"Wards" were usually written up as "boarders" or "servants" - unless you were looking at a hospital or asylum of some kind, the term "inmate" is inappropriate. Perhaps if you give me a reference (county, ED, page, line, etc) I can look it up Saturday and come up with something. Bev In a message dated 03/22/1999 1:04:19 AM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: << Is it possible that they were wards at a home that would today be catagorized as a foster home and were thus considered as inmates? Jerry On Sun, 21 Mar 1999 13:25:48 EST [email protected] writes: >Thanks, Wayne, for the notification of the 1860 census. I spent some >time >there yesterday and was wondering why the census taker listed children >as >"inmates"? Anyone have an idea? Too bad Mr. Thomas (census taker) >discontinued >his listing of county of birth after the first few days. It's great >information. >>