September 9, 2019
My 3rd great-grandfather, Ezra Sawyer, would have been 221 years old this year. He was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and lived most of his life in New Hampshire. He died and is buried in Woodstock, New Hampshire. You can see his grave here.
Looking at the U.S. Federal Census in GenealogyBank, I found him in the 1840 census, living in Woodstock.
There he is – but what do all of those numbers mean?
The 1790 to 1840 census only listed the name of the “Head of the Household,” which could have been a man or woman. The rest of the household were tabulated by their age group.
A handy tool for understanding these early population counts are the census work forms available here.
Using the 1830/1840 census work sheet I can see what these numbers mean.
For Ezra Sawyer’s family in the census we learn:
Males:
- Under 5: blank
- 5-10: blank
- 10-15: 2
- 15-20: blank
- 20-30: 1
- 30-40: blank
- 40-50: blank
- 50-60: blank
- 60-70: 1
- 70-80: blank
- 80-90: blank
- 90-100: blank
- Over 100: blank
Females:
- Under 5: blank
- 5-10: 1
- 10-15: blank
- 15-20: blank
- 20-30: 1
- 30-40: blank
- 40-50: blank
- 50-60: 1
- 60-70: blank
- 70-80: blank
- 80-90: blank
- 90-100: blank
- Over 100: blank
Looking at it, I don’t see that any of the other columns were checked.
That gives us:
- 2 boys aged 10-15. They would be Andrew Baker Sawyer (1828-1903) and Elbridge Gerry Sawyer (1826-1918).
- 1 son aged 20-30. That would be either Noah H. Sawyer (1817-1893) age 23 or Francis (Frank) Sawyer (1820-1880) age 20. Either one of them could have been out and living on their own by 1840.
- The adult male aged 60-70 would be Ezra himself, who would have been 62 in 1840.
- The 1 daughter aged 5 to 10 would be Caroline C. Sawyer (1830-1902).
- The 1 daughter aged 20 to 30 would be Lavina S. Sawyer (1813-1910).
- The adult woman aged 50 to 60 would be the mother, Mary (Smith) Sawyer (1787-1868).
Looking at Ezra’s family I see that three of his daughters had died before 1840.
In the 1850 census, Mary (Smith) Sawyer is living in Woodstock with her children Noah, Elbridge and Caroline.
I will need to keep digging to determine if it was Noah or Francis Sawyer that was enumerated in the 1840 census.
