Social Statistics Schedules
Beginning in 1850, aggregate data were collected on each county regarding social statistics.
No names of individuals are included. Information gathered varied by year. In 1850 the fields were: total valuation of real and personal estates; what crops are short, to what extent, and the average crop; annual taxes; colleges, academies and schools’ character, number of tenants, number of pupils, amount annually realized from endowments, taxation, public funds, and other sources; number of libraries, kind, and number of volumes in libraries; name, character, frequency, and circulation of newspapers and periodicals; number of churches, their denominations, number of parishioners each will accommodate, and value of church property; number of native and foreign paupers supported and cost of support; number of native and foreign criminals convicted within the year and in prison on June 1st; and average wages of farmhands, day laborers, carpenters, female domestics, and price to board laborers per week. In 1860 columns on banks and insurance, railroads, and canal and river improvements were added. The 1870 schedule deleted the seasons and crops column and replaced it with a column on public debt.
The biggest change in the social statistics schedule occurred in 1880. A brand new set of data was collected, but only for areas within the city limits of Hannibal, Kansas City, St. Joseph, and St. Louis. Data collected includes: a description of the climate and topography; number, name, and locations of cemeteries, as well as number of burials in 1880, required depth of burials, whether a burial permit is required, and how soon after death interments are made; number of public and corporate markets; the sanitary authority’s monetary disbursements and number of employees; procedures for dealing with infectious diseases such as smallpox; municipal cleansing including garbage pick-ups, street cleaning, dead animals, liquid household waste, and human excretions; city government including number of police, number of crimes committed; description of drainage; miles of streets and sidewalks and whether they are treed; descriptions of public parks and pleasure grounds; descriptions of places of amusement. Maps and diagrams are frequently included.
The 1860 Social Statistics schedules are available on DVD in-house. To obtain a copy of a specific county, submit a research request.
| Sample Form | Statistical Summaries |
|---|
1850  * |
Statistical summaries are available on the Census Bureau’s website https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html. This link will take you off-site. Once you are there, click on the year of the census. Then click on the ZIP file for a specific report. |
| 1860 |
| 1870 (form not available) |
| 1880 (form not available) |
*The Archives has this schedule for Callaway County (reel #C43847) and Audrain County (reel #C414) only. Click on a link below to open a PDF of the schedule.
Audrain County | Callaway County