Washington Territory Census

[RedMystic]

Hi Chatters

I need a hand with accessing Washington Territory census please.

What I'd like to be able to view is any census records (federal and territorial) for Wahkiakum County, beginning with the earliest (1857 I think) and ending with 1910.

I want to be able to scroll through the entire county, reviewing every page line by line.  (On the Washington State Archive site, I can only pull up individual pages in pdf if I enter a name, so can't move on to subsequent pages.)

More specifically, I'd like to locate

1) any census for Indigenous people for Wahkiakum
2) any census for White people only for Wahkiakum
3) any census that combines Indigenous, slaves and Whites

I believe these are the documents I'm looking for, but may be missing some.

1857 Territorial census
1860 Federal census
1870 Federal census
1871 Territorial census
1880 Indian census
1885 Territorial census
1887 Territorial census
1892 County auditor census
1910 Federal census

Thanks for any guidance you can provide on how to access these documents.

[Erato]

Is there anything useful in the "Washington, Native American, Census Records, 1880-1952" available at FamilySearch?  [The federal censuses are available there, too, of course]

[Erato]

How about "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940"  - any use to these records?

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2761958

[RedMystic]

Thanks Erato.

FamilySearch does seem to have some documents I'm looking for. Pulling them up in their entirety based on the county is my challenge. In the case of the 1880 census I can find one for the county, but it includes only white people and no native ones.

(A number of the families in the area had native slaves and I'm trying to track those people. One would have thought they'd have been emancipated in 1865, but this was not the case so I'm trying to find out how they were recorded after that time. It's a bit of a needle in a haystack.)

I appreciate the link you provided for the Native American census rolls for Wahkiakum County. What I'm struggling with is how to pull up the county if one doesn't have a specific name.

[Erato]

To get the census sheets for Wahkiakum County in, for example 1880, you click on "Browse through 1,080,487 images," select the state, the county and then the specific location.  There are only 14 locations for Wahkiakum County, each with just a few pages.  I looked at some of those sheets and it looks like race was recorded as W (color=white), C (Chinese) and I (Indian) in 1880.


>>>>

You use same process for earlier and later later censuses.

In 1860, there is only one page for the whole county; no race recorded; they appear to all be white.

In 1870, it looks like Native Americans were classified as "In"

In 1900:
 "W" for White, "B" for Black, "Ch" for Chinese, "Jp" for Japanese, or "In" for American Indian

In 1910:
"W" for White, "B" for Black, "Mu" for mulatto, "Ch" for Chinese, "Jp" for Japanese, "In" for American Indian, or "Ot" for other races

[RJ137]

There is a way to view each census page.
You do not need to enter a name.

https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Search
(See attached image below)

From the drop down menus- Select

Record Series
*Census Records
County
*Wahkiakum
Title
*Census year desired

You must enter something in at least one of the fields to the right. Enter the census year you want in field labeled "Year From Year To" I'm using 1885 in this example.

Then click the search button.

This will give you all the transcribed names in that County for that year and where they were born. There are 1365 individuals listed for Wahkiakum County in the 1885 census.

Go to the first name in the list. In this case it is Masten, J.S. Right click on image icon to the far right of his name and open in a new tab. From there open the View / Download PDF.

On the open census page you will see J. S. Masten listed at the top of the list. Look at the very bottom of the page for the last name listed. In this case it is G. R Howard.

Go page to the page with all the transcribed names. Find G.R. Howard (Howard G. R.). Below his name you will see Oakes, Peter (Peter Oakes). Repeat the process of right-clicking on the image icon to far right of his name and opening the census page for him. His name will be at the top of the list (#1). Repeat process of going to bottom of page for last name listed (In this case it's John Johnson) and then finding his name in order on that transcribed list. Select the name below his and repeat the process.

There appears to be 39 names to a census page. So you will need to repeat this process 35 times to get all 35 pages of the 1885 census for Wahkiakum County.


PS- I would recommend  changing the records per page at the bottom of the search results page to 200 in the drop down menu vs the default setting of 50...saves time!

[RedMystic]

Thank you.

I appreciate the detailed explanation. I hadn't thought of entering the census year in the right column. Your hint to increase the transcribed names to 200 (from 20) was also very helpful. While I still have to view page by page in pdf format, the approach works.

I found the following interesting.

The 1857 census included the name of only one of the Indigenous slaves though one family notes in their own papers that they owned 15 with at least one remaining nearby until his death in 1903; and another family indicated the purchase of an Indigenous slave in about 1851 who later accompanied the family when they moved in the 1880s.

The 1860 census is silent on the slaves as well as the local natives.

The 1870 census is silent on the Indigenous slaves but the locally born natives are listed on the last 2 pages. 

The 1871 Territorial census is silent on all Indigenous except wives of white men.

Now, I'm off again to try to find the 1880 Indian census that I've only read about.

Thanks again to RJ137 and Erato for the helpful assistance.

[Genealiza]

Here are the clickable links available through Anc.
U.S., Schedules of Special Census of Indians, 1880

Round Valley Agency; Round Valley Reservation
Standing Rock Agency; Standing Rock Reservation
Tulalip Agency; Swinhomish, Muckleshoot and Lummi Reservations and Indians not on a reservation
Tulalip Agency; Tulalip and Port Madison Reservations
Yakama Agency; Yakama Reservation


Is there a specific tribe that you are searching?  I don't know if this is of interest, but Anc. has the following database:
Washington, Enrollment and Allotment Applications of Washington Indians, 1911-1919

with the following tribes listed:
Alaskan, Chehalis, Chimacum, Chinook, Clallam, Cowlitz
Duwamish, Gig River, Hoh River, Kikealis, Klickitat, Lummi
Mitchell Bay, Montesano, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Nooksack
Oregon, Puyallup, Quileyute, Quinaielt, San Juan, Sanpete
Satsop, Shoalwater Bay, Skagit, Skokomish, Snohomish
Snoqualmie, Spusum, Squaxin Island, Steilacoom, Stillaguamish
Suquamish, Swinomish, Wynookie

[RedMystic]

Thank you for that Genezliza.

The Indigenous slaves on the Columbia River tended to be from the Canadian part of the Northwest Coast. Slaving among the coastal nations was common, but this is the first time I've come across white people with acknowledged native slaves.

I know at least one of the slaves I'm looking at was Haida and the woman he was allowed to marry was from the north end of Vancouver Island (maybe Nootka or Alhousat). Another slave purchased by a white family in the early 1850s was sold by a Tsimshian man. That slave's band is unknown at this point, except that it was from up the coast.

Thanks again for the Enrollment Applications.