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Grant County Herald
Lancaster, Grant County, Wisconsin
What is this article about?
B.C. Eastman writes from Washington, D.C., on Jan. 2, 1854, criticizing the 1850 U.S. Census for inaccuracies in Grant County population data, omitting six towns and undercounting by 7,062. He calls it a disgrace and includes the erroneous table.
Merged-components note: The table is the census data referenced in the letter to the editor, so merge for complete logical component.
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CENSUS OF 1850.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 2, 1854.
Mr. Editor—The "Statistics of the United States" or "Census of 1850," being a quarto volume of more than a thousand pages has just been published and delivered. After the immense expenditures of money, and the delay of two years and six months longer than was necessary to publish a work of that kind, the people had a right to expect at least, as much accuracy as is possible to attain in a work of its magnitude and details. The appearance of the book is nothing extra, but considering the obscurity to which it is destined, it is well enough. My first impulse on the receipt of the book was to turn to "Grant County," which I did with that pride and expectation which I always experience when my mind dwells upon that portion of our State. Judge then of my mortification to find that there was no footing to the column of figures denoting the number of inhabitants, and on looking over the names of the towns, I found that out of the sixteen towns of which the County was composed in 1850 only ten were named, and that Potosi, Beetown, Cassville, Patch Grove, Lancaster and Waterloo were entirely omitted! On footing up the column of figures indicating the "Aggregate population of the County, it amounted to only 9,107, being 7,062 less than the actual population of our county as shown by a table of this same book, p. cxiv, under head of "Population of States, Counties, &c."
How many other errors or lies the book contains the Lord only knows! My belief is, that it is one whole falsehood from beginning to end. It is a foul libel on the true state of the country, and a disgrace to the American people. I would vote to make a John Rogers bon fire of it to prevent perpetuity of its heresies.
Annexed I send you a copy of the Grant County table, as contained in this book.
| Cities, towns, | Free | Whites. | Colored. | |||||
| ships.parishes.pre. | M. | F. | Total | M. | F. | Total | ||
| cincts,wards,hun. | ||||||||
| dreds,&c. | ||||||||
| Fennimore, | 183 | 142 | 325 | 325 | ||||
| Harrison, | 418 | 347 | 763 | 1 | 764 | |||
| Hazel Green, | 1019 | 821 | 1840 | 1840 | ||||
| Highland, | 332 | 265 | 597 | 597 | ||||
| Jamestown, | 392 | 273 | 665 | 1 | 666 | |||
| Lima, | 306 | 274 | 580 | 580 | ||||
| Paris, | 210 | 180 | 390 | 1 | 391 | |||
| Platteville, | 1182 | 988 | 2170 | 1 | 2171 | |||
| Smeltzer's Grove, | 409 | 320 | 729 | 729 | ||||
| Wingville, | 773 | 471 | 1044 | 1044 |
Truly yours,
BEN C. EASTMAN.
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Letter to Editor Details
Author
Ben C. Eastman
Recipient
Mr. Editor
Main Argument
the 1850 u.s. census contains major errors for grant county, omitting six towns and reporting only 9,107 population instead of the actual 16,169, making it a complete falsehood and disgrace that should be destroyed.
Notable Details