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.

My quest to document the Howard family today began with a great find. I have two pages of the 1850 census that include William Howard, a son of Letty Durham and Thomas Howard and six of his sons.

Since this research is focused on the Howards, I will catch up with the wives at a later date. It is also likely that his married daughters are living nearby, I will look for them in the future.

The citation:

"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DRLG-R8?cc=1401638&wc=95R3-79N%3A1031325101%2C1032889301%2C1032889302 : 9 April 2016), Kentucky > Breathitt > Breathitt county, part of > images 20 and 21 of 89; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

The households, in the order they appear in the census:

The (blank) designation shows that the original was left blank in the census.

page 20
20 August 1850
Household 138, Family 138
Lines 32-38

1) Samuel Howard, age 25, male, white (blank), farmer, real estate value $300, born Kentucky.
2) Ann Howard, age 27, female, white (blank), born Kentucky.
3) Sally Howard, age 7, female, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).
4) John Howard, age 5, male, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).
5) Calvin Howard, age 3, male, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).
6) (blank?)  Howard, age 1, male, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

pages 20-21

20 August 1850

Household 139, Family 139

Lines 39-42, 1

1) William Howard, age 67, male, white (blank), farmer, real estate value $1000, born Virginia.

2) Polly Howard, age 50, female, white (blank), born Virginia.

3) John Howard, age 24, male, white (blank), born Kentucky.

4) Riley Howard, age 20, male, white (blank), farmer, born Kentucky.

5) Andrew Howard, age 18, male, white (blank), farmer, value of real estate $000, born Kentucky.

page 21

20 August 1850

Household 141, Family 141

Lines 7-14 

1) Ben Howard, age 34, male, white (blank), farmer, real estate value $500, born Kentucky.

2) Nancy Howard, age 30, female, white (blank), born Virginia.

3) Rhoda Howard, age 15, female, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

4) Nathan howard, age 12, male, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

5) Martin Howard, age 10, male, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

6) Lucinda Howard, age 8, female, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

7) Eliza Howard, age 6, female, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

8) Larkin Howard Howard, age 3, male, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

page 21

20 August 1850

Household 143, Family 143

Lines 7-14 

1) George Howard, age 20, male, white (blank), farmer, real estate value $400, born Kentucky (blank).

2) Betsy Howard, age 20, female, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

3) Wilson Howard, age 2, male, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

4) Polly Howard, age 10/12, female, white (blank), born Kentucky (blank).

A lucky find included the 1820 census for Archibald Prater, another Kentucky ancestor.

I enter pre-1850 census data on a great resource called Censusmate. Archibald's census entry includes a young slave and the original Censusmate sheet does not include the slave data, so I had to edit the sheet.

The sheet includes some 1810 census data as well, but I am not yet sure it is his family.

The original Excel worksheets by John L. Haynes can be found here: http://www.censusmate.com/

I don't use Excel anymore, but the sheet translates into Google Sheets with no problems.

Archibald Prater Censusmate page

I have very sketchy data on birthdates for this family, so until I find more information this data is very preiminary.

Floyd County, Kentucky

Page 1

23 February 1820

Line 2

Archibald Prater household

1) Free white males under 10: 1;

 free white maes 10-15: 0; 

free white males 16-18: 0; 

free white males 16-26: 1; 

free white males 26-44: 0; 

free white males over 45: 1; 

free white females under 10: 0;

free white females under 16: 2; 

free white females 16-26: 0; 

free white females 26-44: 0; 

free white females 45 and over: 1; 

foreigners not naturalized: 0; 

engaged in agriculture: 1 or 2 (unclear); 

engaged in commerce: 0; 

engaged in manufacture: 0; 

male slaves under 14: 0; 

male slaves 14-25: 0; 

males slaves 26-44: 0; 

male slaves 45 and over: 0; 

female slaves under 14: 1; 

female slaves 14-25: 0; 

females slaves 26-44: 0; 

female slaves 45 and over: 0.

FamilySearch Citation

"United States Census, 1820," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XHLN-RBK : accessed 7 February 2018), Archibald Prator, Floyd, Kentucky, United States; citing p. , NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 22; FHL microfilm 186,182.