Can You Help the USBH 1880 Census Project?

Question

In order to create more connection points across the entire USA and to systematically complete document sets, the US Black Heritage Project has started creating profiles for every Black American who was enumerated on the 1880 census. Since there are almost 6.6 million people to document, we can only do this with help from all of WikiTree!

(Can you already see those 6.6 million profiles? It's a beautiful vision)

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• Click the answer button below and tell us you will be participating.
• Go to the USBH 1880 Project index of states and find a state you would like to work on. Smaller states link straight to their spreadsheets. Larger states link to their own 1880 Project space page with links to county spreadsheets. 
• Go to the Google spreadsheet and read the directions on tab 1 on how to proceed. 
• Put your Wiki-ID in Column A next to the first person whose family you will be creating profiles for. 
• After you create the profile, add the new Wiki-ID in Column B. 
• Please complete the entire family for each household, including unrelated people before moving to the next person. We want a profile for everyone. We are only specifically creating profiles for Black members of the household, but you are welcome to enumerate the entire household, regardless of race, as you wish. 
• When you create a profile for an unrelated person who has no family attached, please add the category [[Category: US Black Heritage Project, Family Tree Size One]]. We have regular sprints to connect people in this category to their family.
• Please try to find at least one additional source to assure more accurate information, to confirm they should have the {{African-American Sticker}}, and to find last names at birth for the adult women. If you can't find any other sources, please go ahead and create the profile based on this census alone.
• Add a location category based on the 1880 census. Some of the locations are tricky based on time period, so if the category doesn't exist, please ask in g2g for help. 
• US Census records are wonderful because they almost always give approximate birth year and the state where they were born. Birth locations are very important to our work. 
• You can orphan the profiles after you've finished if you wish.

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Important! We can only create new spreadsheets and tabs so fast, which means you might finish before we can create the next one. Please be patient with us. If you finish a county or location section, let us know so we can create the next one. 

If you like extracting data and creating spreadsheets, we desperately need your help! Contact Christy Melick or Me for more info. 

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A HUGE THANK YOU TO CHRISTY MELICK FOR ALL HER WORK ON SETTING UP THIS PROJECT!

Comments

Nancy, you might also find Cesare as a family name.

Regards

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I can work on a few families from West Virginia as my family is from there and I have some experience in that state. I haven't done a ton of African American research in my own research, but I can at least post what I do find for others to work off of in the future. I will start with Kanawha County, West Virginia as my mom is from that area and there is a spreadsheet for that county already up.

I hope to be able to work on this as time permits.

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Thank you, Jeanne ~ we welcome any help you can provide. If you can remember to add the {{African-American Sticker}} and a birth location category on each profile we'd appreciate it. 

You can also add any of these that apply:

1.[[Category:US Black Heritage Project, Family Tree Size One]]

2. [[Category:US Black Heritage Project, Needs Profiles Created]]

3. [[Category:US Black Heritage Project, Needs Sources]] 

4. For any slavery era profiles: [[Category:USBH Heritage Exchange]]

Thank you!

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Hi, Just checking in on the Yazoo, MS sheet.

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Dana, Yazoo County isn't ready yet - it's huge. We could use some help in other Mississippi counties, though!

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Hi Dana, 

The 1880 census for Yazoo County is up in Mississippi. There are two spreadsheets.

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I have found a whole family attached to David Butler, who lived in Cumberland County in 1880, but he and his family were not living in Cumberland County in 1860. I went ahead and added the sticker to the family members. Should they be added to another county's spreadsheet? Butler-15083,

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Hi Alexandria, no, the 1880 is the only place you need to add their profile ID's. Thanks!

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I'm finding numerous Black families in the 1870 Wake Co. NC Census who are not present in the 1880 Census. I'm creating Wiki profiles for them with whatever info I can find and adding the sticker, but you don't want them included on the 1880 spreadsheet, right?

thanks!

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Hi Judith, no we wouldn't add them to the 1880 spreadsheet since they aren't present in that county in 1880. Hopefully they'll be found eventually in another location.

Answer 1

I am trying to get back to a spread sheet I started working on but I can't find it!! It's Halifax County, NC!! Can you help?  Thanks!

Comments

There's a link to the main project page at the bottom of Emma's post above, and you should be able to navigate from there to any of the spreadsheets by clicking on the state name in the table, in case you need to find a different one in the future. Halifax County, NC is here.

Answer 2

Please sign me up to work on the 1880 Project. I would like to work on Edgefield, South Carolina.

Comments

Thank you, Lynda!

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Thanks, Lynda. I've added this county to our request list. It's a huge county, so the full spreadsheet won't be ready for a while, but when at least some of it is ready, we'll let you know.

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Lynda, the Edgefield County spreadsheets are ready now. Surnames A-J are in this one and surnames K-Z are in this one.

Answer 3

I will work on the project

Comments

Thanks, J!

Answer 4

Adding in profile ID's for those I've already done, or working on, as counties in upstate NY (and elsewhere) become available...as I can.

Comments

Thank you, Denise! I'm still finding profiles I've already created many years ago!

Answer 5

On the spreadsheet, under Washington State, Lines 408-433 need to be moved to Minnesota. Washington is the county, not the state they lived in. Thank you.

Comments

Thanks for catching that error, Daryl. I checked and they were already on the Minnesota spreadsheet, so I deleted those rows.

Answer 6

I  am interested in helping.

Comments

Thank you, Melissa!

Answer 7

Good News!! Project leaders, please read.

I believe that the State of Washington is now complete! I noted the following:

1. There were several duplicated entries. Those were identified as duplicates.

2. There were multiple families with white fathers, and mothers identified as "I". The children were listed as "Mu." They were marked as not black. Of note are the multiple entries for mothers indexed as "I" (Native American) with one or both parents indexed as born in Germany. If you look at the image of the sheet, the parents are listed as born in W. T. (for Washington Territory). Very poor indexing, I'd say.

Comments

Yes, we had 78 too many profiles on the sheet because of poor indexing and poor census taking. We'll get this state checked and marked off the list. Thanks!

Answer 8

I've been researching the family of the All-American basketball player Hank Gathers and have been able to trace his mother's line back to her enslaved ancestors. They lived on the plantation of the Marabel family in Halifax, Virginia.

In the course of my research, I came across a list of slaves owned by Benjamin Marabel (1782-1871). The list was allegedly compiled by his daughter and lists 69 slaves by name, along with their year of birth. Many of these slaves were emancipated and appear in the 1880 census, including Hank Gather's third-great-grandparents, Charles and Cloey Marabel. 

I have created profiles for them and have connected Hank's line. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to research the remaining names on the list. Another researcher is welcome to pick up where I left off. 

Slaves of Benjamin Marabel

Comments

I've passed this on to the Heritage Exchange team. Thanks

Answer 9

I will do what I can in Ohio.

Comments

Thanks, Jody!

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Thanks, Jody! We've added lots of counties in the last few days. Please feel free to work on whatever counties you're interested in!  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:US_Black_Heritage_1880_Census_Project%2C_Ohio

Amy,
USBH Team Ohio Co-Leader

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I've been working in Muskingum County. 

Answer 10

The State of Oregon is complete!

Comments

Great news! Thanks Nancy!

Answer 11

I'd like to help, working on Colfax County, New Mexico

Comments

thanks, Azure. It's great to see New Mexico get a little more love.

Answer 12

The State of Wyoming appears to be complete.

Comments

Thanks Nancy! Very exciting!

Answer 13

I have finished my first family in Auburn, Alabama.  I think I have done everything I can but can someone please check if I need to add any more categories?  Or if I need to do anything else before I move to the next family.

Fortune Adams

I have researched on Ancestry and Family Search and added what I could find.

Thanks,

Sheila

Comments

Looks great! She was born before 1865, so she should also get the Category:USBH Heritage Exchange.

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Thanks.

Answer 14

I will start working on the families I created for the slave narratives, since I’m already somewhat familiar with those families.

Comments

Thanks, V!

Answer 15

I would like to help with this Project, particularly in Virginia. My family has a lot of connections with Virginia, particularly Fairfax County, Alexandria and Chantilly. Lee, Janney, Irwin, Fleming.... and more.

Comments

Thanks, Mary! I've added Fairfax County to our request list. We'll let you know when it's ready. In the meantime, we have several other counties in Virginia set up.

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The Fairfax County spreadsheet is now ready.

Answer 16

Please add me to the group.  I'll focus on the District of Columbia and start with the list for Georgetown that is already created.  Thanks so much to everyone who is working on this very important project.

Comments

Fabulous, Pat! We could really use help in D.C.

Answer 17

I have a family where the wife and children are listed as "mulatto" in the 1880 census and the husband is listed as "white".  In the 1870 census, the husband and wife and children who have been born are all listed as "white".  Suggestions?

Comments

Suggestions (you may have already done some of these, but listing just in case):

1. Check the census images to be sure that their race was transcribed correctly. M for mulatto and W for white frequently get mixed up in the transcriptions - they can look very similar depending on the person's handwriting. Sometimes no race is listed and the record gets indexed as white.
2. Search for additional records for more data.
3. If neither of the above help, I'd create the profiles and add the {{African-American Sticker}} to the wife and children's profiles - in my experience, it's less likely that a white person will be incorrectly listed as mulatto than for an African-American to get indexed as white - sometimes people passed as white; if the father was white and supplied the info for the 1870 census, the enumerator might have assumed the whole family was white, etc.

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Thanks, Christy, your guidance in the past led me to those very solutions--unfortunately, with all of the children being girls, I've found nothing but the two censuses.  I've documented them as you suggest and will spend a little more time looking for other sources.

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Even more interesting, the wife of this 1880 family, lived next door to my (white) ancestors in the 1850 census, where she is also listed as "white."  Wish I could ask my 4th Great-Grandfather to clarify!