John Hart (1797-1864): His Life in the Census

   

from Ancestry

     As promised, let's explore together John Hart's appearances in the U.S. Censuses. Fortunately, he appears in every possible U.S. Census from 1800 to 1860. Unfortunately, in the one New York State Census, that of 1855, he cannot be found because the census pages from the area of St. Lawrence county were he was living at the time are not available.

     John first appears in the 1800 Census, not as a name but as a number, since the first U.S. Censuses only named the head of household and just counted the rest according to age group and gender. We find him in the household of his father, Stephen Hart, in Stillwater, Saratoga County, New York. As John was born in 1797, he would have been about three years old at the time, and is included as one of two males under the age of ten, the other presumably being his brother Richard, who would have been about one year old.

     Similarly, in 1810, after Stephen has taken the family to Lewis County, New York, John would be one of the boys who are in the household aged 10 to 15. Again he shows up in Stephen's household in 1820 now as one of the two males who are from 16 to 25.

     By 1830, John is the head of his own household in Pinckney, New York, as he has married Sally (Sarah) Wright Merriam in 1820, and started his family. He is the one male between 20 and 29 despite being about 33 years old. His wife is listed as also being between 20 and 29, despite being about 34 years old. (This is odd). Four of his five daughters born by 1830 listed in the family Bible page from Melvin Hart's Civil War pension file are accounted for (two females under five, likely Alvira and Delilah, and two females from five to nine, likely Chloe and Lovina). The other daughter, Aldula, born in 1823, and thought to have died as a child, is likely the one not listed, as all of the other daughters lived to adulthood. There is an additional male between the ages of 10 and 14, who may have been a nephew of the couple, or one of John's youngest three brothers.

     The 1840 Census shows John still living in Pinckney, and all the children thought to be living at that time are accounted for, as his wife, in the numbers. The only anomaly is that there is a daughter listed as being between five and nine, and it seems that this is meant to be Delilah, despite her being about eleven at the time. This time, both John and Sarah are in the correct age ranges (40 to 49).

By the time of 1850 Census, which is the first U.S. Census in which all of the household members are named, John and his family are now living in the town of Hermon in St. Lawrence County. John is a 53 year old farmer born in New York, and his wife is 53 and born in Connecticut. Four of their children are living with them: James 16 (a laborer), Phebe 14, Hester Ann 11, and Melvin 7. All four children have attended school in the past year, and all were born in New York.

     In the 1860 Census, the last in which John appears, he is back living in Pinckney, New York with his wife “Sarah” and his youngest daughter, “Hester A. Main”. Hester has married Samuel Main within the previous year, and is a 21 year old “domestic”, born in New York. John is a 63 year old farmer, also born in New York. The value of his “real estate” is $250.00, and his “personal estate” is valued at $931.00. His wife is a “housewife” born in Connecticut. 

     Although John dies in 1864 in Minnesota, his wife Sarah appears twice more in censuses. First, she appears in the 1865 Minnesota State Census, where she is living in Forest, Rice County, Minnesota, with her son, Melvin, in the household of her son, Joel, who is married and has two children. Finally, she appears in the 1870 U.S. Census living in Walcott, Rice County, Minnesota, with her daughter Delilah Glazier and her family. Sarah is a 74-year-old  “retired housekeeper” born in Connecticut.

    So that it is clear that I am not mistaking my John Hart with another John Hart who also lived in Lewis County, I checked through the Census data on Ancestry, and found a few others who lived in Lewis County from 1840 to 1915. None of them could be mistaken for my John as their birthdates ranged from 1823 to 1847.

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