Al, It's me again. That's a tough one. First, there is no way to extract a physical location of a "household" just from the 1860 census itself. At least the 1860 census is the first national census that gives the township locations, which at least should tell you in which portion of a county the house is located. If you are using a copy of the original census taker's completed page, the nearest post office should be filled in at the top of each sheet (not always). That plus the township name gets you in the ballpark. Now, on occasion the census taker places a location name along the left margin or elsewhere on the page--such as a creek or river name or if he is taking the census of everyone in a small village, etc. If I really want to find the approximate location of a house, I have to use indirect methods. Since census takers called on rural households in order up one road and down another, you can use the closest neighbors as clues and then look elsewhere to try to find one of the neighbors. If you go too far with this method you will end up on another road and it won't help you. If you can pin down the neighbors' locations on both sides of the home you seek, then you got it bracketed. Look in the old county histories, land deeds, and stuff like that. The best of all are the old plat books which in Missouri started to be made about the 1870s. You may find some of the 1860 neighbors still living on their same land ten or twenty years later in those plat books. I have seen annotated census reports in some of the original 13 colonies in the East which became states, but these are rare. A local historian or genealogist annotated the original census of a certain county with land deed and other public record information so you at least know which creeks the homes are near. Sadly, I have never seen these for the Midwest states, but maybe there are some. In Missouri, I have been able to apply 1860 census names against the original land filings obtained from the Bureau of Land Management online records at _http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/_ (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/) but I just checked and BLM has temporarily pulled this site pending some security work on it. If you find the name there, those records give you the range and township numbers and the section numbers where that person's land was situated, IF THEY WERE THE ORIGINAL FILER ON THAT PARCEL OF LAND. You apply those numbers against a United State Geologic Survey map at the appropriate scale and it will get you within a fraction of a mile or so of the house. If you can't use this for the person you seek, you may be able to use it for some of the close neighbors. If all else fails. throw yourself on the mercy of the local historical or genealogical society of the appropriate county and see what they can recommend. I have done that, too. I have used all these methods to locate 1860 census person's homes, but they are hit or miss. Like I said, this is a tough one. Bruce Nichols

Thanks for your help and insights (once again). You are really a tremendous resource for Missouri Civl War listers and I appreciate your advice. I was so focused on census reports I forgot land title records and I really shouldn't. I worked in real estate my entire life and plat books and grantor/grantee indices are no strangers to me. I am even old enough to remember real estate abstracts of title (the history of a parcel of land reflected in a collection of the documents of record affecting it). These were beginning to disappear when I started and I suppose by this time they are long gone but the title companies still might have them. Some of them were remarkable documents - pieces of history in their own right. I was in Illinois when I encountered these for the first time and when one turned up from Sangamon County I poured through it to see if I could find a document signed by Lincoln. I did find a few but they were only copies. Most of the abstracts were composed of copies but once in a while you would find some original documents. I will see if a local title company can help in my search. Thanks again. Al in Music City ----- Original Message ----- From: <Mapmaker3@aol.com> To: <MO-CW-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2005 7:01 PM Subject: [MO-CW] Re: Census Report Details-House Location > Al, > It's me again. That's a tough one. First, there is no way to extract > a > physical location of a "household" just from the 1860 census itself. At > least > the 1860 census is the first national census that gives the township > locations, which at least should tell you in which portion of a county > the house is > located. If you are using a copy of the original census taker's completed > page, the nearest post office should be filled in at the top of each > sheet (not > always). That plus the township name gets you in the ballpark. Now, on > occasion the census taker places a location name along the left margin or > elsewhere > on the page--such as a creek or river name or if he is taking the census > of > everyone in a small village, etc. > If I really want to find the approximate location of a house, I have > to > use indirect methods. Since census takers called on rural households in > order up one road and down another, you can use the closest neighbors as > clues > and then look elsewhere to try to find one of the neighbors. If you go > too far > with this method you will end up on another road and it won't help you. > If > you can pin down the neighbors' locations on both sides of the home you > seek, > then you got it bracketed. Look in the old county histories, land deeds, > and > stuff like that. The best of all are the old plat books which in Missouri > started to be made about the 1870s. You may find some of the 1860 > neighbors still > living on their same land ten or twenty years later in those plat books. > I have seen annotated census reports in some of the original 13 > colonies in the East which became states, but these are rare. A local > historian or > genealogist annotated the original census of a certain county with land > deed > and other public record information so you at least know which creeks the > homes are near. Sadly, I have never seen these for the Midwest states, > but maybe > there are some. > In Missouri, I have been able to apply 1860 census names against the > original land filings obtained from the Bureau of Land Management online > records at _http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/_ > (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/) but I > just checked and BLM has temporarily pulled this site pending some > security > work on it. If you find the name there, those records give you the range > and > township numbers and the section numbers where that person's land was > situated, IF THEY WERE THE ORIGINAL FILER ON THAT PARCEL OF LAND. You > apply those > numbers against a United State Geologic Survey map at the appropriate > scale and > it will get you within a fraction of a mile or so of the house. If you > can't > use this for the person you seek, you may be able to use it for some of > the > close neighbors. > If all else fails. throw yourself on the mercy of the local > historical > or genealogical society of the appropriate county and see what they can > recommend. I have done that, too. > I have used all these methods to locate 1860 census person's homes, > but > they are hit or miss. Like I said, this is a tough one. > Bruce Nichols > > > ==== MO-CW Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from this list, send ONLY the word UNSUBSCRIBE to the > utility address MO-CW-L-REQUEST@ROOTSWEB.COM If you are trying to > unsubscribe from the Digest list, use the same utility address but change > the -L- to a -D- > > ============================== > Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the > areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. > Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx >