I found two young ladies, ages 22 and 19, on Image 201 of 656 for the 1850 Lowell, MA Census. This image and the previous 10 Images had lists of mostly young ladies from ages 17-25. Every 40-80 there was a numbered household with the first person listed usually an older female of 35-60 years old, usually no occupation listed. Sometimes there was what appeared to be a husband listed first and/or one or two children with the older female. Finally back on Images 190 and 191, I found several families where the occupation of the head was usually Manufacturer. A few females had Operative as the occupation and there were a couple of Clerks and an Actor. Were these rooming houses / dormitories for the mills in Lowell during this time period ? or what ? I found this when trying to find where some descendants went when they disappeared from Maine Census records and apparently went to MA from ME. Grateful for any explanation. Janice

Hi Janice, What is now the City of Lowell was originally part of the Town of Chelmsford. During the 1820's, men came to town and decided that the intersection of the Merrimack River and the Concord River was an excellent place to build a "planned Mill Town." The area was annexed off to become the Town of Lowell in 1826. I just went to the web site for the "Center for Lowell History" and found a page which shows that in 1826, there were only 2,500 people living in the Town of Lowell. But, in 1833, there were over 12,000 people living there. So, within 7 years, almost 10,000 people moved to the "Town of Lowell." In 1850, there were over 33,000 people living there. So, within the next 17 years, another 12,000 people moved to Lowell ! It must have been quite the sight to see ! It must have been - quite the experience - for the people who lived there in 1826 ! http://library.uml.edu/clh/ApA.Html When the businessmen went about creating "the planned Mill Town," they tried to think of everything - including places for the mill workers to live, go to church, eat meals, etc. So, yes, "many" dormitories and boarding houses, etc., were built - to "house" the millworkers. And, many other "places to live" had to be built in order to accommodate "whole families" which wanted to live there ! There are "many" books written about the mills in Lowell, and the "Mill Girls," etc. And, most of the area of Downtown Lowell is now a "National Historic Park" combined with a "State Heritage Park." Please go to the archives of the MAMiddle List, and the GenMA List and do a search for "Lowell" to find a great deal more information ! www.rootsweb.com Mailing List INDEX Betty (near Lowell, MA) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janice R Freeman" <snibbor13@juno.com> To: <MAMIDDLE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 9:28 PM Subject: 1850 Lowell Census Question >I found two young ladies, ages 22 and 19, on Image 201 of 656 for the > 1850 Lowell, MA Census. This image and the previous 10 Images had > lists of mostly young ladies from ages 17-25. Every 40-80 there was a > numbered household with the first person listed usually an older female > of 35-60 years old, usually no occupation listed. Sometimes there was > what appeared to be a husband listed first and/or one or two children > with the older female. > > Finally back on Images 190 and 191, I found several families where the > occupation of the head was usually Manufacturer. A few females had > Operative as the occupation and there were a couple of Clerks and an > Actor. > > Were these rooming houses / dormitories for the mills in Lowell during > this time period ? or what ? > > I found this when trying to find where some descendants went when > they disappeared from Maine Census records and apparently went to MA > from ME. > > Grateful for any explanation. > > Janice > > ______________________________