Thursday, August 30, 2012

Treasure Chest Thursday - 1880 U.S. Census Record for Thomas Richmond Family


It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the 1880 United States Census record for my Richmond great-grandparents and their family in Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut: 



The entry for the Thomas Richmond family is below: 



The extracted information for the family, residing in Killingly, taken on 2 June 1880, is:

*  Thomas Richmond - White, male, age 31, married, Overseer in woolen mill, born in England, father born England, mother born England
*  Julia Richmond - White, female, age 33, Wife, married, Keeping house, born Connecticut, father born Connecticut, mother born Rhode Island.
*  Annie Richmond - White, female, age 10, Daughter, Single, attended school, born Rhode Island, father born England, mother born Connecticut
*  Everett Richmond - White, male, age 4, Son, single, born Connecticut, father born England, mother born Connecticut.
*  Grace Richmond - White, female, age 3, Daughter, single, born Connecticut, father born England, mother born Connecticut.
*  Emily Richmond - White, female, age 1, Daughter, single, born Connecticut, father born England, mother born Connecticut..

The source citation for the census image is:

1880 United States Federal Census, Windham County, ConnecticutPopulation Schedule, Killingly; Page 379A (stamped), dwelling #26, family #42, Thomas Richmond household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 October 2011), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T9, Roll 110.

I consider the 1880 U.S. Census records to be an "Original Source" (because this "family snapshot" in June 1880 is in its first written form); mostly as "Secondary Information" (since we don't know who provided the information - although it was probably Julia Richmond), and as "Indirect Evidence" for most of the information (the exception being the birthplaces, and Thomas's occupation which were certainly known by the informant).  

I see several obvious errors in this census record (based on what I know about these persons from other records, including birth and marriage records), including:

*  Julia (White) Richmond's age is listed as 33, but she was born 8 September 1848, so she was age 31 on 1 June 1880.  This may indicate that Julia was not the informant!
*  Thomas and Julia Richmond had a son, Charles Percival Richmond, on 25 May 1880.  He is not listed in this census for some reason.


Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

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