From: mack@epcot.spdc.ti.com (Caren Mack)
Subject: Re: Clay Co., MO Gallatin Twp...SOLVED
Organization: TI Semiconductor Process and Design Center
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 15:03:42 GMT

     I think this is a good question that I recieved very good answers to
that would be of interest to everyone.  Thanks a bunch to those who took
the time to answer!

Original question...

In article <1992Jul27.200441.7365@spdc.ti.com> mack@epcot.spdc.ti.com (Caren Mack) writes:
>     I have a situation that doesn't make any sense.  I found one of my
>families in Clay County, MO living in Gallatin township for the years
>1850, 1860 and 1880.  But, the present day city/town of Gallatin is in
>Daviess County a couple counties away.  When I check the books for the 
>county boundary lines in the years for 1850, 60 & 80 it shows that 
>Gallatine "never" was in the county of Clay but was in Ray and Daviess created
>from there.  I have the copies of the census records and it plainly says 
>Gallatin and it "is" under Clay county. 
>
>     So what do I have going on here???  
>
>     Thanks!
>
>          Caren Mack... Dallas, Texas                     mack@spdc.ti.com

Answers...

From: usr1649a@tso.uc.EDU (Kenneth Roberts)
Subject: Gallatin Township

Hi caren,

Could it be that the confusion is because of the definitions of "town"
and "township"?
 
Townships are geographical subdivisions of counties which contain towns
and cities and appear on the census records since the census takers were
assigned on the basis of township. Usually, township names appear only
on county maps, not on state maps. Not all states use the township
designation.
 
Hope this helps,
 
Ken Roberts
Petersburg, Ky
usr1649a@tso.uc.edu

========================

From: Karen Isaacson <karen@monty.rand.org>

Hi Caren,

What's going on here?  Well, townships and towns aren't the same thing,
basically, and it isn't unusual for the names to overlap.  Center,
for example, is a popular township name, and often is given to a
township near the middle of the county.  There can be many townships
with the same name, all within a single state.  (I don't think
Pennsylvania allowed this, by the way.)

Maybe someone in the group will treat us to a history of surveying,
and explain when townships came into use (they're mainly used in
"western" states such as Indiana) and how big they usually are
(square, ten miles to a side??? just guessing...).

Anyhow, I assume you're trying to get a handle on where, within
Clay Co., Gallatin Township was located.  This I don't know, off
hand.  Some of the census indexes I have seen have maps in the
front showing how each county is divided up.  The commercial atlas
at my FHC similarly does this.  Was the Post Office filled in on
any of those censuses?  (Top of the page, but only some census
decades, I'm not sure which off the top of my head.)  That would
be a nearby town (not township) and might show up on a regular map.

Karen
karen@rand.org

==========================

From jsanders@phys.ksu.edu Mon Jul 27 18:49:42 1992

Caren,

It is a pleasure to help a fellow Texan out.  Townships in Missouri
correspond roughly to County Commissioner's precincts in Texas.  The counties
name their townships rather than numbering them.  And the counties duplicate
a lot of names.  So there are at least
two Platte townships (one in Clay Co) for example.  Anyway, Gallatin
township contains the city of Gladstone and is just across the Missouri
River from downtown Kansas City.  It is the southwestern corner of Clay
Co.
-- 
Justin M. Sanders    "The world was made for people who aren't 
Dept. of Physics         cursed with self-awareness."
Kansas State Univ.            -- Annie Savoy in "Bull Durham"

==========================

From @CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu:LINDA@UCSFVM.BITNET Mon Jul 27 17:18:47 1992

You might write the Clay County Archives & Historical Library,Inc
P.O. Box 99, Liberty, Missouri 64068.  They have been extremely helpful
to me.  Perhaps Clay County also had a Gallatin Twp which was renamed.

THE END.....


Thanks again to all!
     Caren Mack... Dallas, Texas                     mack@spdc.ti.com

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