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Handwriting · 1850‑1880

Census enumerator hands, 1850 to 1880

From 1850 to 1880 the census was taken by local men, called assistant marshals and later enumerators, who walked or rode from house to house with big printed sheets. They were paid by the name, wrote in a hurry, and had dozens of lines to fill on every page. To save time they shortened birthplaces (Pa, Ky, N C), jobs (Com Lab) and causes of death, and they used ditto marks instead of writing the same word again.

The good news: each enumerator repeated the same habits on every page. Once you learn how one man wrote Indiana, his "do" and his ditto marks, you can read his whole district. The examples here come from the 1850 population schedule of Delaware and the 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 mortality schedules of Indiana (lists of people who died in the year before the census), which use the same columns and the same shortcuts as the population pages.

Letter by letter

Census birthplace column: Indiana, then do, do; month column October, August, April
do = ditto The first line says Indiana. The two lines below say do, a looped d with a small o, meaning ditto: also Indiana. Do not read it as "Do" or as a place name.U.S. Census Bureau; Indiana State Library, via DPLA, Public domain
Names column: a name, Mary with ditto marks, Dora Gerke, Amelia do, with ages and sex
Ditto marks for a surname Mary has two small strokes after her name: the same surname as Louisa on the line above. Two lines down, Amelia has "do" for the same reason, meaning another Gerke. Always look at the line above to finish the name.U.S. Census Bureau; Indiana State Library, via DPLA, Public domain
Cause of death column: Dropsey, Scarlet Fever, Billious ditto, Scarlet ditto, ditto ditto
Ditto marks for part of a phrase Scarlet Fever is written once. Below it, Billious " and Scarlet " reuse the word Fever, and the next line " " repeats both words. Read them as Bilious Fever, Scarlet Fever, Scarlet Fever.U.S. Census Bureau; Indiana State Library, via DPLA, Public domain
Two census rows: Bavaria Ger, June, Pauper; Penna, November, Farmer
Birthplaces: Ger, Penna Bavaria Ger means Bavaria, Germany (the enumerator added the country). Penna is the common short form of Pennsylvania. The jobs on the right are Pauper and Farmer.U.S. Census Bureau; Indiana State Library, via DPLA, Public domain
Birthplace column: N C, Va, Ky, Ind, Va
State abbreviations: N C, Va, Ky, Ind In 1850 this enumerator wrote N C (North Carolina), Va with a raised a (Virginia), Ky (Kentucky) and Ind (Indiana). The tall, looped K of Ky and the I of Ind are the letters people misread most.U.S. Census Bureau; Indiana State Library, via DPLA, Public domain
Grainy microfilm birthplace column: Del, Pa, a dash, Del, a dash, Pa, Ireland
A dash as ditto On a microfilmed 1850 page, Del (Delaware) and Pa (Pennsylvania) alternate with short dashes; look for a tiny stroke in the middle of the third and fifth rows. A dash in a birthplace column usually means "same as above", not "unknown".U.S. Census Bureau (NARA microfilm); digitized by Allen County Public Library, Internet Archive, Public domain
Two census rows: Indiana, Wirterberg, Wirterberg, Farmer; Indiana, Alsas, Bavaria
German lands spelled by ear In 1880 the parents' birthplaces were asked too. Wirterberg is Württemberg and Alsas is Alsace, both written the way the name sounded. The last column is the job: Farmer.U.S. Census Bureau; Indiana State Library, via DPLA, Public domain

Now you read it

Census occupation entry Com Lab next to the month September
This is the occupation column. What was the man's job?
Tips
  • ", do, and a short dash all mean "same as above". Follow the column up until you reach a written word.
  • Learn your enumerator's hand on the easy words first (Indiana, Farmer, the month names), then use those letter shapes on the hard names.
  • State abbreviations were not standard: Pennsylvania can be Pa, Penn or Penna, and Virginia can be Va with a raised a.
  • Foreign places were written by ear: Wirterberg for Württemberg, Alsas for Alsace. Say the word out loud.
  • Read the printed column headings on the full page before guessing a word.
  • Mortality schedules use the same hand and shortcuts as the population pages, and they are a good place to practice.
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