Census of Illinois Territory, 1818


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Counties
(click on the name of a county to see information specific to that location)
 
Bond County
Crawford County
Edwards County
Franklin County
Gallatin County
Jackson County
Johnson County
Madison County
Monroe County
Pope County
Randolph County
St. Clair County
Union County
Washington County
White County
 


The image above shows the population of the territory in 1818 as a heat map. The deeper red areas show the highest concentration of population. The deeper blue areas show the least concentration of population.

 

Authority
(click on a title below to view laws involved in the formation or governance of the area)
 
Background
(general information on the area to put it in the context of history)
 

On 7 January 1818, the Territorial House of Representatives passed an Act for the taking of a census. Each county appointed commissioners to take the census beginning 1 April 1818 and finishing by 1 June 1818. The commissioners were required to visit each dwelling and any free person over of the age of 16 was required to respond. At the same time as taking the census, commissioners were also charged to create a list of taxable property. Just three days later, the House of Representatives passed another Act requiring that the census be expanded to include anyone moving into the Territory until 1 December 1818. This was done so that the population could be counted towards statehood.

Returns are included for the following counties: Bond, Crawford, Franklin, Gallatin, Jackson, Johnson, Madison, Monroe, Pope, Randolph, St. Clair, Union, Washington, and White. Edwards County -- no returns for 1818 are extant except that the supplementary census for Washington County contains also that "from the detached parts of Edwards Co. on the maridian line joining Washington." Madison County -- at the end of the enumeration of families the census commissioner adds a note to the effect that there are 980 souls at Forts Crawford, Armstrong, Edwards and Clark. As this is obviously an estimate, if not frankly padding, this figure 980 has not been added in, though included in the secretary's report. Fort Crawford was located at the mouth of the Wisconsin River, north of the Illinois boundary as set by the enabling act. Pope County -- sixty-four "blacks" are added to the total without indication of family connections or status as slave or free. Randolph County -- only the "additional census" schedules are extant. St. Clair County -- the manuscript for this county has been partly destroyed by fire. The names beginning with A to E and part of those beginning with F are entirely missing; also about thirty-one names and many figures from the bottoms of the pages as indicated. The total of the extant figures in the first four columns is 3196, and of the extant figures in the "totals" column, 3110.

 

Census
(click on a year below to view information on the population of the area)


Population in 1818
CountyFree white males 21 & upwardsAll other white inhabitantsFree persons of colorServants or slavesTotalReport of Secretary in JuneReport to Convention
Bond2641107015138613821398
Crawford42215587820207820742839
Edwards--------------------19482243
Franklin219104352151329----1281
Gallatin742229080236334832563849
Jackson250986049128512951619
Johnson118535124678678767
Madison101233863477450954566303
Monroe3161008641137113581517
Pope3991481----64194419752069
Randolph--------------------29392974
St. Clair67623933988319645195039
Union4392007039248524842709
Washington28113821626170517071819
White72027511157353935393832

Additional Census
CountyFree white males 21 & upwardsAll other white inhabitantsFree persons of colorServants or slavesTotal
Crawford17969800877
Edwards3810400142
Gallatin167247985508
Jackson752804107
Randolph23200245
Washington5920505269

 

Maps
(click on title below to see a contemporary map of the State)


Bibliography
(click on the title of the following works to learn more about life in the area; for those items not available online, check with your local library for availability)


  • Allen, Ricky T. Pope County, Illinois early census records, 1818-1850. Golconda, IL: R.T. Allen, 1995.
  • Ander, O. Fritiof and Margaret Cross Norton. "Review of Illinois Census Returns, 1810, 1818". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 22 (4): 577-578, 1936.
  • Cadwalader, Sheila. Franklin county 1818 & 1820 census: and original land records. [S.l: s.n.], 1900.
  • Flynn, Janet M. Monroe County, Illinois 1818, 1820, 1830 census indices. Dupo, Ill: J.M. Flynn, 2002.
  • Franklin County Illinois 1818-1840 census. [S.l]: Berrin Branch Publications, 1900.
  • Jackson, Ronald Vern. Illinois 1818. North Salt Lake, Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems International, 1987.
  • Mayer, M. M. Bond County, Illinois, census: 1818-1850. [S.l: s.n.], 1985.
  • Norton, Margaret Cross and Henry J. Dubester. Illinois census returns 1810, 1818. Springfield, Ill: Trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, 1935.
  • Norton, Margaret Cross. Illinois census returns, 1810 and 1818. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1969.
  • Norton, Margaret Cross. Illinois census returns: 1810, 1818. Baltimore, Md: Clearfield, 2002.
  • Sistler, Jack K., Ruth Ann Sistler, and Richard D. Sullins. 1818-1840 censuses of Johnson County, Illinois, with additional vital records before 1850: marriages, divorces, guardianships, deaths. [Illinois?]: SandS Genealogists, 2002.
  • Washington, Clinton County census 1818, Clinton County census 1825, town of Carlyle census 1837. [S.l: s.n.], 2000.
 
Image Links
(links to digitized images of the record)
 

 

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