Secrets of the Census, Part 3

The first of June 1860––The United States was less than a year away from four years of Civil War when the 1860 federal census enumerators fanned out across the country to collect data. There were more than thirty-one million people in the U.S. by then, and the enumerators had just five months to complete their task. Although quite similar to the census that preceded it, the 1860 federal census had some striking features, and this week, we’ll take a look at them.

This was the first census to ask the value of personal estate, perhaps revealing more information about your ancestors. This census, like the one before it, had a corresponding Slave Schedule for the Southern states. Keep in mind, that if you had ancestors who held enslaved people, it was likely that the value of your ancestor’s estate was at least partially based on those enslaved workers, as you will see below. As much as we have a hard time believing it, those enslaved individuals were considered property, and they were bought, sold, and traded for their value. Also, remember that listing your assets accurately meant opening yourself up to potentially higher taxes, so we have no way of knowing if what is declared on those census sheets is correct. 

Enumerators for this census were told to be specific about birthplaces. It wasn’t all right to just put down Germany if it were possible to list an exact city-state. Of course, that doesn’t mean every enumerator followed those directions, but you may find some helpful information if yours did.

The third unique feature of the 1860 census was in the last column, “Whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict.” The enumerators were asked to give details for these designations, especially the cause, if possible. Bear in mind that at that time, many illnesses were misdiagnosed, and treatments were based on bare-bones knowledge. Little was known about mental illness of any kind.

Let’s travel into Perry County, Illinois, a farming community where most were born in a variety of locations, including Bavaria instead of just the generic "Germany," as you can see below.

There were a few men born in Ireland, and you can see that most of the farmers had modest holdings in real and personal estate. At the bottom of this page is “Weate” [Wyatt] Watson, a fifty-year-old laborer from Georgia, and in the last column is the notation that he is “blind and gross from erysipelas.” Perhaps too much information, but poor Wyatt! Erysipelas is a bacterial infection that leads to raised, red, swollen skin, sometimes with abscesses and blistering. It can cause fever and chills, and it’s quite painful. Today, it’s easily treated with antibiotics, but Wyatt would not have had such treatment, and added to his lack of vision, he would likely have been suffering. Left untreated, erysipelas can lead to a severe bloodstream infection (sepsis) and death.

Next, we’ll move south to Franklin County, North Carolina, to the farm of Jno [John] Gill, who appears very well-to-do. His real estate is valued at $3,000 and personal estate is a huge $14,385, an important clue. Sure enough, if we look at the 1860 slave schedule for Franklin County, pictured here under the population schedule, there is John with fourteen enslaved people in his household.

Finally, we’ll move to Lincoln County, Tennessee, to the mortality schedule. Those who died within the year should be listed with their names, occupations, ages, month of death, and cause of death. Here we find exact names of deceased enslaved workers along with anyone else in the county who died in the year before the census was taken. Looking at the cause of death column is indeed heartbreaking, as many infants died of “smothering,” whooping cough, and infantile cholera. Adults died from consumption (tuberculosis), typhoid fever, and intestinal and heart-related ailments. 

This is the final census before thousands of men joined the military and went to war, so it may be your last chance to find those people alive and with their families. Enjoy the hunt!

Did you miss the last two installments in this series? You can find Part 1 at https://stlgs.blogspot.com/2025/09/secrets-of-census-part-1.html and Part 2 at https://stlgs.blogspot.com/2025/09/secrets-of-census-part-2.html