The Washington herald., 1907-09-15

The first census OF the United State.
! G79D comprised an enumeration Of th'
inhabitants cf tie present States Of Con
/ Maine Maryland. Massachusetts. New
Hampshire New Jersey, New York, Nortl
/ Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island
/ South Carolina, Tennessee. Vermont, ant
I Virginia
\ complete set Of the schedules fol
each State. with "a summary for the
counties. and In many cases for towns
was filed in the state Department, but
unfortunately they are not now complete
the returns for the States OF Delaware
Georgia. Kentucky. New Jersey. Tennes-
see, and Virginia having been destroyed
when the British burned the Capitol al
Washington during the War OF lSl2.
These schedules form a unique Inherit
ance for the nation. since they represent
for each of the States concerned "a com
plete list of the heads of families in the
United States at the tine Of the adoption
Of the Constitution. The trainers were
the statesmen and leaders OF thought,
but those whose names appear upon the
schedules of the first census were in
general the plain citizens, who. by their
conduct iu war and peace. made the Con-
stitution possible and by their intelu-
gence and self-restraint put 1t into sue
cessfuI operation.
The total population OF the United
States in 1920. exclusive OF slaves. as
derived from the schedules. was 3, ,251, ,533
The only names appearing upon the
schedules. however. were those of heads
Of families, and as at that period the
families averaged six persons. the total
number was approximately $4,000. or
slightly more than half a million. The
number Of names which is now lacking
because Of the destruction of the sched-
ules is Approximately 10000, thus leaving
schedules containing about 10000 names.
The information contained in the pub
lished report Of the first census OF the
United States. a small volume of fifty
six pages, was not uniform for the sew
eral States and Territories. For New
England and one or two Of the other
counties and towns. that of New Jersey
appeared partly by counties and towns,
and partly by counties only; in other
cases the returns were given by counties
only. Thus the complete transcript of the
names of heads Of families, with accom-
panying information, would present for
the first time detailed information as
90 the number Of inhabitants-maies, fe-
males. &c.-for each minor civil division
in all Of those States for which such In
was not originally published.
In response to repeated requests from
patriotic societies and persons interested
In genealogy, or desirous OF studying the
early history of the United States. Con
gress added to the sundry civil appropria-
ton bill for TIE fiscal year 1897 the follow
ing paragraph:
The Director cf the Census is hereby authorized
and directed TO publish, in a permanent form by
C. .uutcs ai.l minr civil divisions. tie naIaes q
he heads II families returned az thc FIRST cgusIs
u thc United States in 1890 and the Director Of
the Census is authorized. IN his discretion. sell
aid labhcatcns. the proceeds Thereof 90 b, covered
into the Treasury # the United States 10 be de-
1ositcd 90 the CTdt Il miscellaneous receipts on ac
count a proceeds Of sales # gOvUnmCnt property
Provided that no cxu,nsc shall lc incurred here
mdcr additional 10 arTrorr.aticus fCr the Census
Office fer printing thtr-sr made fr the fiscal wear
e7 and the D!-Cc;or of the Census Is hereby di-
acted 90 rlvrJ 20 congress at its scssioa the
'cs5 ucnrr h,r-IJd.r end thc price fixed : = said
publications ard the total received thrrCfer.
Tho amount of money appropriated 10y
congress for the census printing for the
!scal year mentioned was unfortunately
Tot sufficient 10 meet the current re-
pdremsnt of the Office. and to publish
he transcription Of the first census. and
10 provision was made IN the sunGfy civil |
appropriation biz fer 1905 for the c0ntiuu- |
,nce Of authority to publish these I'm |
,ortant records beyond the present fiscal |
rear. Resources, however, are available |
or publishing a small section Of the |
work. and the schedules Of New Hamp-