1850 Census Statistics

Marietta Intelligencer, August 15, 1850:

1850 Census Statistics of Barlow

The Deputy Marshals of this County are now busily engaged in performing the duties of their appointment, and we hope to make weekly reports of their proceedings. By favor of B. F. Stone, we are enabled this week to give an abstract of the census returns of Barlow.

The increase of population in that township is greater than we expected, being over 20 percent. Two facts are worthy of special notice. 

1st. The number of families in the township exceeds the number of dwelling houses only two. We doubt whether there are a score of townships in Ohio in which only one dwelling house in a hundred has two families.

The rate percent of mortality is almost unprecedentedly small, less than 4-5 of one percent!

From Mr. Stone's items we copy as follows:

The population of Barlow is 1,062. There are in the township three ministers and three churches. The value of church property is $800. The church buildings will seat 875 persons, viz: Old School Presbyterian, 375; New School, 200; Methodist Episcopal, 300.

There are in the township 188 dwelling houses and 190 families. There were eight deaths in the year ending June 1, 1850, viz: two of consumption, one disease of the heart; one dropsy; one tonsillitis; one erysipelas; one scarlet fever; and one inflammation of the head. The ages of the persons deceased were 71, 38 26, 19, 16, 4, 2, and 2.

The Crops of 1849 were very short. The estimate is that the wheat fell short 7/8, oats 1/4, and potatoes 1/2. The potato crop was cut short by rot. As to the wheat crop, Mr. Stone says: "You may think reporting the crop of 1840 [1849] was 7/8 short is a wild idea, but I verily believe that no person could with any degree of propriety say that the calculation is far from the fact."

The usual average of crops in Barlow is estimated as follows: Wheat, 12 bushels per acre, Corn 30; oats 20; Potatoes 85.

The average wages paid for hands per month with board is $10. Day laborers 50 cents and board; carpenters, 87 cents and board. Weekly wages of female domestics with board $1.

Mr. Stone concludes his letter with a remark to the truth and justice of which every man who knows anything of the people of Barlow will subscribe. He says: "I do not believe that a more kind and hospitable, or a more industrious people, can be found in this or any other country, than I found in Barlow township, Washington County, Ohio."

Probably a larger proportion of the inhabitants of Barlow are Scotch, or of Scotch descent, than of any other township in the county. They are industrious, frugal, hospitable, and scrupulously honest. The township also has some of the Yankee leaven and we suppose, a sprinkling from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. We presume the native Buckeye now predominates.

One fact more we may state in regard to Barlow. We presume there is no township in the county, and but very few in the State, in which so large a proportion of the citizens are free holders, nor one in which so few persons can be found who ever lack the necessities and comforts of life. Poverty, such as exists to a greater or less extent in nearly every township, is a thing unknown in Barlow.

Marietta Intelligencer, August 22, 1850:

1850 Census Statistics of Belpre, Warren, Beverly, and Ludlow

By favor of B. F. Stone, we are enabled to give some statistics of Belpre township. The population is 1,623 , an increase of over 20 percent since 1840. 

There are 270 dwelling houses and 278 families in the township. 

The number of deaths in the year preceding June 1, 1850, was 14, as follows: of consumption, 6; cholera infantum, 2; scrofula, 1; dropsy in the head, 1; putrid fever, 1; nervous fever, 1, unknown, 2. The ages of the persons deceased were as follows: 52 years, one; 33, one; 31, two, and 26, 25, 23, 22, 10, 6, and 3, each one; two, 1 year; and 1 less than one year.

There are four churches in Belpre, and one resident minister. The number of persons accommodated by the church buildings, and the value of the buildings, is thus stated:

Methodist, upper Belpre, 200 persons, $300 value.

Methodist, lower Belpre, 250 persons, $300 value.

Universalist, 250 persons, $300 value.

Congregational, 300 persons, $500 value.

Crops. The usual average crops are stated thus:

Wheat, 16 bushels per acre; Corn, 45; Oats, 25; Potatoes, 105. Last year Potatoes were short 1/4 and wheat about 7/8.

The increase of population in Belpre is greater than we anticipated. We shall look for the agricultural and other statistics from there with interest. Belpre is Mr. Stone's township, and he very modestly declines saying half so much in its praise as he might. We venture to copy from his letter, communicating the facts given above, one paragraph:

"Perhaps we cannot say with our Barlow neighbors that we are all industrious, to a man, yet the fact that there is a steady increase of wealth in the township proves that the majority of the people are industrious and prosperous, and sir, if you do not believe what I say about the increase of wealth in the township, I will refer you to the Auditor's books, and there you will find a steady increase of personal property, moneys and credits, new structures &c. brought upon the duplicate for taxation."

Correction for Barlow: There was an error in our statement last week as to the value of church property in Barlow. It is $1,900 instead of $800.

Warren - Beverly - Ludlow

Col. A. Stone has completed the census of Warren township and returns 1,425 inhabitants, an increase of 50 percent since 1840!

Mr. Lewis H. Green has completed the census of Ludlow, and sends us the following report:

The whole population is 1,051, an increase of nearly 100 percent since 1840! The number of males is 559; females, 492. Married within the year, four. Died within the year, 15. Born in the State of Ohio, 577. Value of real estate (by owners), $94,000. Other statistics will be published at an early day.

The "Huckleberry-Knobs," as a citizen of Columbus once styled this part of Ohio, are "coming out." We shall by and by see if the population of the "knobs" has not increased faster in the last ten years than that of the "fertile" counties in the center of the state. We want to compare the rate percent of mortality, too. We think the returns will show that Marietta is the healthiest town in Ohio and that the rate percent of mortality in the county, in the year ending June 1, 1850, was less than one half the average of the state.

The following is a table of the returns so far made in this county, compared with the returns of the last preceding census:

Barlow - 1840, 880; 1850, 1,062

Belpre -  1840, 1,296, 1850, 1023

Beverly village - 1840, 317; 1850, 526

2nd Ward, Marietta - 1840, 858; 1850, 1,635

Warren - 1840, 931; 1850, 1,425

Ludlow - 1840, 539; 1850, 1,051