Lincoln
County, Kansas
I
compiled the 1885 census index for this site after Bill and Diana Sowers put in
all the hard work of transcribing. When the 1900 census became available on line
I was thrilled to be able to search anytime I wanted – even in my “jammies.”
However, I discovered that Lincoln County had grown by leaps and bounds between
1885 and 1900. Undaunted I began doing the index as more of a treasure hunt than
anything else. Over the years I have come to know many of the Lincoln County
families. I feel like I know the Peate, Strange and Kissick families almost as
well as I know my own families.
The
1900 census has a wealth of information included in its pages. One of the most
important is that the census recorded the relationship of all in the household
to the head of household so we can see that, at times, a number of generations
are in the same household. It is also amazing how many households had servants
and I am curious to find out more about this as I have never considered the
people of Lincoln County “well to do.” It is also interesting to see how
many sons in their 20’s or 30’s are single and still living at home while
most daughters are under the age of 20. It could be that even in 1900 there were
not enough eligible women in the county. There are very few people living in
their 70’s in this census so the life expectancy must have been fairly low.
When I get the whole census done I will count the number of people born in each
year just to see if this is true.
A
few things about the transcription –
1.
I did the best I could with the handwriting but make no claims to being
able to read everything. Many of the census takers had difficult to read
handwriting and I used question marks when things weren’t clear. I also did a
little guessing. Most of the given names used normal spellings and were not
unusual. Even if I couldn’t read every single letter in the name Elizabeth I
still typed Elizabeth.
2.
I used the 1885 census index extensively to help when I couldn’t make
out all the letters in a name. Therefore, if there was a spelling mistake in the
1885 transcription, it could be repeated in the 1900 transcription.
3.
I included the family number to help identify which head of household an
individual was living with in case that person did not have the same last name
as the head of household. This would be the case for servants or in-laws. I
included the actual census page number where the entry appears so that you can
go to the microfilm on line or at a Family History Center and easily find the
original entry.
4.
Most of the head of household given names were overwritten with some type
of number which obscured the middle initial in most cases. I did not use a
question mark for unreadable middle initials on any name but always put them in
if I could read them.
5.
In every township eventually the family number somehow got out of sync
between the first column and the second. I did not research extensively why this
happened but I did give each family its own number. This means that if you are
looking at the original census, my family number may be one off from the number
in the first column but should match the number in the second column.
6.
The bottom of most of the pages have been damaged by one thing or another
and we are trying to get better information but that takes time. If you see lots
of question marks, it most likely will be the bottom of a page.
Please
email me with any questions or corrections and I will update the index. I hope
you find at least one long lost cousin!
Joan Stevenson
mailto:plano.quilter@verizon.net
Revised May 1, 2004
(Districts 58, 59, 60 and 61 completed. District 62 partially done. These include Beaver, Marion, Cedron, Elkhorn (partial), Hanover, Colorado and Madison Townships as well as parts of Lincoln city.)