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Partial 1880 Census Data for Etowah County, Alabama |
This is the just first stage of this web page. Very Much UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
CONTENTS:
Project Description
Caution(s)
THE DATA
How to find Communities in the 1880 Census
Questions asked in the 1880 Census
The Project: An Index of the 1880 Census of Etowah County
VOLUNTEERS WELCOME! E-mail me!
The CD: I ordered and received a CD with scanned images of the 1880 Census of Etowah County, AL. The CD arrived with just 374 TIF image files, ETOW0001.TIF through ETOW0374.TIF. There was not any listing to match census page numbers to the files, and some of the files were duplicates. Also, there was no copyright notice anywhere in the package. (The company doing the scanning was NOT one of the three I have now seen listed on USGENWEB.)
The Original Images: The quality of the images varies from decent to bad. The TIF files were scanned at 400 dpi Black & White (1 bit). This B&W scan picks up a lot of noise, with some parts of the pages being darker than others. [If you have a PC (instead of a Mac), the original TIF files would look slightly better when viewed with "imaging for Windows" or "Polyview", both of which do some local brightness/contrast adjustments automatically.] Due to the noise, the images are usually easier to read at 50% size than at full size, since the size reduction averages out much of the noise.
As an example, here are the 50% size (94k) and the 100% size (131 k) for a part of the first page.
File Size: Each TIF file is about 1.4 to 2.2 MB, and even if I could afford to put several hundred MB of files on my web site, they would be too big for most people to conveniently download. Therefore, I propose to extract a portion of each file containing the names and post these, a few files at a time, as GIF files. GIF image files of the name, house #, race, sex, and age section of the pages run about 100k at 50% size and about 150k at 100% size.
Even at the 50% size of just the name sections, the 300+ files would be over 30 MB.
For want of an Index: As you may have learned, finding a family in a census without an index is a LOT of work. I have started trying to make a name index of the 1880 census of Etowah Co.
However, transcribing the old handwriting is difficult, and I would like some second opions! (This page on Old Handwriting is a useful resource for learning about the way our ancestors wrote.)
I propose putting the portions of the image files which contain names, a few files at a time, on the web page so that volunteers can help check my transcriptions. Email me if you would like to help.
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Caution:
- Some of the Name transcriptions are or will be DRAFTS!
Look at the header info in the files.
Deciphering of old handwriting is an iterative process.
The combination of bad copies and old style handwriting makes parts of the transcription very difficult!
For example, I saw one name I thought was Powell. Then I saw one that looked like Powett. But, I noticed that the "o" in Powett was probably an "r" with a leading curl, and the "we" could very easily be a "ui", making the name Pruitt.
Email me if you have any corrections or suggestions on the transcription!
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The Data (Image and Text Files):
Notes for index of census page numbers:
| E.D. = Enumeration District | T = Township | ? = text hard to read |
| S.D. = Supervisor's District | R = Range | # = page/ED/SD numbers inferred from page/file order. |
CONTENTS AND STATUS:
The 1880 Census of Etowah Co., AL has 14 Enumeration Districts, #60 thru #73.
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Legend for Project Status:
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A These E.D.'s have have various differing formats for the on-line images, and their images do not have the relationship column. (I clipped and converted the on-line images for these E.D.'s by hand at the beginning of this project. I might update them someday.) All the other E.D.'s have a standard 100% size image of a section of the census page including the cloumns with dwelling #, family #, name, race, sex, age, and relationship to head-of-household.
RAW DATA: To access raw transcription data in Excel format, click here.
Data appears here before it is posted in the table above.
(The 4 digit number matches the TIF image file on the CD. Files starting with "E" or "e" are the rawest. Files starting "b_etow" have header info.)
Index to all 374 TIF files on the CD in 1 text file: E.D., Page #, & township
Thanks to Hannah Powell, a new and very productive partner in this project!
She has transcribed more pages in a week or so than I did in several months.
I am trying to catch up with her in webifying the data!
(Some of her transcriptions overlap mine, but that will be wonderful as a sanity check for me!)
On Jan 31, I added 6 brand new draft pages that she has done in E.D. 72.
As of Feb 18, she has done drafts of all of ED 72, almost half of ED 71, and part of ED 61!
(Between October and February 18, I completed drafts of all of ED 60 and just about all of ED73, but I did not do the relationship column or the 3 Place-of-Birth columns, and she did!)
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How to find Communities in the 1880 Census
The communities should map to Enumeration Districts by the Township and Range.
Let me know if you have any problems or any additional info.
Partial list of towns/communities in Etowah County (biased towards south end).
Please see BOTH of the tables below.
By Community:
| Modern Day Community |
Township(s) Range(s) |
Enumeration District(s) |
| Alfords Bend | T 11s R 7 E | E.D. 66 |
| Attalla | T12, R5 T12, R5E others? |
E.D. 69 others? |
| Coats Bend | T 11s R 7 E | E.D. 66 |
| Gadsden | TBD | E.D. 71 |
| Glencoe | TBD | TBD |
| Hokes Bluff | T12S, R7E | E.D. 72 (Beat 4) others? (67? 70?) |
| Rainbow City | T12S, R5 T12S, R6E (most) |
E.D. 69 E.D.70B others? (67?) |
| Southside | T13S, R6E | E.D. 73C |
By Township and Range:
| Township(s) Range(s) |
Modern Day Community |
Enumeration District(s) |
| T10, R5E (more info) |
Sardis, Mountainboro, Smith Institute, Whitesboro, Carlisle |
E.D. 60 |
B I found some of my ancestors (GILBERT), whom I believe lived in the current Rainbow City area, in E.D. 70.
C I found some of my ancestors (HALL and WEEMS), who lived in the current Southside (or Pine Grove?) area, in E.D. 73, page 8.
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Questions asked in the 1880 Census
For a list of questions by census year, look at Treasure Map's U.S. Census Page, but be careful because their 1880 page had a few mistakes.
Here is a list of the questions asked in the 1880 census.
I am attempting to transcribe items 1-6.
1880 Census Questions: 1. Dwelling number 2. Family number 3. Name 4. Color - White W, Black B, Mulatto M, Chinese C, Indian I 5. Sex 6. Age prior to June 1 7. Month of birth if born within census year 8. Relationship to Head of Household 9. Single* 10. Married* 11. Widowed* 12. Married during census year* 13. Profession, Occupation, or Trade 14. Number of months unemployed during census year 15. Sick or temporarily disabled (and name of sickness/disability) 16. Blind* 17. Deaf and Dumb* 18. Idiotic* 19. Insane* 20. Maimed, crippled, bedridden, ...* 21. Attended school within the census year* 22. Cannot read* 23. Cannot write* 24. Place of birth 25. Father's place of birth 26. Mother's place of birth
* Yes or no question, marked with a tally mark ("1") if yes.
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Notes on image files and text files:
- The 50% size image is usually easier to read.
- Use your browser's back button to return from image files and text files.
This page has been accessed
Updated April 2, 2000