The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
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1880 census shows farm life
PUBLISHED: January 10, 2008
Almeron Hathaway was 33 years old when he took off from his York Township farm in 1880 to write the census. He began on June 1, 1880, with his neighbors, Albert and Sarah Warner. Their daughter, Myrtle, 17, was teaching school. They lived along the western edge of York Township in the Mooreville area.
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The next family was a retired couple, James Waugh, 63, and his wife, Rhoda, 56. He gave his occupation as "turner." Maybe that was the kind of work he did back East, when he could have worked in a factory making dinner dishes. Such factories hired turners to spin the plates for decorations.
I doubt Waugh was working as a turner in York Township, so I guess he helped his kids with the farm work.
During the month of June 1880, Hathaway wound his way down all the dirt roads of the township with his census book, quill pen and a bottle of ink.
Farm families often kept one or more hired hands, always men, and even a servant. The hired hands were recorded in the census, with full name, age and place of birth. Servants were women, as young as 12 in some cases, who helped with housework and probably some light farm work, as well.
Both Milan and Saline have historic farmhouse museums showing the place of a hired hand. In Milan, the Hack House demonstrates bedrooms for the family upstairs. Quarters for the hired hands are on the other side of the house, with a separate set of stairs.
Saline's Rentschler Farm museum has the same setup, with family bedrooms in one part of the house, and the hired hand's bedroom next to the back stairs.
Some of the servants and hired hands may have started out as angry teenagers who were sick of living with their parents. Living on a farm, it was easy for a child as young as 12 or 13 to walk down the dirt road and ask for employment at a neighboring farmhouse as a servant or hired hand.
The servant job may have worked out well to soften the friction between teenagers and their parents. The young person living with a neighbor family, earning a salary, might be less likely to talk back to his or her elders. After earning a small amount of pay, eventually the teen might save up a little money and buy some farmland or get married.
Some of the youngest farm employees may have suffered the death of one or both parents, and being able to find a job nearby was the perfect solution.
Today's illustration comes from an atlas of York Township published in 1874, close to the time when the census was taken by Hathaway. No photographs were available then, but an artist prepared idealistic drawings of certain farm houses, including this one of George Coe's place.
The artist was easy with the pen, adding in cute horse-drawn carriages going by, a friendly boy waving from the front yard, and even some lovely birds flying overhead. The flowery illustration was an ego-boost for the farmer, and he paid something to have his farm included in the beautiful, hard-bound atlas.
The George Coe home was located in Section 9 of York Township, straight north of Mooreville, almost to Pittsfield Township. Perhaps it was on Moon Road, just north of Willis Road. He got his mail through Saline. George Coe left New York and came to York Township as a baby in 1837, so by 1874 he had plenty of time to make his house look this cute.
When he gave the census information in 1880, Coe was 41, and his wife, Harriet, was 40. They had a daughter, Arminta, 14. Their two sons were Walter, 12, and Wilber, 10. To top off the family, Coe had a hired hand, Frederick Borce, 23, and a servant girl, Addie Holt, 18.
As Hathaway roamed across the rural farmland collecting names for the census, he found one farmer after another. In each case, Hathaway duly noted the man of the house was a farmer, works on a farm or was a laborer. Perhaps this indicated the difference between a landowner, who could be a farmer, and a man who did not own a farm, in which case he was a laborer, working for pay.
William McLanahan, 34, was living out in the country with a farm family in 1880. He reported to the census that he worked as a druggist. It seems unusual for a druggist to live outside of town, but maybe he was growing exotic herbs out on the farm, or just making a little moonshine to sell as a tonic.
The women in rural York Township had much less choice in occupation, all of them being referred to as a "housekeeper." If the woman had typhoid fever, or was dying of cancer, the occupation "housekeeper" was crossed off. A very few women had other types of work. A young woman age 16 to 25 might be a school teacher.
In a very few cases, a woman in 1880 was described as a milliner, because she made hats, or a dressmaker.
As Hathaway approached the village of Milan with his census book, other occupations showed up among the men. Blacksmith, carpenter, brick and tile mason, stone mason or tinner, someone who fashions building materials out of metal. Henry Palmer, 74, stated he was a physician.
Charles Blackmer told Hathaway he sold general merchandise. Andrew Braman said he was a hotel keeper, and he had the extra people living with him to prove it. It's not clear whether it was really a hotel or more like a boarding house.
William Wholey, 46, identified himself as a "cooper." Don't confuse a cooper with a wheelwright. A cooper makes and repairs wooden barrels and tubs. Wheelwrights are the guys who make and fix your wooden wagon wheels.
In the village of Milan, Charles Kelsey, 23, gave his occupation as "general merchandise." Living nearby, Nathan Putnam gave the same occupation. Putnam was elected Milan's first village president five years later.
Alva Hardy, 34, said he ran a general store. Living nearby, William Ayres, 55, said he was a hotel keeper, along with his wife, Annie.
The hotel must have been real because next door his son Edwin Hardy, 29, was living with his wife and two kids, plus six other assorted individuals. One young man "tends barn" for a living, the census said. Another man, 52, said he was a carpenter.
David Woodard, 70, one of the first residents of Milan, was listed as "petafoger" on the census form. The group includes a man who bores wells, and a 15-year-old girl who works as a waiter.
Hathaway must have enjoyed the last laugh when he wrote down "petafoger" as Woodard's occupation. It means an annoying person, such as a lawyer or politician, who argues over details and quibbles or fusses about trivia.
Martha Churchill is a member of the Milan Area Historical Society. She can be reached at 649-6342 or MilanHistory@yahoo.com.
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