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Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. the Territorial

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Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. the Territorial COlLECTIONS If OF THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE TERRITORIAL CENSUS FOR'1836. OF WISCONSIN BY THE EDI'.rOR. In th~ act of Congress approved April 20, 1836, establis4­ ing the Territorial government of Wisconsin, it was pro· vided (sec. 4) that "Previously to the first election" the governor of the Territory shall cause t4e census or enu- '. meration of the inhabitants of the. several counties in the EDITED AND ANNOTATED territory to be taken or made by the sheriffs of said coun­ By REUBEN GOLD THWAITES ties, respectively, and returns thereof made by the said Corresponding Secretary of the Society sheriffs, to the governor." Upon the basis of this censlls, . the governor was to make an apportionment "as nearly .equal as practicable among the several counties, for the election of the council and representatives, giving to .each' VOL. XIII section of th~ territory representation in the ratio of its population, Indians excepted, as near as may be." The returns of this first Wisconsin census, taken in J\lly, 1836, are preserved in the office of the secretary of state. No printed blanks were furnished; the sheriffs were in­ .structed simply to report, in writing, the, names of heaus pf white families, with the number of persons in each family, divided into the usual four groups: c. ,: ;", I. No.' of males under 21 years. II. " "females " III. " males over ' MADISON .'IV., "females" DEMOCRAT PRINTING COMPANY, STATE PRINTER 'The returns made to the governor were in tabular form, 1895 'abd for the most patt on 'ordinary foolscap paper. In the , of Cr,awford -County, the enterprising sheriff exceeded • I WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol. xiii. FIRST TERRITORIAL CENSUS. 249 his instructions by returning an elaborate broadside, di­ eluded in ,the Upper Michigan counties of Michilimackinac viding the population into numerous groups according to " and Chippewa, but no census appears to have been taken .their ages; he also re-grouped those of his people who wer~ in those counties. , deaf and dumb, or blind, and included tables of aliens and "slaves and coloured." Wisconsin Territory was, at the time of its creation, of much larger dimensions than the present State. It embraced all of the present Iowa and Minnesota, and the country still farther westward to about the. site of Bismarck, N. D. See article .. The Boundaries of Wisconsin," in VoL XI. of these Oollections, from which the following map is reproduced: IX. The census revealed to Governor Dodge that in the four principal countieslying east of the Mississippi- Brown, Crawford, Iowa, and' Milwaukee-the number of inhabit­ The',census ordered by Governor Dodge, however, ants was, 11 t 683. and on the 9th of Septemberhe proclaimed covered only those counties in Iowa and the present Wis~ the following apportionment for the counties named: consin in' which there was considerable settlement, it Popu­ ,Ooun­ Repre- being understood that the greater part of the trans-Mis-' Oounties. lation. cilors. sentatives. sissippi country was but temporarily attached to Wisconsin, Brown ..· . 2,706 2 3 for administrative purposes. rrhe Wisconsin counties in Crawford ; . 850 o 2 what is now Iowa were Des Moines and Dubuque, both of Iowa . 5,234 3 6 which were wellpopulated (Des Moines 6,257, Dubuque 4,274), Milwaukee , . '2,893 2 3 but these do not now concern us. It will also be seen by. the 11,683 7 14 following map, that much of the Territory east of the river was still, owing to theconfused state of the publicsurveys, in- The following list of "heads of families,'; with the size of each family, is taken directly from the manuscript re- WISCONSIN HISTORICAL·COLLECTIONS. [vol. xiiL FIRST TERRITORIAL CENSUS. turns. The spelling of the names is an exact transcript pared fClr the illustration of a succeeding paper, on the of the original; it is needless to say that the enumerators earlylead.trade of Wisconsin; but it is repeated here, in this respect frequently made ludicrous mistakes, which for more ready consultation. It should be noted, how­ the editor has not attempted 'to rectify, preferring that ever, that only for Iowa county do the returns define the the returns should stand on their own merits, as other his­ several census districts, thus enabling a localization of the torical documents in these Collections. Where errors are inhabitants; elsewhere, the population has been approxi- apt to be misleading, explanatory foot-notes have been mately assigned. given, although most of the phonetic renderings explain themselves. \L, . It will be noticed that the size of some of the .. families" --.. .....,/" '" fI ~~ l g f is phenomenal. This is doubtless due to .several causes: " ..... ~I ~13 (1) A man like John P. Arndt, of Brown County, who had nlo .", c. rmflXll r'~ extensive fur-trade connections, doubtless included in his e cr~ws a r 'St e l .~ " family" of 74 all his' wandering of clerks and I ..... voyageur.s; (2) D~niel Whitney, of Brown, for instance, is ~ credited with a .. family" of 49,-these no doubt including r 0 '" Cl ini ~ a his far-scattered workmen in frontier sawmills, lumber camps, and at the Helena shot-tower; (3) to Capt. Lo",:" SCALE. n £ .- also of Brown, is assigned a "family" of 114, no doubt his o IJildai'2lnhabitanl$ per.sq.Mil~ 'I" entire military household at Fort Howard; (4) here andthere ~Fi'oIll2"6 . " . ,,, o • r is recorded a man with an enormous "family," which prob­ 1m Fimn 6.18' • . ~I ably represents a newly-arrived colony, perhaps a boat­ load, of agricultural settlers; for in 1836 there poured into Southern Wisconsin: showing density of population in 1836.-For con­ Wisconsin a steady stream of such, in that year being laid venience of comparison, the county divisions given are those of 1895. the foundations of several of our cities; and (5) it is prob­ able, especially in Milwaukee, that some of the large "families" represent the census of a boarding-house, for in no other way can we account for the absence from the BROWN COUNTY. returns of several prominent men, -1. A. Lapham, for i~. stance, -who are known to have been in the county at the Sheriff- Ebenezer Childs. time the census was t,aken. White population-Males: over 45 years, 76; over 21, The alphabetical arrangement is an editorial device, and under 45, 1,333; under 21, 493. Females: over 21, 402; for convenience of reference,-in the original ,returns, under 21, 500. Total, 2,706. there is no attempt at this; had there been, the enumera­ Heads of families, with number in each family.­ tors would have avoided frequent ,duplication in the ac­ A. Adams, 5; S. Allard, 7;P. Allia, 21; A. Allor, 13; counting, to which reference will be mad,e in the foot-notes. 9· AmIen, 6; J. Ammo, 4; G.S. Armstrong, 1; J. P. Arndt, The following map, showing the density of population 74; F. Atcher, 52;H: Baird, 2; H. ·S. Baird, 8; W. Bajiro, 6; in July, 1836, as ascertained from this census, was pre- W.Baker, 2; E. W. Bancroft: 3; L. Barnok, 7; G. Bartley, 2; WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol. xiii. FIRST TERRITORIAL CENSUS. 253 ,J. Jarie, 3; M. Javis, 6; D. Jhonson, IjD.'Jones 13·j; Jones S. W. Beall, 19; D. Blish, 3; P. Bolio, 10; F. Boardway, 8; , , '-".' , L. Boprea,t 2; F. Bovee, 10; Col. Boyd, 13; J. Boyvont,2; W. 5; M. Johnson, 5; R. Johnson, 6; C. Johnston, 10: W. Jor- E.Bradley, 6; P. Brady, 6; W.Bronson, 2; Geo. M. Brook, den, 3; E.J udin, 4; J. Juno, 1 6; J.Jurden, 2 11; H. B. Kelso, 6; 69; D. Brown, 82; J. Brown, 5; R.Brown, 3; W. H. Bruce, 9; A. King, 4; E. Labord,4; L. Lacy, 4; R. Langrage, 4; F. C; Brunet, 8; D. Brunet, 21; P. Brunet, 6; C. Brush, 7; B. Lavature, 9; G. Law, 4; J. Law, 25; E. Lawsels, 10;B. Lay­ Bllrsho, 8; J. Bushell, 5; M. Casane, 4; C. Chapman, 6; W. gere, 5; J. Laygere,7; C. Lear, 3; J. Lebord, 9; L. Lebue, 2; Chapman, 2; S. Chapow,2 6; P. Chellifoux, 10; E. Childs, 29; O. Lefave, 4; P. Leframbo, 8; J. Lemare, 13; B. Leplant, -- Chorreette, 7; J. Claflin, 8; J. Clark, 4; R. E. Clary, 5;J.Leplont, 5; M. Leplant, 7; H.Leroy, 12; P. Levene, 11; 8; C. Cleboard, 9; M. Cole, 8; J.Colier, 14; M. Collins, 7; DLevere,. 4; O. Longave, 8; Capt. Low, 114; M. Lund' 2', J 'Lynde, 4; M. Maby, 9; A. McAbee, 10; John McAbee 4' J.Colwell, 1; H. Commins, 5; J. W. Conroe, 32; M. Conry, 2; . ,- ,, J. Corbell, 9;. S. Crolney, 5; P. Crowell, 3; P. Cummins, 3; J. McCarty, 12; O. McCarvy, 6; H. McDonnell, 3; D.Mc-, S. Davis, 3; L. Debay, 21; A. Degurnder, 2; E. Dejerden, Doogle, 4; G. McFarlin, 3; J.McGee, 7; J. McGuire, 14;-­ 3; -- De Lerond, 4; -- Deperie, 8; P. De Sham,s 2; D. McKinney, 3; Lieut. McKissad, 1; --McNish, 2; --Mc­ Dickenson, 4; C. Dickerson, 7; J. Dickerson, 5;W. Dick­ Rulin, 2; J. Maggs, 8; M. Man, 3; R. B. Marcy, 4; J. Mar­ erson, 168; J. O. Donnel, 2; B. Downing, 2; J. Dox­ son, 4; R. Marshall, 10; F. Martar, 3; C. Marther, 2; M. L. tater, 13; L. Doxtater, 3; M..Doxtater, 3; B. Druxey, 2; Martin, 2; H. Mathews, 15; J. Mayhon, 3; J. Mead, 2;F. P. DuSharm~ 6; G. Dusheguet, 5; A. G. Dye, 5; R. 'M. Melit, 5; H. Merrill, 3; M.
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