John "War Jack" Howard - son of Thomas Howard and Letty Durham

Today's post features the 1810 and 1820 census records for John Howard.

I use a great tool called CensusMate by John L. Haynes to chart 1790 through 1840 census records. The original is an Excel sheet available at CensusMate. I open it in Google Sheets without a problem.

When I compared all the John Howards I could find in the 1810 and 1820 Kentucky census records to the known family listed in FamilySearch for John Howard  LK66-VD6, the census records for Knox County 1810 and Harlan County 1820 were the best fit for his family.

John didn't have to move to get from one county to the other. Part of Knox county became Harlan county in 1819, right before the 1820 census. Another researcher, jcpstoddard, found these census records in FamilySearch, and a record showing John Howard's name was transferred from the Knox County tax list to the Harlan County tax list when the new county was formed. I do not currently have an image of this record.

Citation

"1819 List of Males transferred from Knox to Harlan County Tax Lists," digital link, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~seky/datafile/1819list.html :accessed 12 Jul 2015. "This list was transcribed originally by Elisabeth Salyer and first appeared in Knox County Kinfolk, Volume V, Issue 1. With Mrs. Salyer's assistance, we restored its original order and corrected a few names. This version appeared in Harlan Footprints, Volume I, Issue 1." 

Less

Notes

List of men above the age of 21 who transferred from the tax list of Knox co, KY to Harlan co, KY, at the formation of Harlan county in 1819. Originally transcribed by Elisabeth Salyer and published in Knox County Kinfolk, Volume V, Issue 1. 

Attached

12 July 2015 by jcpstoddard

When I charted the census records in CensusMate this is what I found:

 John Howard 1769 to 1824

If you look at the bottom of the sheet you will see 3 dates marked with red highlights. 1766, 1769 and 1779. I have seen all three of these dates proposed as birth years for John Howard. If these 1810 and 1820 census records are actually his, then the 1779 date cannot be correct. 

The John Howard in the 1810 Knox County census is in the "26 to 44" age category. He could have been born between 1765 and 1783 and fall into that age range, it covers all three proposed birth dates. However, if the John Howard in the Harlan County census is the same man, he is now in the "over 45" age category, and must have been born before 1775 to be in that group.

I am leaning toward the 1769 birth year, but lack proof for it. 

1800 Kentucky

Knox County is along the lower right edge of the state, bordering Tennessee and Virginia.

1810 Kentucky

The northern borders of Knox County have changed slightly. The biggest difference is that the southwestern section is no longer "Indian Lands".

1810 Census Record

23 December 1810
Knox County, Kentucky
Page 80
Line 8
John Howard household 

1) Head of household: John Howard
2) Free white males under 10: 3; John (4), Michael (5), Larkin (8)
3) Free white males 10-15: 0;
4) Free white males 16-25: 0;
5) Free white males 26-44: 1; John Howard (41)
6) Free white males over 45: 0;
7) Free white females under 10: 1; Elizabeth (6)
8) Free white females 10-15: 0;
9) Free white females 16-25: 1; Mary Ann Risner (25)
10) Free white females 26-44: 0;
11) All other free persons: 0;
12) Slaves: 0.

FamilySearch Citation
"United States Census, 1810," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XH2P-W3T : accessed 11 March 2018), John Howard, Knox, Kentucky, United States; citing p. 80, NARA microfilm publication M252 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 7; FHL microfilm 181,352.

1819 Kentucky

Harlan County is created from Floyd and Knox Counties, along the southeast border with Virginia (slightly darker green county).

1820 Census Record

1820
Harlan County, Kentucky
Page 110
Line 8
John Howard household 

1) Head of household: John Howard
2) Free white males under 10: 1; William (8)
3) Free white maes 10-15: 2; John (14), Michael (15)
4) Free white males 16-18: 0;
5) Free white males 16-25: 1; Larkin (18)
6) Free white males 26-44: 0;
7) Free white males over 45: 1; John Howard (51)
8) Free white females under 10: 4; Catherine (<1), Phoebe (1), Sarah (2), Mary (5) 
9) Free white females 10-15: 1; Elizabeth (16)
10) Free white females 16-25: 0;
11) Free white females 26-44: 1; Mary Ann Risner (35)
12) All other free persons: 0;
13) Slaves: 0.

FamilySearch Citation
"United States Census, 1820," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XHLR-KRH : accessed 11 March 2018), John Howard, Harlan, Kentucky, United States; citing p. 110, NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 23; FHL microfilm 186,183.

As I continue my record search I will carefully compare the ages and birth places I find in later records to the information currently listed for all of these individuals. The only age anomaly I found was in the 1820 census for Elizabeth. If she was born in 1804, then she should be in the "16-25" age group, not the "10 to 15". However, it is not unusual for a person at the edge of an age group to be bumped up or down a category sometimes.