Muscatine County, IA 1850 Federal Census The files on-line for this completed 1850 census, include: ftp://ftp.us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/ia/muscatine/1850/ Township Files - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bloomington pg0369a.txt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cedar pg0377a.txt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Moscow pg0397a.txt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Montpelier pg0381a.txt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Muscatine pg0338a.txt, pg0346b.txt, pg0355a.txt, pg0363b.txt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pike pg0393a.txt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sweetland pg0385b.txt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Township 76 pg0372a.txt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Wapsanonock pg0404a.txt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Transcriber Notes Wapsinonoc Township: For the 1850 Census, Wapsinonoc Township was incorrectly spelled "Wapsanonock." Wapsanonock Twp, Page 406A, Line 34, Wilson(Bunk) Hillary, enumerator wrote Age "(Uncertain 45)"; In Race wrote "Col'd"(Colored); in Last Name wrote "Wilson(Bunk)"; In Deaf/Dumb, wrote "non-Cupor"(non cooperative?), which was lined out. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - -- - - -- - - - -- - - - - - -- - Muscatine City: Page 344B and Dwelling Numbers 98-102 not on source CD Another source used to transcribe Page 344B - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - -- - - -- - - - -- - - - - - -- - FUN FACTS AND FIGURES FROM THE 1850 CENSUS The table below shows the number of people, households, and families for each township. From the table, the city of Muscatine contained 2539 people, about half of the county population. The next most populous were Sweetland township with 596 people, followed by Moscow at 567. Table 1. NBR First Last LINES Nbr Nbr Township Page Page (Pop'n) HH Families Muscatine 338A 368B 2539 453 454 Bloomington 369A 371B 200 35 35 Township76 372A 377A 421 66 66 Cedar 377A 380B 290 44 44 Montpelier 381A 385A 378 72 74 Sweetland 385B 392B 596 98 103 Pike 393A 396A 265 42 42 Moscow 397A 403B 567 105 107 Wapsinonoc 404A 409B 477 84 84 Totals 5733 999 1009 Now just how old were these people? How many children were there? The table below summarizes the residents by age for Muscatine, and for all other townships combined. Table 2. 1850 MUSCATINE COUNTY POPULATION BY AGE RANGE Musc All other Percent Age City Twps TOTAL (n.nn%) >60 24 58 82 1.43 51-60 65 141 206 3.59 41-50 171 240 411 7.17 21-40 942 887 1829 31.91 11-20 530 794 1324 23.10 <=10 806 1073 1879 32.79 Totals 2538 3193 5731 100.00 From the above table, the total population was 5731 people. The total doesn't quite match Table 1, as some census entries had an unreadable age or age was omitted. From the above table, 32% of the population was age 10 or under. Another 23% were under 21. All total, almost 90% were 40 and younger ! Department of "Figures Don't Lie But Liars Figure" -- Things to keep in mind are listed below. 1. While about 55% of the population were under 21, these were not necessarily all children within a household. Some young women were married and had several children before they were 21. So a mother would be counted in the 11-20 age range, with her child in the <= 10 age range. And some young men were apprentices living with the family of the man teaching them a trade. 2. The age ranges for all townships except Muscatine City were combined in the above table. However, the percentages for each township were about the same. The next set of tables shows where these people came from. Two tables are shown below-- first, a summary table, and second, a detail by township. For the summary, the children 17 years of age and younger were excluded. This is because most of the children 10 and under were born in Iowa. And the "assumption" is that children 17 and under were still at home. As you will see later in the details for each township, when this group of children is included, the totals for place of birth of Iowa and Indiana are inflated. These figures were obtained from the census column, "Place of Birth." A few entries did not have a place of birth recorded, which is why the total numbers do not quite match up. Of the total population of 5731 people, the number of people over 17 in 1850 is 2909. These people, then, were born in 1833 or earlier. The table below shows the Place of Birth, the number of people (>=18) born there, the percent of the number of people born there compared to the total number of people, and the Rank (1-10) of places with the most people. Table 3. 1850 Muscatine County IA Census Places of Birth for People 18 and Over Place of Birth Number Percent Rank Pennsylvania 465 15.98 2 Iowa 6 0.21 Ohio 579 19.90 1 Indiana 224 7.70 5 Illinois 29 1.00 Michigan 7 0.24 Wisconsin 0 0.00 Missouri,Mo* 9 0.31 Germany* 365 12.55 3 Austria 1 0.03 Switzerland 8 0.28 Holland 16 0.55 France 1 0.03 Sweden 1 0.03 Ireland 126 4.33 7 England 42 1.44 Scotland 14 0.48 Wales 1 0.03 Bermudas 1 0.03 Maryland,Md 75 2.58 9 Dist. Columbia 2 0.07 Virginia 208 7.15 6 N Carolina 45 1.55 S Carolina 13 0.45 Alabama 2 0.07 Mississippi 2 0.07 New Orleans 0 0.00 Kentucky 109 3.75 8 Tennessee 26 0.89 New York 246 8.46 4 New Jersey 68 2.34 10 New Hampshire 20 0.69 Massachusetts 35 1.20 Rhode Island 11 0.38 Delaware 4 0.14 Connecticut 49 1.68 Vermont 54 1.86 Maine 17 0.58 Canada* 15 0.52 Nova Scotia 5 0.17 Unknown 8 0.28 TOTAL 2909 100.00 Notes: 1. Germany includes Germany,Bavaria, Westphalia, and Prussia 2. Canada includes Canada, W Canada, and U Canada. Nova Scotia is shown separately. 3. Some people counted in the Missouri column may be from Maryland, as the census enumerator handwriting for "Mo" and "Md" is sometimes difficult to read. The table shows that Ohio and Pennsylvania were the birthplaces of most people 18 and older. A full 20% were from Ohio, and 16% from Pennsylvania. In third place is Germany, with almost 13%. These three locations account for about 50% of the people 18 and over. Rounding out the Top Five are New York and Indiana (both about 8%), followed by Virginia at 7%. Then comes Ireland and Kentucky, each with about 4%. Rounding out the Top Ten are Maryland (3%) and New Jersey (2%). The top ten locations account for about 85% of the people. An interesting figure is the number of people not born in North America -- Summing totals from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the U.K., France, Sweden, Holland, and Bermuda, the total is 575, or about 20% of the total. Other places of interest are Ohio, Indiana and Illinois -- about 28% of the adult population of 1850 Muscatine County were born there, which indicates they were the children of people who had migrated westward earlier in the 1800s. The table below shows the place of birth for ALL people in 1850 Muscatine County, by township. It is shown in two parts, Part 1 has townships Bloomington, Moscow, Wapsinonoc, Pike, 76 and Cedar. Part 2 has townships Montpelier, Sweetland and Muscatine City, plus a grand total for all townships, the percent of each place of birth relative to the total, and a Rank (1-10) of the most frequent places. Table 4. 1850 Muscatine County IA Census Places of Birth for Total Population (5729 Men, Women and Children) Part 1 of 2 PLACE OF - - - - - - TOWNSHIP - - - - - - - - - - - - BIRTH Bloom. Moscow Wapsi. Pike Twp 76 Cedar Pennsylvania 26 52 39 46 49 36 Iowa 44 102 91 28 118 58 Ohio 53 83 186 61 96 119 Indiana 18 74 30 13 94 4 Illinois 5 10 20 9 7 1 Michigan 0 2 1 7 0 0 Wisconsin 0 0 0 0 0 0 Missouri,Mo* 0 0 0 2 0 0 Germany* 12 150 1 0 0 4 Austria 1 0 0 0 0 0 Switzerland 2 8 0 0 0 0 Holland 0 0 0 0 0 0 France 0 1 0 0 0 0 Sweden 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ireland 12 7 0 1 1 37 England 1 1 1 12 4 2 Scotland 0 1 0 1 0 0 Wales 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bermudas 0 0 0 0 0 0 Maryland,Md 2 8 5 3 1 9 Dist. Columbia 0 0 0 0 0 0 Virginia 8 17 42 42 20 4 N Carolina 1 3 4 5 1 S Carolina 0 1 0 0 0 0 Alabama 0 0 0 0 1 0 Mississippi 0 0 0 0 0 New Orleans 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kentucky 3 8 11 2 7 5 Tennessee 1 1 2 New York 2 14 25 24 6 3 New Jersey 1 3 9 2 1 3 New Hampshire 2 4 1 3 1 1 Massachusetts 2 8 3 0 1 0 Rhode Island 1 0 0 0 0 0 Delaware 0 0 0 0 0 0 Connecticut 2 0 2 1 2 2 Vermont 1 4 3 2 1 0 Maine 0 0 0 0 0 0 Canada* 0 7 3 0 0 0 Nova Scotia 0 0 0 0 0 0 Unknown 0 0 0 0 6 1 Totals 200 566 476 265 421 290 Notes: See Table 3 for explanation of contents of various places of birth. Table 5. 1850 Muscatine County IA Census Places of Birth for Total Population (5729 Men, Women and Children) Part 2 of 2 PLACE OF - - - - - - TOWNSHIP - - - - - - BIRTH Montpl'r Sweetl'd MuscCity TOTAL Pct (n.nn) Rank Pennsylvania 45 59 384 736 12.85 3 Iowa 83 135 421 1080 18.85 1 Ohio 37 50 363 1048 18.29 2 Indiana 45 145 136 559 9.76 4 Illinois 17 18 76 163 2.85 9 Michigan 1 2 12 25 0.44 Wisconsin 2 0 0 2 0.03 Missouri,Mo* 3 3 28 36 0.63 Germany* 1 24 348 540 9.43 5 Austria 0 0 0 1 0.02 Switzerland 0 0 1 11 0.19 Holland 0 0 26 26 0.45 France 0 0 0 1 0.02 Sweden 0 0 1 1 0.02 Ireland 8 3 120 189 3.30 8 England 5 0 31 57 0.99 Scotland 2 0 13 17 0.30 Wales 0 0 1 1 0.02 Bermudas 0 0 1 1 0.02 Maryland,Md 3 9 69 109 1.90 Dist. Columbia 0 0 2 2 0.03 Virginia 28 16 61 238 4.15 7 N Carolina 15 14 17 60 1.05 S Carolina 3 4 8 0.14 Alabama 0 1 0 2 0.03 Mississippi 3 3 0.05 New Orleans 0 0 1 1 0.02 Kentucky 20 28 63 147 2.57 10 Tennessee 3 6 23 36 0.63 New York 52 23 145 294 5.13 6 New Jersey 1 28 42 90 1.57 New Hampshire 1 0 7 20 0.35 Massachusetts 1 3 21 39 0.68 Rhode Island 0 4 6 11 0.19 Delaware 1 0 3 4 0.07 Connecticut 0 2 44 55 0.96 Vermont 4 10 31 56 0.98 Maine 0 9 11 20 0.35 Canada* 0 1 11 22 0.38 Nova Scotia 0 0 7 7 0.12 Unknown 0 0 4 11 0.19 Totals 378 596 2537 5729 100.00 When the entire population is used, Iowa is the most frequent place of birth, because of the children. The Top Five are Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Germany. They are followed by New York, Virginia, Ireland, Illinois and Kentucky. When individual townships are examined, several figures jump out: 1. Most of the Irish are in Muscatine City; Irish farmers went to Cedar twp. 2. Most of the Germans are in Muscatine City; the farmers are in Moscow township. In Moscow twp, people from Germany are about 25% of the total people in that township. 3. About half of the people from New York are in Muscatine City. 4. A large number of people from Ohio settled in Wapsinonoc (the West Liberty area). Of the 476 people in Wapsinonoc, 186 were born in Ohio; this represents about. 40% of the total people in that township. These 1850 statistics are just a point-in-time snapshot. By 1853, the population of Muscatine City alone had gone from about 2500 to about 5000. ================================================================================ This Census was transcribed by Kathryn Watson Wells and proofread by Ruth Coker and K. W. Wells for the USGenWeb Census Project, http://www.us-census.org/ ================================================================================