How do I interpret this 1790 SC census result, HOH Other Free or not?

Question

Several other researchers and I have gone back and forth over the interpretation of this record for years. Advice needed. Dunning's Mother was Tuscarora, a NC Nation, most of whose members migrated North to join the Haudenosaunee Confederacy after the War of 1713. 

My interpretation of this census has always been that the two 'Other Free' were Tuscarora relatives living with Dunning & his family, but maybe I don't understand how a family was enumerated if the HoH was Native. Other researchers insist the OF must have been Dunning and his wife, or one of his siblings. 

Dunning's wife at the time was a Mercy/Macy ??? [[Unknown-608339]]. Because of matches to his next neighbour Andrew Priestley's descendants we cannot otherwise account for we suspect she might have been Andrew's daughter, and thus a Priestley, but we have not explored this idea further and I don't know if it holds water. If so it would have been his second  marriage and mother of only his last two children. 

In 1790 both Andrew and John Priestley were Dunning's next neighbours. Andrew was father of Charles who married Dunning's  daughter Mary "Polly". Andrew's son John married Dunning's daughter Margaret. Andrew was German, but he also has an OF in his HH. 

How would a family like this be enumerated? Any thoughts? 

Camden District - Lancaster County SC 1790 federal census; page 25

Head of Household

Priestly Andrew : 1 m 16+ 1 m -16 2 f 1 other free

Priestley Jno: 2 m 16+ 3 m -16 4 f

Cashilaw, Dunnan: 1 m 16+ 1 m -16 6 f 2 other free

Thank you for any thoughts on the matter!

Comments

If the head of household was non-white, then he and his family would be enumerated in the "other free" column, not in the "white" columns.

---

Thank you Kathie,

My thoughts exactly!

Deb

Answer 1

Hi Deb!

Here is some info I found about the 1790 census:

"Free African Americans in 1790–1840 Censuses: enumerated with the remainder of the free population. Black (B) or Mulatto (M) indicates the race of the head of the household. Other members of the household were listed in age brackets by sex. Censuses for 1790 and 1810 list free nonwhites in a category titled “all other free persons”; there is no distinction made between free blacks and Native Americans not on reservations. The censuses for 1820–1840 listed people of color separately."

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjR-dPB5KqCAxXrIjQIHZ7gA38QFnoECA0QAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.archives.gov%2Ffiles%2Fresearch%2Fcensus%2Fafrican-american%2Fcensus-1790-1930.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2iKr7_oeSMqA8yXoRhXvPs&opi=89978449

In the 1790 census in Abbeville, SC, I found several examples of HOH that read "(Name) Negro," with all household members enumerated in "Other Free." No one was listed as HOH.

I found another of this kind of household in Charleston (about 2/3 down the left column). There are 17 "Free Mulattos" listed, none as HOH, all in "Other Free:"

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/376022:5058?tid=&pid=&queryId=19805a8689b4c9c593310510de4747fa&_phsrc=mNs17781&_phstart=successSource

There are several examples like this on another Charleston page:

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/376254:5058?tid=&pid=&queryId=19805a8689b4c9c593310510de4747fa&_phsrc=mNs17782&_phstart=successSource

I have thought for a while now that Dunning probably looked more "European," and passed as such. But who knows?

Comments

Hi Cuz,

I can always count on you to be thorough. I don't know why I didn't just ask you to start with! (grin) I feel the same way, that he was light-skinned enough to pass, but there's someone  who insists he is one of the OF in this census. But for the sake of making certain I'm not just being hard-headed - you know that I'm never hard-headed right? (raucous laughter) - I wanted people who know more about American census data than I do to weigh in. I have misinterpreted census data before. 

(I do not know what is up with the formatting on my posts.)

Thank you! and SYL,

Cuzzin Deb