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THE “BURNED-OVER DISTRICT”
1820 FEDERAL CENSUS
Example One: Excerpt from "C" names for 1830
The Example One excerpt shown above is from the 1830 "C" names html file.
(An excerpt from the 1820 "C" html file would look very similar) This excerpt from 1830
indicates that "Elish Cowder" lived in Pomfret County, Chautaqua Twp., NY and was the
head of his household in 1830; William Cowdery and three of his sons are shown as living
in the "Burned-Over District" in 1830, as well as James Cowe, who lived in Wayne County, Sodus Twp.
Please note that the original census takers exercised a great deal of personal interpretation when
they solicited and wrote down names in their reports. This resulted in both family names and given
names being spelled in many different ways in those reports. When indices were compiled from the
original census takers' written pages, the names were often partly illegible and were mis-copied
in transcription. Also, when typewriters were used in compiling transcribed tabulations, letters
in names were frequently transposed, doubled, or dropped altogether. The "Elish Cowder" shown in
the above example was probably named "Elisha," and his surname may have been "Cowden" or "Cowdery,"
or some other similar name. Because such errors occur very frequently in the e-text tabulations
the viewer should exercise a great deal of caution in accepting the data presented here at "face value."
The 1820 (and 1830) census county indices provided here are in text format,
with surname, given name, township, and census taker's page number tabulated in four
columns. These files are sorted by page number. Within the listing for each
page number the surnames are sorted alphabetically. To determine whether or not a
given person's name occurs within any particular county index, first consult the
alphabetic html compilation for the entire 1820 "Burned-Over District"
census reports. This compilation consists of 26 alphabetized tabulations of heads of
households living in the far western counties of New York State.
Example Two: Excerpt from
Genesee Co. for 1820
150 - 218
150 - 211
150 - 213
150 - 214
150 - 222
150 - 239
150 - 237
150 - 235
150 - 234
150 - 207
150 - 224
The Example Two table shown above is an html representation of an excerpt from
the 1820 Genesee County text file.
(A list from the 1830 Burned-over District text files would look much the same.)
The Example Two excerpt is taken from the bottom of the census-taker's page 150,
for Le Roy township, in the 1820 index for Genesee County. The index numbers in column 4
have been added to correspond with the numbers of the alphabetized surnames in the
Le Roy section of the 1820 Genesee
County text file. Also, due to the small population in thinly settled rural areas
during that early period, people who considered themselves to be "neighbors" may have
actually lived a considerable distance apart. For example, Warren A. Cowdery's brother-in-law,
Samuel Miles, Sr., in 1820 lived in Middlebury (within an hour's carriage ride) and thus
might be counted as one of Warren's "neighbors," even though his residence was in a
non-adjoining township in Genesee County. See 1820s area map for locations.
The tabulation given above indicates that "Warren C. Cowdry" [Warren A. Cowdery]and his cousin
"William Glass" lived in Genesee County, Le Roy twp., New York and were the heads of households
in 1820. Since Cowdery's name and Glass's name appear one after the other on the census-taker's
sheet, (despite their being numbers 214 & 222 in the alphabetical tabulation) it is likely that
these two men actually lived side-by-side, in Le Roy township, during the early 1820s.
Photo-reproduction of bottom of page 150, in 1820 Genesee Co. Census Report
Caution must be exercised in making assumptions such as this, however. Sometimes a census
taker would travel one country road, making entries in the original record, and not return
to an adjacent road until much later in the day, or on a subsequent day. Thus, persons who
lived close to one another in Le Roy twp. in 1820 may be recorded widely separated pages
in the 1820 census record.
Even with this precautionary advice in mind, it is still useful to consult consecutive pages
in the original census record in order to get a general idea of who a certain person's
neighbors may have been. The tabulations persented here do not list each person's
name in the exact same order in which it appears on the page in the original record.