Madison County, Virginia 1810 Census by John Vogt

Madison County, Virginia 1810 Census by John VogtJohn Vogt's transcription of the Madison County, Virginia 1810 Census, from the original images. Illustrations, maps. Arranged by alpha letter. Census returns are some of the first records that a genealogist turns to when studying a new family line. Unfortunately for Madison County, as well as Virginia as a whole, both the 1790 and 1800 census reports for that state are lost. While the reason for their loss is argued, they nevertheless no longer

John Vogt's transcription of the Madison County, Virginia 1810 Census, from the original images.

Illustrations, maps. Arranged by alpha letter.

Census returns are some of the first records that a genealogist turns to when studying a new family line. Unfortunately for Madison County, as well as Virginia as a whole, both the 1790 and 1800 census reports for that state are lost. While the reason for their loss is argued, they nevertheless no longer exist. While personal property tax and land tax lists (which date from 1782) can be used to give some information about individuals, they do not give the researcher a glimpse into family composition or a snapshot of the county as a whole. Hence Madison's 1810 census is the first real window we have from the census records of this county which had been settled a century before and whose western boundary was the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

With the advent of the computer age and the publication of most of these early censuses, one would expect that many of the genealogist's problems would be resolved. Unfortunately, this has not happened. While many researchers rely completely upon online census records, these are often flawed by misread names and missing names altogether. The problem is the difficult reading of the documents, which often are written in a tight, cramped hand and with a myriad of possible readings. The close similarity between "S" and "L," "F" and "T", and recognizing the secretarial s, which appears as "ss" in the middle of words but not as an ending, can lead to nightmares in translation. Oftentimes, there is no distinction between an "e", an "o", and an "a" unless the reader is familiar with the family names within the document. These are only a few visual issues facing the transcriber. The author has been fortunate to have a professional background in paleography and history, both medieval and modern. In transcribing the current volume, comparison was made with other documents, as well as carefully examining each questionable character under magnification to ascertain the true intent of the writer. In the process, it became apparent that sometimes the census recorder himself was not familiar with strange-sounding German names or heavy Scottish brogues. One spelling would appear in the first encounter with the family, and then later on in the document a different spelling would be given for the same family surname. In brief, computerized lists, while useful, do not give a total and accurate picture of the data. The census was recorded in booklet form, consisting of twenty sheets of paper that were folded in the middle and written on in landscape fashion. So when the first half of the first page was filled with information and turned over, the back of that sheet became page two. In addition, the census enumerator conserved paper by writing in a very tiny hand, and herein lies the problem with "a", "e" and "o" in the body of a name. Only by carefully examining the transitions between characters can an accurate reading be obtained.

This and other 1810 censuses are transcribed by the author from the original images, and while many of Virginia's censuses are available online, they oftentimes are replete with misreadings. Caveat emptor!

Surnames found in this book:

Agan, Ahart, Ahart, Allen, Anderson, Andrews, Archer, Aylor

Back, Baily, Baker, Ballard, Banks, Barbour, Barnes, Barnett, Bates, Batton, Beal, Beckham, Berry, Bickers, Blakey, Blankenbeker, Blunt, Bohannon, Booker, Booten, Bowlin, Bradford, Bradly, Braner, Breden, Brickard, Briggs, Brock, Bronaugh, Brooking, Brooks, Brown, Broyles, Bryant, Burbridge, Burnett, Burriss, Bush, Bussell

Canady, Carder, Carpenter, Carter, Cauthron, Cave, Chapman, Chatham, Cheek, Chelf, Chelph, Clack, Clatterbuck, Clore, Cobler, Coleman, Collins, Cook, Corbin, Cox, Crigler, Crow, Cubbage

Davis, Deboard, Deer, Delph, Dobbs, Duff, Dulany

Early, Eastham, Eddins, Edwards, Estes

Fanny, Faukner, Field, Finks, Fishback, Fleshman, Floyd, Ford, Foster, Fox, Fray, Fry, Fulks

Gaar, Gains, Gallohugh, Garnett, Garriott, Garten, Gee, George, Gibbs, Glassell, Good, Gowen, Graves, Grayson, Green, Griffen, Grimsley, Gully

Hagirt, Harberson, Harrison, Hartsuck, Harvey, Hassel, Haynes, Henderson, Henshaw, Hensley, Herndon, Hill, Hollenback, Holmes, Holtzclaw, Hood, Hooper, Houlder, Houltzclaw, House, Howell, Hudgeon, Huffman, Hume, Hundley, Hunt, Hunter, Hurt, Hutcheson, Hutson

Jackson, James, Jarrell, Jennings, Jinkins, Johnston, Jones, Jordine

Kanady, Kemper, Kirtly, Klugh, Kyle

Lacey, Lackey, Layton, Leach, Leathers, Lewis, Lightfoot, Lillard, Limerick, Lindsey, Lipp, Lockson, Long, Loyd, Lumpkin

Macon, Madison, Major, Mallory, Marquess, Marshel, Mason, May, McCollester, McDaniel, McKenzie, McQuin, Medley, Miller, Milton, Mitchell, Moore, Morgan, Morris, Moubray, Murphey, Murry

Newman, Nickols, Nooe

Ody, Overton

Petty, Pilcher, Pollard, Porter, Powell, Pratt, Prise

Rambottom, Razer, Razor, Reddish, Redwell, Rice, Richards, Rider, Rinden, Rinor, Roberts, Robertson, Roebuck, Rogers, Ross, Rosser, Rosson, Rouse, Rouzee, Rowe, Rucker, Runnolds, Rush, Rutter

Sampson, Samuel, Sanford, Sanner, Scales, Scott, Seal, Sherly, Shingleton, Silvy, Simco, Simms, Simpson, Skinner, Slater, Slaughter, Smith, Smithson, Smoot, Snell, Snyder, Southard, Souther, Sparks, Sparks, Stanton, Stevens, Stewart, Stockdell, Stone, Stonsiffer, Story, Stowers, Strother, Swetman, Swindel, Synor

Tanner, Tates, Tatom, Taylor, Terrell, Terry, Thomas, Tigner, Tinsley, Tippett, Towles, Tucker, Turner, Twyman, Tylor

Underwood, Utz

Varnon, Viney, Vinyard

Waginor, Walker, Wallace, Ward, Watson, Watts, Waugh, Wayland, Wayman, Weaver, Weekley, Welch, Welles, White, Wilhoit, Wilsher, Wilson, Witherall, Wood, Wright, Writtenhouse

Yager, Yowell, Yowell

Zakary, Zimmemon