machinist* 1 Merchant 1 Mill Wright 1 Physician 1 Registrar 1 Sawyer 1 Sheriff 1 Shoe Maker & JP 1 Stone Mason 1 Tanner 1 Tar Maker 1 ==================================== INFIRMITIES ==================================== idiot 1 insane 1 pauper 1 ==================================== HISTORY of LEWIS COUNTY ==================================== >From the WEB Lewis County is located in Middle Tennessee, southwest of Nashville. It is in one of the state's three grand divisions . Lewis County was established on 23 December 1843 by the legislature from Hickman, Maury, Wayne and Lawrence Counties as a perpetual monument to Governor Meriwether Lewis. The legislature also directed that a monument be erected over Lewis' grave. The first county seat was the community of Gordon because it was the only significant settlement. Newburg was the second county seat because many felt it would become the more prominent town in the county. After the War Between the States began, people left Newburg in large numbers. This caused the county to be disbanded and the lands returned to their original counties. The disbandment lasted about one year. At the end of the war, the state legislature passed a special act to confirm that Lewis County still existed and the county books were returned. The current county seat, Hohenwald, was instituted in 1897. Lewis County was named in honor of Meriwether Lewis, the second of three children born to Lucy and John Lewis, in Albemarle Co, VA on 18 August 1774. He was five years old when his father died. His mother soon remarried. He attended locally-run religious schools run by ministers from 1787 to 1792. After the death of his stepfather, Meriwether returned to the plantation and took over the daily running of it. Lewis joined the US Army in 1794 and rose to the rank of Captain in 1800. In 1801, he was appointed private secretary to Thomas Jefferson when he was President of the United States. Meriwether was a close neighbor to Mr. Jefferson near Charlottesville, Virginia, and when he was wanted at Monticello Mr. Jefferson would signal him with a mirror reflected in the sun. President Jefferson appointed him leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804 to explore the Northwestern Territory which the United States had bought from France in 1803. Lewis invited William Clark to join the expedition. The two men privately agreed to lead it jointly. In addition to command, Lewis served as the party's naturalist. On the expedition he collected plant, animal, and mineral specimens. In May of 1804 the expedition sponsored by the US Government, and lead by Lewis and Clark started up the Missouri River from a camp near St. Louis. By late fall, the explorers reached what is now North Dakota and spent the winter there. The following spring they continued along the Missouri and in late summer crossed the Rocky Mountains. They obtained horses, supplies, and valuable information from the Indians they met on their journey. Following the Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia Rivers they made their way to the Pacific coast, which they reached in November of 1805. The party spent the winter on the coast of what is now Oregon and began the trip home in March of 1806. The explorers returned along nearly the same route by which they had come, reaching St. Louis in September of 1806 after traveling a total of 8,000 miles. Lewis County was named in honor of Meriwether Lewis who, in October of 1809, departed this life about 8 miles from Hohenwald, TN. He stopped at Grinder's Stand to spend the evening. Though accounts of the event conflict, Lewis died that evening of gunshot wounds to the chest and head. Meriwether Lewis was buried near Grinder's Stand where a monument was erected in his memory in 1848. He was governor of the Territory of Louisiana from 1806 until his death. His watch was later found in a pawn shop in New Orleans. This watch, his revolver, diary, compass and many other articles that he used on the Western expedition are now in Jefferson Memorial in St. Louis, given the Memorial by Dr. Anderson of Virginia, who is a great-great-grandson of Jane Lewis Anderson, a sister of Meriwether Lewis. Federal authorities reported that he committed suicide. Others think he was murdered by either bandits on the Natchez Trace, the Grinders, his own servant or federal authorities who would have been implicated in shady land deals on the Trace had he made it back to Washington. We may never know what really happened that night. ==================================================================== LEWIS COUNTY, TN - MISCELLANEOUS - Goodspeed's Lewis County History ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ==================================================================== GOODSPEED HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY Lewis County, situated on the Highland Rim, is bounded north by Hickman, east by Maury, south by Lawrence and Wayne, and west by Perry. It contains about 325 square miles, or 208,000 acres of land, only a small portion of which is under cultivation. The county is located on a plateau, higher than the adjoining counties, and is drained from the center outward toward nearly all points of the compass, by the Buffalo and Big Swan Creeks and their tributaries. Bordering the valleys, the lands lie in ridges, and the soil is flinty and sterile, and in many places under laid with slate. These ridges are covered with a dense growth of red and white oak, chestnut, poplar, etc. the soil of the valleys is alluvial, and equally productive with other bottom lands, being well adapted to the growing of corn, wheat, oats, peanuts and grass. This class of lands compose a very small portion of the area of the county, and are about the only lands under cultivation. Passing from the valleys over the ridges we come to the barrens which are flat and open and lightly covered with scrubby oaks. The soil of the barrens is thin and naturally sterile, but large portions of it have a good foundation, and could be made productive by proper fertilization. Other portions of the barrens, and also of the ridges, are so leachy that they will not hold fertilizing matter, and consequently, cannot be made productive. However, all portions of the high lands, so far as they have been tested, are especially well adapted to the raising of all kinds of fruit. There is a strip of barrens about three miles wide, extending through the county from the southeast to the northwest. Iron ore abounds in great quantities in the ridge, especially in the southern part of the county. about two-thirds of all the lands in the county are charged with iron ore, the greater portion, however, being confined to the hilly and rolling lands. There are many excellent springs of freestone water, and some mineral. The elevation of the county is so great, and the fall of the streams so rapid, that it is a remarkably healthy location. The first settlement in the county was made on Big Swan Creek about 1806-1810, by John Sharp and his sons, William Edward, Nehemiah, Samuel and Joshua, Elijah, Samuel and James Mayfield, all from Kentucky; James Rhoads and Bryson B. Venable, from south Carolina; Ambrose Blackburn, from Georgia; Daniel Garrett, Larkin Hensley and his brothers, William, Samuel and James, Edward Dycus, John Johnson, John Clayton, the Kirkseys, the Condors and Benjamin Lankford, all from North Carolina. Mr. Dobbins was proprietor of Dobbins Stand , on Big Swan Creek. Robert Grinder was proprietor of Grinders Stand on the Natchez Trace, near where it crosses Little Swan Creek, and about two and a half miles west of Newburg. Wlliam Johnson, Daniel Sims and Young Simmons were among the first settlers on Pond Creek. John McClish, a half-breed Indian, lived on a reservation in 1812-1815, and kept a stand on the Natchez Trace, where it crosses the Big Buffalo Creek. The Natchez Trace was opened by General Jackson and his army, on their way from Nashville to New Orleans, during the war of 1812. The stands above referred to were places where travelers were entertained. The early settlements were made along the streams, and to the present day have been mostly confined thereto. But very little of the upland was brought into cultivation. By keeping away from the streams and valleys, one may now travel for hours without seeing a human habitation. Deer, wild turkey, wild cats and venomous snakes still abound in the extensive forests. The first water mills built in the territory composing Lewis County was Tom's Mill, on Cathay Creek, and the Widow Cavitt's mill, on Swan Creek, both being built about the year 1812, but which was completed first, we are unable to say positively. An Iron Forge was built on Buffalo Creek, at the crossing of the Natchez Trace, and operated in an early day. It was afterward moved to the site of the Napier furnace, erected in 1834, by Napier and Catron. Mr. Catron died over forty years ago, and the Napier's have owned the property ever since. The furnace has been operated part of the time by the proprietors and part of the time by lessees. Since 1880, its operation has been suspended. When operated, it required about twenty-five hands, and produced about ten tons of pig iron per day. The Rockdale Cotton Factory was erected on Big Bigby Creek by Skipwith and Nightengale about the year 1825. It manufactured cotton yarn only, and about twenty-five persons, mostly women, were employed to run it. It suspended operations during the late civil war, and has not been run since. There are now no manufacturing establishments in the county, except a few saw mills and grist mills, and a barrel factory at Carpenters Station. The first court house was a log building erected at Gordon, and afterward moved to Newburg. It was torn down in 1857, and the present one was erected at a cost of $1,500.00. It is a two story frame building, 40x40 feet, with the court room on the first floor and county offices on the second. A log jail, 18x20 feet, was erected at Newburg, but there has not been a prisoner incarcerated therein since the late war, and for several years last past the authorities, in their annual report, have said no jail . The paupers are supported by appropriations made by the county court, there being no poor asylum in the county. The annual receipts from taxation, and otherwise, are about $1,500.00, and the expenses of the county about the same. The indebtedness of the county is about $500. The tax-duplicate for 1886 shows 161,387 acres of land assessed at $217,188 and personal property at $4500.00, making the total assessment of taxable property in the county $221,688, and the total tax charged thereon $2,689.61. The Nashville and Florence Railroad passes through the eastern part of the county, and has one station within the county at Carpenter. The survey of the Nashville and Tuscaloosa Narrow-gauge Railroad passes from north to south through the center of the county, and about two and one-half miles west of Newburg. The first term of county court was held early in 1844, at the house of John Blackburn, at Gordon, and the court continued to hold its regular sessions, at the places provided for holding the courts, until December, 1861, when it suspended its sessions through the war period, and until June 1865, since which time it was held its regular sessions.. The first term of circuit court was begun and held at the house of said Blackburn on Monday, March 25, 1844; Edmund Dillahunty, judge presiding, and Robert M. Cooper, clerk, and Nathaniel Baxter, attorney-general. The business of this court was also suspended during the war period. The first term of chancery court was begun and held on Monday, April 24, 1871, at Newburg, with Hon. George H. Nixon, as chancellor, and William H. Flanigan, clerk and master. By an act of the General assembly, passed January 31, 1844, Lewis County was attached to the chancery district of Maury County. But the citizens of Lewis were allowed to file their bills, either at Columbia or in the chancery court at Lawrenceburg. Consequently, all business in chancery for Lewis county, was conducted in those counties until the Lewis County chancery court was organized. The first dwelling house in the town of Newburg was erected by William H. Flanigan, who kept the first hotel. The post office was established in 1848, and Mr. Flanigan was the first postmaster. James Patton, the first merchant, opened his store in 1849, and John H. Cooper taught the first school the same year. Dr. John Bowman was the first physician, and located in 1853; John L. Miller, the first attorney, located in 1850. Newburg was incorporated in 1852. The charter of incorporation has since been abolished. The town had its greatest prosperity in 1854-55, when it contained four stores, two saloons, two hotels, and several mechanic's shops. It began to decline before the war, during which, at one time, it was wholly deserted. It now contains the court house, one store, the post office, one school house, one hotel, five dwellings and a population of about thirty souls. It has neither lawyer, doctor nor preacher. Hohenwald has two stores and a post office. Napier Furnace, one store and post office. Voorhies, one store and post office. Nutt, two stores and post office. Carpenters Station, one store, saw-mill and barrel factory. Palestine, on Swan Creek, six miles northeast of Newburg, was established in 1835, and had its prosperity about 1860, when it contained a post office, store, grocery, school, church and about a dozen dwellings, and fifty inhabitants. It now contains only one store, a church and a few dwellings. About a mile north of the Lewis Monument, on the old Natchez Trace, and on the east bank of Little Swan Creek, is where Gen. William Carroll disbanded his troops on his return from New Orleans in 1815. An eye witness states that he made them a farewell address, and bid them adieu, crying like a child. the following veterans of the Mexican War are now residing in the county: Abel T. Hensley, Samuel L. Tarrant, A. W. Weatherly and William C. Story. In the late civil, the county furnished three companies for the Confederate Army, as follows: Company H, Third Tennessee Infantry, Capts. Samuel L. Tarrant and R. T. Cooper (the latter was killed at Raymond, Mississippi) Company C. Forty-eighth Tennessee Infantry, commanded by Capt. Samuel Whiteside, and company H, Ninth Tennessee Cavalry, commanded by Capt. Thomas H. Beatty. It is claimed that with these companies, and the individuals who joined organizations outside (the county furnished in the aggregate for the Confederate Army, about 400 men), a number equal to its voting population. The farmers of this county suffered considerably during the war, by the loss of property seized by foragers. Education in Lewis County had been very much neglected. To show the condition of the schools is given a synopsis of the report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the year ending June 30, 1885. Scholastic population--white, male 353; white, female, 364; colored, male, 71; colored, female, 72; total, 860. Number of pupils enrolled-white, male, 160; white, female, 200; colored, male, 30; colored, female, 16; total, 406. This shows that less than one-half of the scholastic population of the county attended the schools. The number of schools taught and the number of teachers employed, 14; teachers average monthly wages, $22, average number of days taught during the year, 80; amount of school funds received during the year, $1,760.75; amount expended, $1,031.98; balance on hand, $728.77. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - THE STORY TELLERS We are the chosen. My feelings are, in each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know, and approve. To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do? It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers. That, is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. Author unknown ==================================================================== The 1860 Census or Lots of Questions Answered ==================================================================== The 1860 Census lists a dwelling number and family number and each sheet lists the county as well as town and post office name. Questions answered on the 1860 census include, name, age and sex of each individual; color, occupation, value of real and personal property; birthplace, whether married within the year (m.y.), whether attended school, can read or write and the date of the enumeration. Also included are boxes to indicate if an individual was a pauper or convict. Here is an article published in 1859 about the upcoming 1860 census: Friday September 23, 1859 Weekly Star THE NEXT CENSUS The year 1860 is the time appointed for taking the eighth census of the United States. From having been originally a simple enumeration's of persons, this Federal census has grown to be a decennial register of the number of inhabitants and their occupation, religious denominations & c, and also a statement of the commerce, manufacturers, arts and industry, and the wealth of the nation. The collection of these statistics has hitherto been attended with immense labor and difficulty. The inquiries of the census takers have not only been baffled by the stupidity and perverseness and ignorance of many to whom they were addressed; but it has been impossible to obtain accurate information upon important subjects because the parties; who alone are presumed capable of imparting it, have never taken the trouble to inform themselves. It often occurs that, in the absence of the head of a family no other member of it is able to give the information required; for instance as to the ages of the different members or it, or the amount of land in cultivation, the number of negroes and their ages, the quantity and value of horses, mules and oxen, etc., or of farming implements or farm products. In town and country similar difficulties are continually met with by the marshals appointed to collect these statistics, and the census is consequently returned incomplete. It is probably that while care will be observed to prevent any frauds or excess in the publication of the next census, it will be ordered by Congress to be taken so as to include all the most important items of information in regard to the progress of our population and our country. In view of this contingency the Nashville News very sensibly suggest that each farmer, this fall , as he gathers his crops, shall keep something like an accurate account of the quality and value of the same; and if he will take the trouble to make out a statement of the names and ages of his family; the number and ages of his servants, the number and value of his horses and mules; the number of bales of cotton, barrels of corn, bushels of wheat, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, etc., and leave it in some place where any member of thefamily, who may be at home when the deputy marshal shall call, can readily get hold of it, it will save time to all concerned, and very greatly assist to make the census return perfect, complete and satisfactory.