HICKMAN COUNTY, TN 1860 FEDERAL CENSUS TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: Prepared by Donald Robbins Transcription aid by Betty Hawley Checked by D. K. Robbins Oct. 27, 2011 Census Sheet's Format ------------------------------- Census Sheet Header Information ------------------------------- Each Census Sheet consists of 40 lines. The Header information contains a place for the Date of entry, Post Office, The County Name (Hickman) and the name of the recorder of the information. ------------------------------- Census Sheet Detail information ------------------------------- Column 1 - Dwelling - houses numbered in the order of visitation Column 2 - Families, numbered in the order of visitation Column 3 - The name of every person whose usual place of abode on the first day of June, 1860 was in this family Column 4 - Age Column 5 - Sex Column 6 - Color, White, Black or Mulatto or Indian Column 7 - Profession, Occupation or Trade of each person, male and female, over 15 years of age Column 8 - Value of Real Estate Column 9 - Value of Personal Estate Column 10 - Place of Birth, Naming the State, Territory, or Country Column 11 - Married within the year Column 12 - Attended School within the year Column 13 - Person over 20 who could not read or write Column 14 - Whether deaf & dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper or convict In the interest of getting the information transcribed to an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, some adjustments were made in the format of the transcription. A new line was created, which contains the Page Number and Line Number that the information was transcribed from. The Surname is in Caps, along with the date of the census page, the census district, the Post Office, and the information from Column 1 and Column 2. The information from Columns 11, 12, 13 was encoded following the Column 10 information, Place of Birth. The encoding is: M, for married within the year, S, for attending school within the year, and I, for illiterate for a check in Column 13 for persons over 20 who could not read or write. The information from Column 14 is added, as is, to the person's line. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The information for the 1860 Census for Hickman County consists of 205 pages. The information for Hickman County is on Microfilm Reel M653-1257 The Enumerator was J. R. Cunningham, at P053-21. COUNTS Number of White Males 3921 Number of White Females 4027 Number of Black Males 2 Number of Black Females 8 Number of Mulatto Males 2 Number of Mulatto Females 2 Number of Students 1736 Number of Illiterates 1082 Number of Married 60 in the last year Number of twins 36 PLACES OF BIRTH Tennessee 6590 Virginia 153 North Carolina 444 Kentucky 51 South Carolina 149 Pennsylvania 10 Indiana 6 Maryland 29 Ireland 11 Georgia 37 NY 3 Ohio 1 Conneticut 1 Alabama 44 Missouri 11 Germany 1 Illinois 14 Miss 35 Arkansas 33 Scotland 1 Unknown 6 OCCUPATIONS by name appt 1 Artist 1 Black Smith 13 Black Smith* 1 Brick Layer 4 Brick Mason 1 clerk 9 Cabinent Maker 5 Carpenter 9 Clerk 1 Cnty Clk Ct 1 Day Laborer 15 Dentist 1 Distiller 1 Ditcher 1 Engineer 1 Farm Laborer 432 Farmer 995 Founder 1 Grocer 7 Gun Smith* 1 Hatter 1 Hotel Keeper 1 Lawyer 4 Machinist 3 Manufactuer 2 MD 13 MD* 1 Mechanic 26 Mechanic* 12 Merchant 10 Merchant* 1 Meth Min* 1 Midshipman 1 Miller 7 Miller* 1 Nursery Man 1 overseer 3 Potter 1 Saddler 8 Seamstress 2 Shoe Maker 9 Shoe Maker* 1 Stone Fences 1 Stone Mason 1 Surveyor 1 Tanner 1 Taylor 3 Teacher 20 Teacher* 1 Tobacconist 4 Waggon Maker 2 Waggoner 2 Wagon Maker 4 INFIRMITIES & OTHERS blind 3 cripple 2 deaf & dumb 1 deaf & dumb 1 deaf 5 dumb 1 Gentleman 7 idiot & pauper 3 idiot 5 idiotic 1 insane & pauper 1 insane 3 Lady 1 pauper 1 twin 36 Widow 146 OCCUPATIONS by frequencies Farmer 995 Farm Laborer 432 Mechanic 26 Mechanic* 12 Teacher 20 Teacher* 1 Day Laborer 15 Black Smith 13 Black Smith* 1 MD 13 MD* 1 clerk 10 Merchant 10 Shoe Maker 9 Shoe Maker* 1 Carpenter 9 Saddler 8 Miller 7 Miller* 1 Grocer 7 Brick Layer 4 Lawyer 4 Tobacconist 4 Wagon Maker 4 Machinist 3 overseer 3 Taylor 3 Manufactuer 2 Seamstress 2 Waggon Maker 2 Waggoner 2 appt 1 Artist 1 Brick Mason 1 Cnty Clk Ct 1 Dentist 1 Distiller 1 Ditcher 1 Engineer 1 Founder 1 Gun Smith* 1 Hatter 1 Hotel Keeper 1 Merchant* 1 Meth Min* 1 Midshipman 1 Nursery Man 1 Potter 1 Stone Fences 1 Stone Mason 1 Surveyor 1 Tanner 1 Transcriber's notes: Some of the occupations are marked with an asterisk (*). This indicates they also farmed. There was a centarian: Juda Walker @ P165-18 For Hickman County, the residence number and the family number are the same. This number is displayed after the Surname in the Title line. History of Hickman County, Tennessee HICKMAN COUNTY'S RICH HISTORY The history of Hickman County began before Tennessee achieved statehood in 1796. In April 1791, Edwin Hickman, a native of North Carolina, led a surveying party into what is now Hickman County. Hickman's party included James Robertson, later known as the Father of Middle Tennessee; Robert Weakley, who also played a prominent role n the early history of the state; and others. The party camped at the mouth of a small creek on the north side of Duck River opposite the present site of Centerville. The next morning, as Hickman and Robertson built a pre-dawn fire, Indians fired on the party, killing Hickman and wounding Robertson in the hand. The party retreated to the Cumberland settlement, but returned several days later to bury Hickman's body in a shallow grave at the spot where he was killed. In December 1807, when the Tennessee General Assembly created a new county, then Representative Robert Weakley attached an amendment to the bill specifying that the new county should be named in honor of Edwin Hickman. In 1994, the Hickman County Historical Society placed a monument at Hickman's grave and built a fence around the gravesite. In 1807, the county extended all the way to the present Alabama State line, and Vernon, on the Piney River, became the first county seat. By 1820, several new counties had been created out of Hickman County, and a movement began to move the county seat to a more central location. In 1823, the new town of Centerville became the county seat. As a result of the bitterness over the change, the old log courthouse at Vernon was dismantled at night and hauled to Centerville, along with the court records. Other Hickman County communities in addition to Centerville and Vernon include Aetna, Bon Aqua, Coble, Farmers Exchange, Little Lot, Lyles, Nunnelly, Only, Pinewood, Pleasantville, Shady Grove and Wrigley. Hickman County is now the eighth largest county in the state and contains 612 square miles. There are more springs and scenic waterfalls in Hickman County than any other county in Middle Tennessee. A number of sulphur water springs were commercially developed as nineteenth century recreational sites, including Bon Aqua Springs, Primm Springs, and Beaverdam Springs. These health resorts include hotels, individual cottages, and recreation facilities. Bon Aqua Springs was known as the Queen of the southern spas. Neither Bon Aqua nor Primm Springs is still active, but Beavedam Springs is operated as a church camp by the Presbyterian Church as Na-Co-Me. The county's early industry centered around the iron furnaces. Indeed, Goodspeed's 1886 History of Tennessee rated Hickman County's iron ore as the best in the state. The Lee and Gould Furnace on Sugar Creek opened in 1832. Five years later, Madison Napier built a furnace near Aetna, which was destroyed by Union troops during the Civil War. Furnaces also opened on Mill Creek near Wrigley at an early date. Standard Charcoal Company opened a furnace at Goodrich in 1882; and a new furnace was built at Aetna in 1885. All iron works in the county were discontinued before 1940. In addition to iron manufacturing, Hickman County's economy has centered on agriculture and timbering. Today, Hickman County's industry includes manufacturers of packaging materials, metal buttons, various wood products, structural steel, pies, ammunition, and illuminated signs. Two native Hickman County women gained national fame: Beth Slater Whitson and Sara Ophelia Colley Cannon. Whitson wrote several hundred songs, including Let Me Call You Sweetheart and Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland. Cannon gained world acclaim as Minnie Pearl on the Grand Ole Opry and the television show Hee Haw. A number of men played important roles in the county's history. Jerome Spence published Spence's History of Hickman County in 1900. S.L. Graham built large cotton mill at Pinewood in the 1850's. Halbert Harvill began his career in education teaching in a one-room school house. He later taught history and organized and coached the first baseball team and the girl's basketball team at Austin Peay Normal School. Harvill was Dean of the school and President of Austin Peay University before becoming Tennessee Commissioner of Education. He served in the Tennessee Senate from 1965 until 1981. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - THE STORY TELLERS We are the chosen. My feelings are, in each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know, and approve. To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do? It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers. That, is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. Author unknown The 1860 Census or Lots of Questions Answered The 1860 Census lists a dwelling number and family number and each sheet lists the county as well as town and post office name. Questions answered on the 1860 census include, name, age and sex of each individual; color, occupation, value of real and personal property; birthplace, whether married within the year (m.y.), whether attended school, can read or write and the date of the enumeration. Also included are boxes to indicate if an individual was a pauper or convict. Here is an article published in 1859 about the upcoming 1860 census: Friday September 23, 1859 Weekly Star THE NEXT CENSUS The year 1860 is the time appointed for taking the eighth census of the United States. From having been originally a simple enumeration's of persons, this Federal census has grown to be a decennial register of the number of inhabitants and their occupation, religious denominations & c, and also a statement of the commerce, manufacturers, arts and industry, and the wealth of the nation. The collection of these statistics has hitherto been attended with immense labor and difficulty. The inquiries of the census takers have not only been baffled by the stupidity and perverseness and ignorance of many to whom they were addressed; but it has been impossible to obtain accurate information upon important subjects because the parties; who alone are presumed capable of imparting it, have never taken the trouble to inform themselves. It often occurs that, in the absence of the head of a family no other member of it is able to give the information required; for instance as to the ages of the different members or it, or the amount of land in cultivation, the number of negroes and their ages, the quantity and value of horses, mules and oxen, etc., or of farming implements or farm products. In town and country similar difficulties are continually met with by the marshals appointed to collect these statistics, and the census is consequently returned incomplete. It is probably that while care will be observed to prevent any frauds or excess in the publication of the next census, it will be ordered by Congress to be taken so as to include all the most important items of information in regard to the progress of our population and our country. In view of this contingency the Nashville News very sensibly suggest that each farmer, this fall , as he gathers his crops, shall keep something like an accurate account of the quality and value of the same; and if he will take the trouble to make out a statement of the names and ages of his family; the number and ages of his servants, the number and value of his horses and mules; the number of bales of cotton, barrels of corn, bushels of wheat, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, etc., and leave it in some place where any member of the family, who may be at home when the deputy marshal shall call, can readily get hold of it, it will save time to all concerned, and very greatly assist to make the census return perfect, complete and satisfactory.