1820 Federal Census of Washington County, North Carolina

Introduction and Instructions


The following schedule is the whole number of persons within the division, Washington County, allotted to Aaron Walker, assistant to the Marshall for the District of North Carolina. Every attempt was made to enter the data here exactly as recorded by the census taker. Even obvious spelling errors were not corrected. Overall the handwritting was excellent, however there were cases where it was difficult to distinguish between "e" and "i" and between "a" and "o" . You should liberally interpret abbreviated given names; for example, Jas vs Jos.

Each entry in the census was spread across two pages. Only the left hand page number is provided here. In order to make this census easier to read, blank entry fields were replaced with zeros, and the entries were arranged into four parts (tables), all on the same page. The parts contain the following census data:

  • Part A - White Males and Females
  • Part B - Slave Males and Females
  • Part C - Free Colored Males and Females
  • Part D - Miscellaneous: Others/Foreigners/Occupations

    The name of the head of the family has been included with each part for ease of use.

    The index has been set up so you can click on the part you wish to view. In the index below, for example,

    Adams, JamesWhitesFreeMisc
    Adams, Joseph H.WhitesMisc
    Airs, David Junr.WhitesSlavesMisc
    Armistead, WilliamWhitesSlavesFreeMisc
    Boston, RandallFreeMisc

    you could view the Part C schedule of free colored persons in the household of James Adams by merely clicking on "Free" beside Adams, James. This will automatically take you to the appropriate page, table and line in that table. To then view the number of whites in the household of James Adams you would return to the index and then click on "Whites" beside Adams, James. Alternatively, you could scroll up to the Part A table containing whites since all four parts are on the same page.

    Part A (Whites) contains the following information for males and females:

  • Names of Heads of Families
  • Number of Individuals under ten years of age
  • Number of Individuals of ten & under sixteen
  • Number of Individuals between 16 and 18 (Males Only)
  • Number of Individuals of sixteen & under twenty six, including Heads of Families
  • Number of Individuals of twenty six & under forty five, including Heads of Families
  • Number of Individuals of forty five & upwards, including Heads of Families

    IMPORTANT NOTE: The 45 and upwards column for white females was damaged and most of the entries were not readable. These areas are signified by the entry "X" in that column to distinguish them from the entry "?", which signifies that there is an entry, but it's value is questionable. There also appears to be an error in the totals of 16 to 25 column for white females.

    Part B (Free Colored) and Part C (Slaves) contain the following information for males and females:

  • Names of Heads of Families
  • Number of Individuals under fourteen years of age
  • Number of Individuals of fourteen & under twenty six
  • Number of Individuals of twenty six & under forty five
  • Number of Individuals of forty five & upwards

    Part D (Miscellaneous) contains the following information:

  • All Other Persons, except Indians, not taxed
  • Foreigners not naturalized
  • Persons engaged in Agriculture, Commerce and Manufactoring

    GO TO SURNAME INDEX
    A - B C - E F - K L - P Q - S T - Z

    GO TO PAGE
    404 407 409 411 413 415
    417 419 421 423 425

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