31 August 2013

My 1870 Census Problem

On Genealogy Tip of the Day's Facebook page, we got to discussing "missing" people in the 1870 census. Here is a summary of one of my people I cannot find in the 1870 census. This post is somewhat "informal" and off-the-cuff. If clarifications are needed, we'll put those in red if this post is updated. This post is sans-citations--the census records are easily located online at FamilySearch and Ancestry.com.

About Ira


Ira Sargent (or Ira William Sargent) was born about 1843 in Ontario, Canada, to Clark and Mary (Dingman) Sargent. The Sargents moved to Winnebago County, Illinois, where Clark died before Mary (Dingman) Sargent married Asa Landon in the late 1840s. The Landons left Illinois for Iowa by the 1856 census in Iowa and were in Christian County, Missouri, by 1860.

1850 Owen, Winnebago County, Illinois Census
  • Asa Landon, aged 41, male, farmer, $400 real estate, born Canada
  • Mary Landon, aged 39, female, born Canada
  • Emma Landon, aged 10, female, born Canada
  • Lucretia Landon, aged 8, female, born Canada
  • Ira Landon, aged 6, male, born New York
  • Martha Landon, aged 4, female, born Illinois
  • Minerva Landon, aged 2, female, born Illinois
  • Edwin Landon, aged 3/12, male, born Illinois
  • Nelson Witesall, aged 25, male, born Canada
The family is enumerated in 1856 in Davis County, Iowa


1860 Census, Benton Township, Christian County, Missouri
  • Asa Landon, aged 62, male, farmer, New York
  • Luxesy, aged 18, female, born New York
  • Martha, aged 16, female, born Canada?
  • Ira[nn?], aged 14, female, born Illinois
  • [Mariana?], aged 12, female, born Illinois
  • Edwin [T?], aged 9, male, born Illinois
  • Roxey, aged 7, female, born Illinois
In October of 1870, in Davis County, Iowa, Ira Sargent married Ellen Butler--as indicated in the county marriage records. Asa Landon and his two biological children left Missouri and headed to Michigan and Ontario in theh 1860s. The Sargent children remained in the United States with Ira's sisters marrying in Davis County, Iowa, in the early 1880s. By 1880, Ira is in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, and he remains in Hancock-Adams County, Illinois, area for the remainder of his life.

He most likely is in or near Davis County, Iowa, in 1870, but cannot be located. There are other Ira Sargents in Iowa in 1870 but they are not the Ira of this post.



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Most people are missed in a census because they are moving from one location to another at the time the census is being taken.

Bubba said...

That is possible--he could simply not be enumerated. It's possible too that he's simply nearby under a spelling or transcription that I've not guessed is him.

Another real possibility is that he's working as a day laborer on a farm and simply did not get counted.

Anonymous said...

Oh...this is a tough one!
Debra

Anonymous said...

This might be a dumb question, but have you search through each page of the district where Ellen Butler was enumerated on the 1870 census? Does the marriage record list where he resided at the time of the marriage?
I have used my usual tricks to find the hidden on the census and your guy is definitely hidden or just plain not there.
Debra

Bubba said...

Debra-

I've gone through the district in 1870 where his future wife lived as you asked. I was hoping he was living near her a few short months before their marriage--but it didn't do the trick (although it might not hurt to try it again).

I search Davis County, Iowa, for men his age born in New York or Canada--without a name--thinking that there wouldn't be that many men in the area from that location. There weren't too many, but none were a close enough match.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely a wild shot. There is a family living in Monegaw, St Clair, Missouri in 1870
Asa Landon 26 (Canada)
Mariah L Landon 22 (Missouri)
Un named Landon 1/12 (born in May)
Henriett E Yannce 16
Census scan is very light and Asa could very well be Ira. Is it possible, Ira married, his wife died and he remarried Ellen Butler and she raised his 1 month old son.?

Anonymous said...

Could this be a possibility?

1870 United States Federal Census
Name: Ezra Landon
Age in 1870: 25
Birth Year: abt 1845
Birthplace: Canada
Home in 1870: Vienna, Grundy, Illinois
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Morris

Farmer in the household of Gardner T and Elizabeth Gorham