As I was creating my Pennsylvania locality guide in preparation for accreditation, I learned that in 1870 the federal census was enumerated twice in both Philadelphia and New York City. Wikipedia gives the following reason:
Although Francis Walker, the Superintendent of the 1870 Census, defended the quality of the census, arguing that standardized, clear, and statistical approaches and practices were carried out across all regions of the United States, the public at the time was disappointed in the national growth rate and suspected underenumeration. With especially bitter complaints coming from New York and Philadelphia claiming up to a third of the population was not counted, the President made the rare move to order a recount in those areas. While it was thought a large fraction of the population was not counted for being indoors in the wintry cold, newer estimates resulted in only a 2.5% increase in Philadelphia’s population and a 2% increase in New York’s.
The existence of a second enumeration had slipped my mind when I was researching the family of Lewis Childs of Philadelphia last week. I found Lewis on the first 1870 census (enumerated on 20 July) with wife Josie, children Washington and Henry, and mother-in-law Sophia. A few minutes later, I found another family of Lewis Childs on the second enumeration (taken on 29 November) with wife Josie and only one son, Washington. I was confused about the similarities between the families until I remembered the double enumeration of the 1870 Census in Philadelphia.
A closer look at both census records confirmed that the families in question were indeed the same family – they were both located in Philadelphia Ward 21, and many of the neighbors were the same. Interestingly enough, son Henry is not listed in the second enumeration, which is a clue that he may have died between July when the first census was enumerated and the end of November when the second one was enumerated, even though the census instructions clearly stated that the family members who were living as of 1 June should be listed. I had already suspected Henry died as a child and it looks like my hypothesis may be correct. I’m looking forward to continued research on this family.
What discoveries have you made with the double enumeration of 1870?
Alice, Your essay on the 1870 2nd enumeration has a number of errors. The 1870 census date was June 1st. It was not done during the winter. In addition, if a person died on June 2nd,1870, they should be in the 1870 Census. Same thing for the recount that was done in November 1870 since the census date was still June 1st. I’ve gone through every sheet of the Philadelphia 1870 2nd enumeration, and there are notations of a person dying in August, or Sept. and are listed. There is one family that lost 4 children since June 1st, and they all are on the census sheet for the 2nd enumeration. There are crossouts of people who moved into Philadelphia after June 1st 1870, and could not be counted on the 2nd enumeration. Joel
Hi Joel,
Thanks for reading my article and commenting. I was very interested in your experiences with the second enumeration of the Philadelphia census. It appears that some of the Assistant Marshals were quite thorough and well-versed in the census instructions, although I’m sure some of them still made mistakes. The census sheets that included the entries for Lewis Childs and his family were dated in July and November as stated in the article. The assumption that the omission of Henry could have been because he died is still a valid one. Another option is that there was an error when additional copies of the census were made to send to the state and federal governments.