RHEA COUNTY, TN 1860 FEDERAL CENSUS http://ftp.us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/xtn/rhea/1860/ ------------------------------- TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: ------------------------------- Prepared by Donald Robbins Transcription aid by Betty Hawley Checked by D. K. Robbins June 30, 2005 (revised November 18, 2005) 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 (Rhea) 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 of the Microfilm reel (reel Series M653, Roll # 1268) 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 from the microfilm for the 1860 Census for Rhea County consists of 113 pages. COUNTS There were 778 family units in Rhea county. There were 778 Housing Units in Rhea County. There were 8884 free individuals in Rhea County. Number of White Males 2295 Number of White Females 2282 Number of Black Males 5 Number of Black Females 2 Number of Mulatto Males 2 Number of Mulatto Females 4 Number of Students 750 Number of Illiterates 410 Number of Married 44 PLACES OF BIRTH Tennessee 3935 North Carolina 136 Virginia 123 South Carolina 65 Kentucky 28 Georgia 23 Conneticut 9 Pennsylvania 6 New York 4 Alabama 3 Maryland 3 Indiana 3 Ohio 2 Mississippi 1 ------------------------------- OCCUPATIONS ------------------------------- Alphabetically adopted 1 artist 1 blind 3 bound 8 Bapt Min 2 Black Smith 26 Brick Mason 1 clerk 5 Candy Maker 1 Carpenter 21 Carriage Maker 1 Chair Maker 1 Clocking Officer 1 Closing Officer 1 Colier 2 Cooper 1 County Clerk 1 deaf & dumb 3 dumb, can t walk 1 Day Laborer 8 Dentist 3 Farm Laborer 22 Farmer 641 Fisherman 1 Hammerman 1 House Keeper 3 Itinerant 1 Lawyer 2 Mail Rider 1 Mason 1 Mechant 1 Merchant 11 Meth Min 1 Miller 7 Millwright 1 Minister 1 pauper 1 Physician 7 Sadler 1 Shoe Maker 1 Shot Maker 2 Silver Smith 1 Taylor 4 Teacher 14 Tinner 1 Trader 4 Wagon Maker 7 ------------------------------- VOCATIONS ------------------------------- by frequency Farmer 641 Black Smith 26 Farm Laborer 22 Carpenter 21 Teacher 14 Merchant 11 Day Laborer 8 Miller 7 Physician 7 Wagon Maker 7 clerk 5 Taylor 4 Trader 4 Dentist 3 House Keeper 3 Bapt Min 2 Colier 2 Lawyer 2 Shot Maker 2 artist 1 Brick Mason 1 Candy Maker 1 Carriage Maker 1 Chair Maker 1 Clocking Officer 1 Closing Officer 1 Cooper 1 County Clerk 1 Fisherman 1 Hammerman 1 Mail Rider 1 Mason 1 Mechant 1 Meth Min 1 Millwright 1 Minister 1 Sadler 1 Shoe Maker 1 Silver Smith 1 Tinner 1 Infirmities blind 3 deaf & dumb 3 dumb, can t walk 1 Other bound 8 adopted 1 Itinerant 1 pauper 1 ------------------------------- Transcribers notes: ------------------------------- S. R. HACKETT at P113-34 was the enumerator for Rhea County. We guess, if you are the enumerator, you can end the enumeration at your residence. The enumerators did not list any vacant residences in Rhea County A dollar is worth twenty at today's rate of exchange. RHEA COUNTY HISTORY IN THE BEGINNING.... The area that is now Rhea County was originally occupied by the Cherokee and ceded by treaty. Large areas of land were also acquired by North Carolina land grants. As early as 1760, Elisha Weldon (Walding, Wallen, Wallins, Walling, Walden) visited the area. In 1768 Thomas Hutchins made a survey of the Tennessee River. Early Rhea County deed books indicate that a group of men made a trip to the Muscle Shoals area in 1783 and may have filed for warrants on the land when they returned to North Carolina. The Tellico Treaty of 1805 with the Cherokee extended the boundaries to a line due west from the mouth of the Hiwassee River. From 1805 to 1807, the area that is now Rhea County was in Roane County. Before that, it was part of Knox, Hawkins and Sullivan Counties. Most of the North Carolina land grants were in the area previously known as Hawkins County. In 1803 and 1806, the Hiwassee and Sail Creek Indian schools were established by the Reverend Gideon Blackburn, followed closely by the building of the Hiwassee Garrison and Indian Agency which was managed by the Indian Agent, Return J. Meigs. An 1809 List of Officers and Regulars in Captain Thomas J. VanDyke's Company has survived the ravages of time and gives us the names of early immigrants to the area. In 1816 the garrison was moved to a new site due to a conflict over the ownership of the land. Charles McClung filed a suit against Meigs claiming that he had purchased the land in 1807 from John Donelson (who had been granted the land by North Carolina in 1788). As in other counties, much of the land acquired by early settlers was a result of laws passed by the Tennessee State Legislature 1806-1809 which allowed a settler to claim the land he was living on as well as other unclaimed lands. To learn the names of some of these early settlers, look at the 1808 Tax list. After the county was formed in 1807, many small boundary changes continued to be made. These changes returned a small portion of Rhea to Roane in 1815. Other changes were made between Rhea and Bledsoe (1821), Hamilton (1821 and 1833), and McMinn (1833). In some cases, Legislative acts changed boundary lines to accommodate citizens with land in two counties. In 1836 Meigs County was created from Rhea. Research in early Rhea County can involve the counties of Roane, Knox, Hawkins, Sullivan, Bledsoe, Hamilton, Meigs and McMinn. FORMATION OF THE COUNTY In October, 1807 a bill was presented in the Tennessee Legislature to reduce the size of Roane County and create two new counties. The names for the new counties were Bledsoe and Cumberland. At the suggestion of the Grainger County Representative, John Cocke and the Montgomery County Representative, Willie Blount, the name Cumberland was struck out and replaced with Rhea. The bill was sent to Governor Sevier in November and returned with his signature on December 3rd, 1807. The original boundaries were changed in 1809 to place the dividing line between Rhea and Roane Counties at White's Creek. In 1815, a small portion of Rhea County lying north of White's Creek was returned to Roane County. In 1817 another Legislative Act enlarged Rhea County and eliminated a large part of present day Hamilton County from Rhea. Other Boundary changes were made in 1817, 1819, 1821, and 1833. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - 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 thefamily, 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.