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 1860 United States Agricultural Census record for Henry Carringer, my 3rd great-grandfather, in Perry Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania:
There are two pages for these records, and they are on two different images on Ancestry.com. Here are the two images:
Henry Carringer is in Line 20 on the first image on the right-hand page, and his agricultural information carries over on Line 20 the left-hand page on the second image.
Here are the headings and Henry's information (Line 20) on the first page:
The information on the first page is (by column number):
1. Name: Henry Carringer
2. Acres of land - Improved: 100
3. Acres of land - Unimproved: 60
4. Present cash value - Of farm ($): 3200
5. Present cash value - Of farming implements and machinery ($): 90
6. Live stock, June 1, 1860 - Horses: 1
7. Live stock, June 1, 1860 - Mules and Asses: 0
8. Live stock, June 1, 1860 - Milch cows: 5
9. Live stock, June 1, 1860 - Working Oxen: 2
10. Live stock, June 1, 1860 - Other Cattle: 0
11. Live stock, June 1, 1860 - Sheep: 17
12. Live stock, June 1, 1860 - Swine: 8
13. Live stock, June 1, 1860 - Value of all live stock ($): 343
14. Produce during the year - Wheat (bush): 6
15. Produce during the year - Rye (bush): 25
16. Produce during the year - Indian corn (bush): 50
17. Produce during the year - Oats (bush): 201
18. Produce during the year - Rice (bush): 0
19. Produce during the year - Tobacco (bush): 0
20. Produce during the year - Cotton (bales): 0
21. Produce during the year - Wool (lbs): 56
And on the second sheet:
22. Produce during the year - Peas & Beans (bush): 0
23. Produce during the year - Potatoes - Irish (bush): 50
24. Produce during the year - Potatoes - Sweet (bush): 0
25. Produce during the year - Barley (bush): 0
26. Produce during the year - Buckwheat (bush): 75
27. Produce during the year - Orchard products ($): 0
28. Produce during the year - Wine (gallons): 0
29. Produce during the year - Produce of market gardens ($): 0
30. Produce during the year - Dairy products - Butter (lbs): 600
31. Produce during the year - Dairy products - Cheese (lbs): 0
32. Produce during the year - Hay (Tons): 25
33. Produce during the year - Seed - Clover (Bush): 0
34. Produce during the year - Seed - Grass (Bush): 0
34. Produce during the year - Hops (Lbs): 0
35. Produce during the year - Hemp -Dew Rotted (Tons): 0
36. Produce during the year - Hemp -Water Rotted (Tons): 0
38. Produce during the year - Hemp -Other Prepared (Tons): 0
39. Produce during the year - Flax (Lbs): 0
40. Produce during the year - Flax seed (Bush): 0
41. Produce during the year - Silk cocoons (lbs): 0
42. Produce during the year - Sugar - Maple (Lbs): 0
43. Produce during the year - Sugar - Cane (1000 Lbs): 0
44. Produce during the year - Molasses (Gallons): 0
45. Produce during the year - Bees - Wax (Lbs): 0
46. Produce during the year - Bees - Honey (Lbs): 170
47. Produce during the year - Value of home manufacture ($): 0
48. Produce during the year - Value of animals slaughtered or sold for slaughter ($): 50
From this, we can see that Henry Carringer's 160 acre farm (100 acres improved) produced 6 bushels of wheat, 25 bushels of rye, 50 bushels of Indian corn, 201 bushels of oats, 50 bushels of Irish potatoes, 75 bushels of buckwheat, 600 pounds of butter, 25 tons of hay, 30 pounds of bee honey, and $50 worth of animals slaughtered, for the year ending June 1, 1860. Presumably, the rest of the farm production was used on the farm itself or traded for other commodities with other producers. The farm was valued at $3,200, his equipment at $90, and his livestock at $343 on June 1, 1860.
Isn't that a great record? It;s a snapshot of the possessions and livelihood of one man and his family for one year.
Don't we all wish we had information like this for all of our ancestors? I need to look for more Agricultural Census records for my farmer ancestors in the Midwest.
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