1830 Census Question

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

While digging around in an attempt to find out more about my Henry ancestors, I stumbled onto a Nilson Henry census record in 1830 (my ancestor is Nelson Henry, so I'm tentatively assuming this is him). What I found unusual was he had 7 free colored people in his household. While I realize free African Americans were common in the north, my ancestor lived in Fauquier County Virginia. I'm aware of pockets of free of African Americans in places like New Orleans, Charleston, and some other larger cities, I just find it out of the ordinary for him to have so many and a number of them quite young. Would it be fair to assume they worked for him? In the 1840 census none of the freed African Americans are with him. Thoughts? Anyone know anything historical about this situation or seen it before?

Name Nilson Henry
Home in 1830 (City, County, State) Fauquier, Virginia
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5 - 2
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39 - 1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5 - 1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9 - 1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39 - 1
Free Colored Persons - Males - Under 10 - 2
Free Colored Persons - Males - 10 thru 23 - 1
Free Colored Persons - Females - Under 10 - 3
Free Colored Persons - Females - 36 thru 54 - 1
Free White Persons - Under 20 - 4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49 - 2
Total Free White Persons 6
Total Free Colored Persons 7
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored) 13

 

[Sid J.]

While digging around in an attempt to find out more about my Henry ancestors, I stumbled onto a Nilson Henry census record in 1830 (my ancestor is Nelson Henry, so I'm tentatively assuming this is him). What I found unusual was he had 7 free colored people in his household. While I realize free African Americans were common in the north, my ancestor lived in Fauquier County Virginia. I'm aware of pockets of free of African Americans in places like New Orleans, Charleston, and some other larger cities, I just find it out of the ordinary for him to have so many and a number of them quite young. Would it be fair to assume they worked for him? In the 1840 census none of the freed African Americans are with him. Thoughts? Anyone know anything historical about this situation or seen it before?

Name Nilson Henry
Home in 1830 (City, County, State) Fauquier, Virginia
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5 - 2
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39 - 1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5 - 1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9 - 1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39 - 1
Free Colored Persons - Males - Under 10 - 2
Free Colored Persons - Males - 10 thru 23 - 1
Free Colored Persons - Females - Under 10 - 3
Free Colored Persons - Females - 36 thru 54 - 1
Free White Persons - Under 20 - 4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49 - 2
Total Free White Persons 6
Total Free Colored Persons 7
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored) 13

Might they have taken on boarders? VA statewide had 47,000 free blacks in 1830, only Maryland had more. With the demise of the UVA Census Browser I can't break out the numbers for Fauquier Co., but statewide about 10% of the black population was free in 1830.

 

[AndyHall]

Without knowing anything else, that looks like an adult African American woman and her six children. Perhaps she was a cook or housekeeper.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

Might they have taken on boarders? VA statewide had 47,000 free blacks in 1830, only Maryland had more. With the demise of the UVA Census Browser I can't break out the numbers for Fauquier Co., but statewide about 10% of the black population was free in 1830.

Interesting, thanks! I had no idea there were so many free blacks in 1830 in Virginia. As for the issue of them being boarders, anything is possible. I'm trying to find Nelson Henry's parents and a will they may have had which might help explain the situation, too.

Without knowing anything else, that looks like an adult African American woman and her six children. Perhaps she was a cook or housekeeper.

Thanks! I didn't think of that avenue. Makes sense as the age ranges for the children of freed blacks in one category goes from 10 to 23 which is a large range. I was under the impression that person was closer to the 23 instead of 10.

Those early censuses are annoying as they only give you a smidgen of information to go on and everything else is inferences and guesswork unless you turn up other more sustainable documents elsewhere.

 

[nitrofd]

I do not know how it is in Virginia but I was researching families in the 1850 and 1860 censuses of Alachua County,Florida.what I found was that there were two census for each year.one was for the white people in the county and the other was a slave census.the slave census lists the owners name and then the slaves that 5hey owned on by call name,sex,and age.I did not find any free blacks at that time.so did Virginia have a separates census for both whites and blacks.

 

[Allie]

I have a similar situation with my Sawyer family from North Carolina. In their case, it appears they were in the process of emancipating slaves who had just been inherited, before moving out of state.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

I do not know how it is in Virginia but I was researching families in the 1850 and 1860 censuses of Alachua County,Florida.what I found was that there were two census for each year.one was for the white people in the county and the other was a slave census.the slave census lists the owners name and then the slaves that 5hey owned on by call name,sex,and age.I did not find any free blacks at that time.so did Virginia have a separates census for both whites and blacks.

The federal census did have separate censuses for slaves and free people. I believe it's called the slave schedule and was only done in the years you mentioned. I ran into a family member who owned some slaves and found them there. Free blacks in the South seem difficult to track unless they are in their own household. Shame they didn't account for names of everyone in the household regardless of color or status.

I have a similar situation with my Sawyer family from North Carolina. In their case, it appears they were in the process of emancipating slaves who had just been inherited, before moving out of state.

I had wondered if they inherited these freed people rather recently and were in the process of freeing them perhaps at the request of a will. It seemed a plausible possibility. Especially given the odd circumstance of Nelson Henry's Find-a-Grave site (I'm unsure it's my Nelson Henry) as the information is sketchy, but he's buried with a Samuel Pannell (there are no Pannells in the family tree I know of or ever found before), so I looked him up. He's an African American man who from his census information could have been one of the freed colored children listed in the 1830 census. I'm now looking into the cemetery where they are buried together. It's in Lynchburg, Va. The plot thickens.

 

[nitrofd]

I think the free blacks were difficult to trace since in most cases they were not property owners.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

I have some relatives who were indentured servants and as they owned no land by the time of the 1790 census and for a time after, I can't track them down properly either! Darn the wealthy elite!